Hi Karen,Looking at the numbers provided it would seem you may have a few hurdles to jump through before you can tuck this one away. The appraisal you rceived for your property is not a lot of use to you as a number for finance purposes. Banks will want a certified valuation done on the property and this may (may not too) vary from the $370…[Read more]

Paul Braddick (ANZ Bank) mounts an argument that simply multiplying house prices by median incomes is a flawed process in a couple of papers released in 2010. Once again a little old – but the principles of the argument still apply.Part 1 of argument – April 2010Part 2 of argument – May 2010In a later report Braddick argues the housing supply in…[Read more]

Hi Simone,You will get a better answer if you identify which state you are located/investing in. Some of the charges above are state based and vary from state to state.

Andrew makes a good point about 'what' – for example your chosen accountant may very well come from the 'save tax' school and therefore advice given would be based on this maxim. If your chosen course of action is 'positive cashflow' then it is possible your accountant may be a millstone around your neck.Good luck with it…

Hi Da,WA is not an austion state. so statistic would be based on a small proportion of sales. Any refernece to clearance rates would not be reflective of the what else is happening in the market place.Temper your belief about property prices being high with the knowledge that WA has the second highest per capita income in Australia. Supply on the…[Read more]

Hi Sean,Terry Ryder has just updated his Port hedland Hotspotting Report. Link http://www.hotspotting.com.au/report/108-port-hedland Note cost is $30 – but it is independent and may be of use to you. Edit (insertion) – he also has reports for the Q;ld basins which may help you do some comparisons between your preferences.

Hi Pete,Given the estates are 'eligible' for financial incentives this implies, to me, thet the estates are targetting first home owners. If this is the case you are likely to be surrounded by larger than normal numbers of people who are very susceptible to interest rate movements and thus your property is likely to suffer from it's proximity to…[Read more]

laminariales wrote:
After he said he'd come over to my place, i confirmed with him that i have no obligation to go with his offer and he said that he knew he would leave my place with me having chosen him as a mortgage broker..

Very confident person. One would almost say cocky!Methinks I would ring him and say I have found someone else because…[Read more]

Hi Dan,Based on limited information it would appear as if your underlying concern relates to debt. Debt, when managed carefully and used judiciously, can be your greatest ally. If you go back to the time when you bought your Moranbah home I bet the level of debt wasn't insignifciant for the time. No doubt you had a few nervous sleepless nights…[Read more]

Nathalie74 wrote:
Very interested to see what he has to say. He knows exactly what my budget is, so why would he bother to ring, Nath

Hi Nathalie,He would have found 'somethign else' in you rbudget range that will suit you perfectly.

Booge,Selling your PPOR to buy a new PPOR is not a BAD thing. The non-deductible debt associated with your own home is the hardest of all debts to deal with (no rent & no tax deductions) so keeping this debt level low is always to your advantage.You can play around with selling current PPOR to partner etc but I am one for keeping things…[Read more]

CGT is a process applied to the buy and sell of all assets. If you are renovating some of the capital costs of the renovations can be used to offset profits made – Eg you put in a new $20K kitchen – then your taxable gain is reduced by $20K.

Hi Tiger,As your rental income increases there will come a point in time when the property is no longer negatively geared as rental income exceeds expenses. The trouble is this is not something you can set your clock by as there are so many factors that come into play. I have heard some people suggest after about X yrs the property will be…[Read more]

Hi Peachy,Not sure what exactly you want your software to do but if it is of any help I used a simple self-designed excel sheet just to record and tally up the ins and outs during the financial year.Since then I employ a book-keeper and she uses MYOB. She is MYOB trained and is qualifed as a certified MYOB trainer.I have always used MS Outlook's…[Read more]

Getting a builder to take on someone else' half finished work could be problematic too. Who is at fault if …………?As Terry has said make sure that you only make progress payments after the work is completed. I have heard of people making payments before the work is completed and, the rest is history as they say. You will also need to check…[Read more]

Hi Marcus,Well done on you rpurchase.As Jamie has said grab a broker who is a little more upmarket than ME. Not sure where you live but the brokers on here do know  their stuff and having a knoweldgeable person in the brokering profession will be invaluable to you. Why not give Jamie a call and chat – see how you go. You may be surprised to know…[Read more]

Paulie and Luke,That is so right. Roy Morgan/ASIC did a survey of investors a few years ago and (Report 121) and two key findings for me were a number of people got their advise from family and friends and ‘media’ sources including daily newspapers and the internet.You can imagine the scenario being played out – media reports 'houses up' – fri…[Read more]

Andrew, Thanks for you valued feedback. Michael seemed to think there was a lot of song and dance about not much.  

Hi Andrew,I haven't been following the Gold Coast market closely for over 18 months and was wondering what your opinion on  the likely effect the 2018 Commonwealth Games will have on the GC market. I notice Michael Matusik thought the impact would be negligible at best.My understanding is that mist of the facilities required for a games are…[Read more]

Hi Andrew,Not all states have an OTP discount on stampd duty. For example Qld and WA determine stamp duty payable on the value of the finished product whereas Victoria used to (not sure if they still do) determine stamp duty on the value of the land andscaling up depending upon when the contract was signed.With stamp duty it is certainly not a…[Read more]