BankWest have dropped their standard variable to 6.98%

You're on the right track – keep asking questions and read, read, read everything you can! There's several investment property magazines out every month which have dozens of investor profiles, strategies, Q&As etc which can be a good starting point as well as all the post on this forum and others.Good luck!

Found the weblink from SAhttp://www.sa.gov.au/upload/franchise/Housing,%20property%20and%20land/OCBA/lease_agreement_terms_inconsistent_with_the_Residential_Tenancies_Act_1995.pdf

Be careful when requiring you tenants to have anything steam cleaned professionally or otherwise as part of the lease agreement – you could land yourself in some hot water (no pun intended) with the state tenancy authority.I'm not sure about every state but I know in SA the tenancies branch has advised that this is not an enforceable clause in a…[Read more]

I'm actually looking into a similar idea – buying a vacant block of land in a beach suburb with a view to have a transportable home on the land in a 1 to 2 year time-frame. I'm guessing from an investment /financial perspective it's not really a smart decision but from a lifestyle point of view I don't think you can go wrong!

I’m with Michael above, why wouldn’t your friend just expand their portfolio, use the surplus cash-flow from the first property to help with the repayments on the negatively geared property? Negative gearing has it’s place in an investment strategy, but it’s pointless to buy a property solely for tax deduction purposes.

Ideally you want your…[Read more]

Hey Dark StarI think you've got the right idea to clear your personal debt ASAP, there's not much point saving money when you're also paying off personal loans. I think most of the experienced investors in the forum would say to pay down the personal (non-deductible!) loans first, then focus on continuing to build up your savings for a deposit.…[Read more]

I've used Solver paints with no issues and have always heard good things about them. But if you can get something at trade price that a painter recommends then you can't really go past that.

Every poster seems to be a new forum user…It seems like everyone with 1 post either has a vendetta  against or a sales pitch for this company…I would personally be wary of any company trying to sell investment properties to you – as mentioned above you can suaulyl find a better property for cheaper doing your own research and leg work. Buying…[Read more]

I appreciate all the insight guys, I've got a better picture of how to approach the situation in the future now.Thanks very much!

Thanks for the responses guys – I'm thinking its definitely something to put to the accountant but I'm thinking it might not work as a strategy somehow.The only other thing I could think of would be – if you were to redraw funds to rennovate/refurbish the property and then used as an IP down the track would the redrawn portion be tax…[Read more]

Am I a bit cynical or does this post and the reply look like a bit of a set-up?

standard and poor wrote:
Hi all, My wife and I recently attended a Park Trent seminar in Melbourne. It sounded good initially and like many other (mostly newbie) investors or people who are yet to invest we signed up for a home consultation. A nice gentleman came over…[Read more]