Forum Replies Created
Hi, Nevilleg
I bought an 2 yr old apartment, settling in mid Nov as well. Had a property inspection by ArchiCentre. It is good to have another pair of experienced eyes to check through the place, just to be sure and for that piece of mind. After all, it is only $440. A tiny expense considering the size of the loan.
All the best.
Daniel Lee
Hi, Shel
Do not sell unless you really have to, or the place you currently have is not performing well in the currently strong economic market. An outlay of $40 a week to hold a place is cheap considering a dual income status. Once you add in a depreciation schedule and raising rent, your Adelaide place could even become +ve cashflow for you.
This will allow you and your partner to focus on the place in Brisbane.
Worry not the size of the loan, but your ability to bring in the cashflow to service it.
All the best.
Daniel LeeHi, Joel
My partner and I just bought a 2 bedroom apartment 14 kms from Melb CBD ourselves. The apartment was completed in 2005 and is under 2 yrs old. The vendor was asking $325K – 355K and we ended with $331.25K with some conditions. We are going to move into the place, stay for a while to utilise the FHBG and then move out. So, yes, depreciation, CGT and all that did come into mind. However, so is getting out of the rental market.
There will always be things to depreciate in a relatively new apartment, so I would not worry about it too much. Just enjoy the process of becoming a property owner, even if the bank owns most of it.
All the best
Daniel LeeHi, ao
If things are getting a little quiet in the RE market in your area, perhaps it is time to get a move on if you have done your research. Steve did mention in his first book that just a couple of months before the FHBG came into the picture, the RE market got rather quiet is people were waiting for the grant to kick in.
If people are waiting for an increase in the level of certainty or stability, then there must be sellers desperate enough to sell due to the perceived uncertainty, right? My partner and I bought our first PPOR; an 2 yr old apartment in Oakleigh, Melbourne. 2 mins from shops and 10 mins walk from the train station. We researched for a few months, saw the place advertised on RE.com, inspected the place a wk before its official OFI, put in an offer 2 days later, negotiated hard and signed on the contract 4 days after that.
The next day during the first OFI, the RE agent told us someone else offered almost $10K more with no conditions and wanting to sign on that day itself. He apologised and told them the apartment had been sold just a day before.
I definitely agree with a number of the experienced investors in PI.com that there will always be a deal of the week to be found under any economic condition. Do your research to the best of your knowledge and have a good team with you. For a start, I found a decent conveyancing firm and lender. As the Nike ad goes: 'Just do it'
All the best.
Daniel Lee Hi, Islandgirl
It is definitely important to figure out what is it you want from RE investing; it is capital growth, earning a cashflow to replace earned income, want to be filthy rich… from there, the types of strategies would tend to be determined by what you want.
My partner and I are finally looking around for our first home, checking out the suburbs to see what we can get. My very close aunt, who is a big time fan of negative gearing, offered to help by putting my name down on a negative geared brand new property. Being RE virgins, we agreed despite doing our minimal Due Diligence and knowing the amount of negative gearing involved, and later realising that having that property did not suit our purpose of RE investing at the first place. Bless my aunt, though. She later told us she wanted the property, so having my name down is a 'just in case I no longer want it'.
So, now we know that when we look at RE, we have to keep in mind that for our personal situation, we are going for property that will help us make money, money that will eventually replace our earned incomes so that we can work because we want to, not because we have to.
Most important to know what you want out of investing, as that will shape your investment thoughts and strategies.
All the best
Daniel LeeBuy now if you can. Anything below 'market' value is better than paying at market value or above.
You have to figure what loan features you would need in accordance with your plans. A 100% offset account would be good as you got some spare cash and plan to use that money in the future.
Regards
Daniel LeeHi
This is what I would do.
Have a chat to the vendor on why he / she wants the cooling off period waived. There could be a number of reasons as mentioned, and instead of speculating, just ask. Be open on your side and inform that you are still interest, and will include Pest , Building and Finance clauses.
The vendor could be honest and just say that there is nothing wrong with the property and has other use for the money; then there would be no worries on that. However, if there is some degree of hesitation or you sense something is amiss, throw in the valuation clause as well for good measure.
Regards
Daniel Lee Hi, Pizang
My definition of rich. Enough passive income so that I can do the things I want and spend time with loved ones. So, I say a lazy million in the bank and $5M in net worth.
Regards
Daniel LeeHi, Purple
Refer to some of the old threads. There have been a number of discussions on P&I or IO, their pro and cons.
Really depends on what is your investment strategy, if you have one. If not, best to develop a investment strategy first before moving further into IP.
Would also be good to find out the deep-seeded reasons as to why you are investing in RE in the first place.
All the best.
Daniel LeeHi, Steve
I too have been guilty of complaining about the site and not offering solutions. Have not been back to this site for about 3 weeks now and, to my pleasant surprise, it has incorporated a mixture of the appeal of the old site and the speed of the new one.
The new site looks good. Keep it up, Steve and Team.
Regards
Daniel LeeHi, LA Aussie and S.O.G
The two of you have pretty much dominated the conversation so far. You two can keep going at it, but let me chip in my 2 pennies worth.
If you are renting and am saving up to buy a PPOR, put your money into high-interest internet accounts. Have to pay tax on the interest earned though. My partner and I are doing that. We just leave our money in ING. Who really would want to go through the trouble of jumping from one online account to the next every year just to earn the highest interest rate?
If you already have your own PPOR or IP, put everything into a offset account or make extra payments (Depending on what you like, but a 100% offset account is like a high-interest tax free savings account). Like mentioned earlier, the interest from the internet accounts will not be high enough to make a standard home loan rate. Makes a lot of sense to put your spare cash into your loan(s). That is what we will do when we do buy late next year.
That pretty much sums it all up.
Regards
Daniel LeeHi
In my first glance at the new format some weeks back and surfing around for a while, I quickly found myself wanting to go back to the previous format which was more user friendly.
After a few weeks of not going to PI.com and coming back today, I still find wishing the site would go back to its old format, especially when it came to keeping track of read articles. The previous format was good; it only needed to be quicker (a server upgrade would do nicely…)
The number of users and guests have dropped dramatically since the new format came online. The topics have gotten less interesting and is attacting less users and guests, who feel less of a desire to post new and interesting topics, which attracts less users and guests…
A downwards spirial cycle…
Bring down aspects of the previous format, please.
Regards
Daniel Lee
