1. Paying off debt faster will reduce your LVR loan to value ratio which means you can either borrow against equity you have built up or cross secure two properties together for one big loan and get a lower LVR across the two properties (not recommended to cross secure as if you sell one property you have security problems with the lender and you could lose both houses)
If you get the LVR < 80% you can take an equity loan against the property up to 80% and use the borrowed money as a deposit for the next property.
You could argue that the extra payments are a savings scheme and is evidence of savings as long as you agree to lower the repayments to allow for the next loan. The bank is interested in if you can afford the extra repayments for the next loan.

2. Your question is not really asked properly. So I am going to state the problem.
The 70k Savings is about your Financial Position
where as the 15k Debt is about cash flow.
If you owe 15k the bank looks at the repayment commitment on the 15k debt.
This is known by another name being Serviceability of the borrower.
Where as the 70k is the deposit however the banks lending program looks at the 15k debt at what ever interest rate and term and it calculates and reduces how much you can borrow not due to deposit LVR factor but more for a serviceability factor.
Another trap is if you have a credit limit on a credit card this will reduce the lending amount based on if the full debt was borrowed even if you owed only $1 on the credit card.

Go to a good solicitor and get a defacto financial agreement that states how much you own of your property before you have your partner move in.

This would protect both your financial interests.

Your Partner could then sell  his property and use this for a deposit .

With what is left over you could buy an investment property with a good deposit in both your names.
.

You need to build a team of experts as you can't do everything.
Private Town Planner
Architect
Builder
Landscaper

And then you know what costs are going to be incurred before you even buy the property so you will know if you are going to make a profit or a loss. Also you have to allow for unforeseen cost blowouts.

I have not started developing yet.But I have done the rookie developers course.

You might have to try and find a money partner to get this project off the ground.

Go to bunnings and look at their flat pack kitchens
And a new rangehood
Try and avoid to much plumbing as the plumber may need to rip the tiles and plaster board off the wall now if you can avoid this it will decrease the cost of a new kitchen. Once you know the measurements of the kitchen you can work out plumbing requirements for water and maybe gas.
Then get quote from plumbers on work required.

Plaster board seems a bit drastic. Patch up holes if any or cracks with plaster filler and no gaps or b.uilders bog
Repaint
Fix ceiling where old fan is . May have a water leak in roof that has caused damage in picture
May need roof repaired .
White tiles on wall look ok to me

May need to replace lino on kitchen floor . Either Lino or ceramic tiles.
Timing depends on you.
If you do the work yourself it could take up  to 3 months to 6 months

If you hire tradies it will take less time. Get quotes if using tradies. THen you will know what it will cost.

P.S Stove / Oven thing looks dated. New stove might be needed Check pricing at Bunnings , good guys, Ect

However they usually lend up to 80% LVR on an LOC so to release equity you need a much lower figure than 80%.

Say loan was $300,000 and property value came in as $405,000
then 80% of 405,000 is $324,000
So Loan + loc = 324,000
So LOC would be $24,000 as it pushes LVR up to 80% LOC LVR limit.

Also if you go over 100% you will receive a letter from the bank stating that an offset account can be over 100% as it happened to me once.

I have done small scale renovations from a distance. I found Grey Army before they were a franchise. I also have used Hire a Hubby and I also have used the Property Manager renting out my property to organise a home maintenance company on their books to organise and do all the required work like Painting, Tiling, repairs.

Rich Lee
From reading the GST stuff
factors like if you paid GST to a developer from a off the plan development come into play .

I just fluked being on the same wave length as to what I assumed your circumstances were.

It depends on several factors
Did the property increase in value. You pay cgt on the capital gain. Sale price – Cost Base
Cost base = Original Land Value + Cost of Building

If you have made a capital gain you will be liable to pay CGT as you Must move into the house as soon as practical
after it is finished
and
You have to continue using it as a main residence for three months
to qualify for a main residence exemption
See http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/NAT4151-04.pdf     page 58 of document

You may also have to collect GST on the Sale of the new property
I am not 100% sure on the GST but I am sure some other people on this forum will comment on this point.
http://www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/bus00198744nat72957062009.pdf