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Hi everyone,
I just want to thank you all for the great advice. A lot has happened since my post in that January.
In May 2015 a few months after getting this advice and continuing on track solidly, I received a call form the landlord saying the owner is selling. My plan was to be ready to start looking around Jan 2016. We scrounged the $$ together and made it happen. Long story short, settled in July 2015 for $417k and it ticked everything in my criteria for a first investment.
Possibly expanding the family, we will need a bigger place. So an evaluation came in at $500-530k and wanting to work the credit debts into the mortgage, I’m over juggling, balancing and trying to pay down everything. I know it’s not ideal and I really did try hard. I am very excited though to have found a house in Melb Eastern Suburbs and to be possibly positively geared within 16months of purchasing. I can thank all the books for the knowledge that brought the awareness and the mindset. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the links, I’ve found them all helpful & actually Bangers, I’ve ordered that book today Money Make Over which includes the activities, I think it’s perfect timing now to do so. I’ve always been good with money until unforeseen things over these years and I’ve slid and felt like I’m drowning ever since.
But now comes a new chapter/problem – What expenses do I need to keep in mind with our first investment? Rates, Mortgage Payments, Rental Protection Insurance, does anyone know typical property manager fees? and is there anything else I need to budget for in ongoing expenses? Is there a typical check list of items that can be found?
Thanks you to all that have replied, I really appreciate the insight. I didn’t want to give too much detail straight up, but given what I’ve read, I’ll elaborate.
I had $34k on credit at start of March 2014, I did a balance transfer with 0% interest for 16months (it’s released Dec later this year). I’m paying $500p/month on it and shelving a surplus amount into an account ($5,700 thus far) earning 2.96%. So I’m using the Banks to work in my favour at present.
So the way I see it, I can use that savings to pay back the bad credit, or use it towards an investment and hope these 0% balance transfers stick around and do it again down the track.
A key concern that makes me also want to jump into property is the fact that we will be paying $34k in tax this financial year.
So I guess the keys facts for me at present are:
1. 0% interest currently on the credit cards
2. 2.96% being earned on what I’ve called the Credit card balance deferral
3. $34k in tax for the financial year
4. Approx. $2k per month able to be saved into the deferral account (after the $500 p/m credit card pay down)Hi Kinnon Bell,
Again thank you for your time. To answer your question, we are looking at buying an investment instead of a Principal place, because of the potential tax deductions (not that I understand it yet) and the greater amount of leverage we will have staying renting and investing as opposed to purchasing and investing. Again, is that a fair thought?
Plus damaging credit rating with balance transfer? I thought, given that I’m always making good payments on time all the time, my credit rating would still be quite good? While this is about my 6th balance transfer, I figure if they keep saying yes, I will keep dodging the high rates credit cards can incur. I’ve never paid more than 2.5% on any large amounts on cards in my life time. But it concerns me if it effects my credit rating?
At the end of the day, we are over credit debt and watching house prices continue to soar and it will be a long way from now until our heads are above the water while we pay extraordinary amounts in tax between the both of us. There’s got to be ab better way!
