You stated your income was too low so would you consider that you may have a cash flow problem also.

Oldish Unit in Surfers Paradise with beach views-No growth since purchase 3 yrs ago so no CGT. At least I could get my 60K (original 20% deposit) back out. This property costs me 11K per year out of pocket.

what would you do with an extra 60k cash put in an offset account or pay off as a one off repayment and the new extra  cash flow saving of 11k a year towards increasing the repayments off one of the two properties left if you sold this one.

Some say never sell but if you sell the $300,000 apartment and aim to reduce debt to aim to get to a cash flow positive situation with one of the other two properties you will find it easier to get another loan down the track and as you have just discovered

negative gearing is limited by how much you earn and how much you owe.

You are stuck because you are in a negative gearing perspective while a cash flow neutral or cash flow positive perspective may need to be considered. The $300,000 apartment may get capital growth but you might not get capital growth and it costs you 11k a year. Can you live with missing out on the potential capital growth versus increasing your LVR and reducing debt.

I sold a property myself because of having no Just Over Broke (JOB) income and that property was sold 5 years ago at $170,000 and it is now worth $320,000 but I knew I would run out of cash reserves and be forced to sell later. This however has allowed me to keep my other property and pay it off.

This is not financial advice as I have not told you whether to sell any of the properties or what their potential growth may or may not be in the future. I have merely expanded your investment knowledge of other types of property investing methods to aid in your decision that you can only make

Only from the point in time that you started renting it out till you sell it. So gain achieved in rented time would be subject to capital gains tax.

When you borrowed the 230k the bank would have valued the property at 500k. Keep in  your tax records this valuation report and then anything above this is capital gain when you sell later on.

You can also proportion the capital gain based on time as ppor / total time owned times final capital gain achieved from original purchase price will be exempt. gain that is after this exempt amount is subtracted off is taxed .

Also suggestions from an accountant that rent the old one privately, but named the new one on the rental agreement to claim stamp duty and more tax deduction on interest etc, would this take me into any trouble if ATO find out?

Remember that you sign your tax return declaration that every thing stated is true and correct. So you will be the one explaining to a tax officer why you are defrauding the ATO not your accountant.

You cannot claim stamp duty as a cost against a rental property that is private use (you can borrow the funds needed if the house is for investment purpose)?

You cannot claim a loan that is for the purpose of private use being your main dwelling as your rental investment purpose.

I basically don't want any trouble but attracted by the benefit of the doge way, just how much would I save if I listen to the accountant?

http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/82390.htm

This quote below is directly from

http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/00131327.htm

Interest

People sometimes use their loan facility for both investing and private purposes – for example, to purchase or renovate a rental property and to buy a motor boat.

The interest expense on the private portion of the loan (the motor boat) is not deductible.

Terry has a good point about setting up an LOC or using any equity gain.

What you need to think about is tactics.
Are you a buy and hold investor for a longer term time period.

You could split the loan up which goes something like below
30% of loan fixed for one year at whatever interest rate.
30% of loan fixed for two years at whatever interest rate.
30 % of loan fixed for three years at whatever interest rate.
10% of loan variable at whatever interest rate.
this is an averaging of the interest rate while giving you flexibility to decide in a years time when the fixed rate on 30% finishes on if you want to fix the 1st portion for three years or go variable on 40% instead..

Servicing the loans is the factor that may stop you buying another property in the future.

You also need to take of your home owner thinking hat off and put on your landlord investment loan hat.
Remember that the rent and tax deduction refund help to pay the investment loan.

Does your land lords insurance cover a non fixed lease week by week situation

Have cheap ones that hire a hubby comes in once a year to replace batteries.

In Victoria you would ask consumer affairs on how to apply to get this taken off the bond.

A lot of investors state that improvement factor is the motive.
Also the gearing is higher in property than say borrowing against shares for the next deposit.
Say you buy shares in the stock market can you improve the value of the shares through a renovation or a sub divide ?
What I hope to achieve in the long term is financial independence.

However having the PM ring me with a leaking shower I am beginning to wonder if it is worth doing.

Also there are two types of property investing.
Passive . Buy and Hold – long term profit.
                   Negative cash flow or Positive cash flow
Active –    Buy – improve – sell – short term profit.

Also having previously experienced rapid 4 year growth in a property it becomes addictive and gets into your blood.
I am thinking even though my wage is not enough to buy property at the moment on how I can invest in property without much wage income.

If you have the planning permits approved you could sell the subdivided lots to a developer.

If you want to JV you need to network with people. People do not do Joint ventures usually from advertisements they want to know the person they are teaming with. Unfortunately you have not provided information on the State and suburb so I can't advise you on possible networking places in Victoria and Perth at the Active Property network http://www.activepropertynetwork.com.au/. However this type of networking takes time to do.

No

Not with residential investment property in Australia.

Look at paying weekly if you are not doing this.
Get an full offset account attached to the loan and get your salary put into the account.
do a search on the term offset in search function of forum for more info on how this can reduce the term of your loan.
As you get pay increases or over time payments put this into loan repayments..

There is a shortage of builders thanks to a lack of training of apprentices and the closing of Technical schools which helps with the shortage.