Forum Replies Created
Worth a try.
Look for a local Estimator as opposed to a QS.
You’re in luck. One was very kindly returned as ‘no longer needed’. It was in this morning’s mail. After I posted the offer on this Forum (and waited a day), we did a mailout to our data base. Stupidly, I told the guy who manages our frontend to put my e-mail address down as the contact – I won’t make that mistake again.
50 tickets went in 13 minutes. We had over 400 e-mail responses. And they’re still coming in. I’m responding to each one.
Send me an e-mail with your address. We’ll send that ticket Express Post today and it should arrive tomorrow.
[email protected]There can’t be too many people going. I offered some free tickets on Monday and didn’t get many takers.
ScottA QS or estimator could put together a Cost Plan for you. And if he’s local, he should have an idea of local labour costs. If you send me an e-mail I’ll probably know someone near where your brother’s site is.
Richard is right, though. I’d say everywhere in Australia you’d be at the mercy of builders. Insurance problems (in part) have helped create a shortage of builders.
I never really factor depreciation entitlements into purchase decisions. Of course, they’re at the back of mind. As a ‘non cash deduction’, depreciation is a bit of ‘cream’. I think ideally a purchase needs to stack up pretty well without depreciation. And bear in mind Tax Depreciation Schedules are all we do.
ScottI’ve found CGU good, too. Reasonably priced. To take Bennido’s point, though, I’ve never had to make a claim. It’s when you want money off your insurer that you find out how ‘good’ they are.
Now we’re straying into accountant territory. If you’re a tradesman and you invoice yourself, I guess that would be fine.
Nope.
Peter Lang at PLA Management in Edgecliff is pretty good. Maria there knows a fair bit about property. There more accountants than advisors.
We know quite a few accountants/planners nationally. What suburb are you located in?
Thanks Bennido.
It sounds like the block your unit is in was originally on one title with one owner and then coverted to strata title in 86.
Regards,
Scott
Ahhh yes, the share market boom, they were crazy days. This thread takes me back…..
Every night in every city there were seminars – people flogging courses and technical analysis software. I remember in Bridge Street, Sydney, there was a day trading room where people could could rent a computer by the hour and day trade. It went well for a while – many people found trading from home a lonely pursuit. There were plenty of very active online forums – plenty of ‘ramping’ happening. Lots of people chucked in their day jobs to become ‘traders’. At every dinner party there was a trading expert (now everyone is a property expert).
I did a lot of trading during the boom – small caps, mid caps, positions that I held for 5 minutes, or a couple of days. Position sizes ranged from $5K to $100K – generally on margin. I traded the market long and short.
I had some spectacular wins and some catastrophic failures. But of course, I only talked up the wins.
My net result after a couple of years was a loss. It was great fun, though. Maybe I got greedy. Maybe I didn’t evolve my strategy as the market changed. Maybe I didn’t have enough discipline. At least I’d kept my day job.
I was a at a BBQ recently and the host was talking about his trading and how easy it was to trade from home and make $500 in 10 minutes. He had a captive audience – people were salivating at the prospect of making easy money in minutes from home.
I asked the host to go inside and get his contract notes (they show the ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ prices for trades). That stopped him in his tracks. I explained to people what they were. His best mate said: ‘Yeah, put up or shut up’.
I’m not sure whether I’ll be invited back.
Thanks Bennido. We thought about the franchising route, but we may have a better solution for rural properties. We’re working on it now (amidst the usual mayhem of tax season).
The council can’t shed any light on the construction start date of your unit? If the strata title is dated 10/9/86, you’d have to be in with a chance.
We tend to find there often isn’t alot of depreciation in unimproved older units. Self-assessment of assets is the usually the way to go.
I’ll talk you through this if you want to give me a call. I’m in the office today till noon. Our phones are switeched on at 9am when the front end boys arrive.
Scott – 1300 660033
Capital works i.e. 2.5%.
Bennido,
That’s an accountant question. If you’re running a business from home and claiming a proportion of other costs I guess you could claim depreciation on part of the cost of the new kitchen.
Julia (Bantacs) will be able to provide the definitive answer.
Once we’ve done a Tax Depreciation Schedule for somone, we never know what method investors (or tbeir accountants) end up using. All Schedules should provide both methods so you’ve got the choice.
The building depreciates at a consistent 2.5% (or 4%)pa.
It’s the assets where you have a choice.
I believe once you start using one method, you can’t switch to the other method.
The Diminishing Value Method gives you more in the first 4-5 years. After that, the Prime Cost method will generally start to take over.
You are able to use the Low Value Pool with both methods, but with the Prime Cost method only items which start out valued between $300 and $1,000 can be in the Pool. Other items cannot enter the Pool in subsequent years when they become Low value Assets.
The Pool is optional. One thing to bear in mind is that if you are planning a renovation and there will be assets disposed of, you cannot write them off immediately if they have been in the Pool. Once they enter the Pool, they stay there. This means if, say, you did a kitchen makeover you could end up with 2 ovens in the Pool – the old one which you threw out, and the new one.Not sure if all that makes sense. Some of it veers into accountant territory and I’m not an accountant. If anybody has questions, feel free to call – 1300 660033.
Scott
It’s a bit more than $440.
We do something similar for remote jobs, but it’s an informal system. I’m still deciding whether (and how) to formalise it.
Where possible I believe that having a QS or an ‘appropriately qualified person’ carry out an inspection is best practice. Most accountants we deal with have a similar view.
I spoke to a member of this site yesterday. He has a property in a regional area. It’s an older property, but there have been substantial renovations carried out in 2 different stages. I wouldn’t be terribly comfortable doing a Schedule on it using photos.
The reality is that many properties being bought by investors in remote areas are unimproved, pre 85 properties. Self assessing the value of the assets is the best (and cheapest) course of action. I’m happy to explain this to people.
Scott 1300 660033
Hi Wayne,
If the property is pre 85 and unrenovated, it’s debatable as to whether our fee could be justified. As Simon mentioned we do have a guarantee, but if we don’t think it’s worth your while proceeding, we’ll let you know to save mucking your tenant around.The new list of assets on the ATO site would be useful to you. It lists assets and has their effective life. You would still need to work out the value of the asset and you’d need to know how the Low Value Pool works, but I’m happy to talk you through this.
Scott – 1300 660033
Thanks for the endorsement, agent smith.
I had a meeting with the front end gang this morning and passed on your comment. We do lots of Schedules every month (especially at this time of year) and we have 4-5 people who just field calls and manage jobs etc. They do a great job. And at times it’s tough – on every job there is a landlord involved, as well as a tenant, a QS, and often a PM and an accountant. Managing everyone’s expectations is a challenge and very occasionally it goes pear shaped.
If we had a mission statement, it would be: ‘We try extra hard not to disappoint, and when we do we fix it as soon as possible.’
Of course, one thing we don’t get wrong is compliance with ATO rules.
I offer members of this site a discount – $660 as opposed to $715. You’re new, so you may not be aware of this. If you send me an e-mail with the name the job was booked under, I’ll get this sorted out.
Yep, 2.5% unfortunately. Unless you can rent it out for a while and claim anything as a legitimate repair.
ScottQSs are very thin on the ground in regional centres. Sometimes you’ll find one who has opted for a ‘seachange’. Of course, you don’t have to use a QS. There are a number of people with appropriate qualifications to estimate construction costs. For example, Estimators are fine. As are a Clerk of Works. Sometimes in country towns it’s possible to track down the builder who built the property. He’ll often be able to provide the construction cost. He may even be able to assist in valuing the assets. What he won’t know is the tax stuff, but your accountant will be able to sort that out. It’s messy, but possible (and cheaper than a QS).
Scott
