I am fairly sure you can Terry I was going to do it with one of my properties. Let me check as the wife is a stamp duty assessor and I will let you know tomorrow for sure, otherwise PM me and I can give you her work email address

Cheers

I have been working overseas in the offshore industry for about 5 yrs now, doing 60 days on(usually ends up about 90)and 30 off (hopefully), work min 84 hrs per week usually around 100, been home 1 christmas in 4 and have a little 2 year old whom I am missing growing up. This by far is the biggest sacrifice I have ever made in my life but as the number of IP's slowly add up (only 5 so far)  I feel its all been worth it but hope I can give it all up soon and spent much more time with family.

I guess for all those considering it I would say go for it but dont lose sight of the big picture. I see so many people out here with next to nothing and they have been doing it for 30 yrs. It is a hard life but you also make many friends along the way and pick up many skills and experiences .

Good Luck to all and I wish you many IP's in the future.

I bought a serviced apartment within walking distance to the cbd about 18 months ago. It was an existing building to be converted to apartments then managed by an operator with 6.5% return. Anyway the short story is it was bought for $245,000 on which I put dowm $30,500 borrowed from bank, now valued at about $280,000. I still am waiting for them to be finished should be this month, I hope, so I have made an on paper profit of $35,000 for very little outlay on my part so far.
I think they can be an ok investment as long as the location is right and plenty of due dilligence is done
I would say look at them carefully but they are not all bad investments.
Cheers Dave

Just talked with a friend of mine who has been living in Dubai for 4 years he said he just talked with a very high profile investment adviser in Dubai who said I will give you one piece of free advice. Do Not Buy in Dubai. He explained that there are hundreds of overpriced and empty apartments on the market at present and he feels there is a big downfall not too far away in the property market. I think you should do some very serious research on this area before investing. I believe some banks are also starting to pull out of investing there due to market conditions. But of course it is your choice and good luck in whatever you decide.

Looking at things a bit closer
“If you are a company, trust or individual carrying on a business, then you will be able to claim the interest as a tax deduction because tax is a necessary part of conducting business and is viewed as a business expense.”

Brilliant Star said he saved his tax which implied to me he was running a business of some sort ie not payng PAYG tax.
Therefore he should be able to claim that expense back if he did not have the money.

“Hate to say that redrawing funds from your PPOR loan to be used to fund a Tax debt is not an allowable interest deduction.”

I was’nt suggesting he borrow from the PPOR loan I meant a seperate loan however if he is not in the above category as Foundation advised then it would not be allowed. The offset account would be a good idea.

I did not in my instance use it for paying off PPOR so you might be right with the Fringe Benifit Tax (then again you could salary sacrifice), I just did not expect a bill as high as the one I got and the borrowed money was tax deductable. Overseas tax can be very complicated at times.
I can now see why I was told by my accountant it was a deductable expense.
Anyway check it out further brilliant star I’m sure there are angles there to work on.

Hi Brilliant star
Just an idea on your first question.
As its going to be your PPOR ( assuming a non tax deductable loan) you could use your tax savings and pay a large deposit on the property or all of it if you have enough, then come tax time borrow the money back to pay the tax bill therefore making it a tax deductable debt.
I have done this in the past and my accountant said it was ok because the money was being used to pay tax however suggest you get advice if you wish to proceed down this path.
Dave

I suggest you would be looking at approx $60.00 minimum per sq metre to buy depending on what timber you use and it usually works out about the same to have it layed.
I would guess you probably have a partical board floor at present, have a word with a builder about whether this would need to be removed prior to installation.

Dave

I am currently in India at the moment and doing a bit of research into the property market in Goa. I hope to get there in about two weeks for a first hand look and from all accounts property there is still very cheap ie 30 -40k for a 1 bedroom app. The returns on this is in the range of 5-10% but the capital growth is quite large I have no official figures as yet but over the last 3-4 years it has almost trippled. Most of the property is being bought by expats as it is a very popular holiday destination and construction is booming over here.
I see some devlopment company shares rising last year between 600-1000% not bad money if you bought into them early. There are restrictions on ownership in that you need to live there for 182 days to qualify for resident visa which allows ownership or be a national of course.
Anyway shall continue with the research and keep all posted as I find out more.

Dave