Forum Replies Created
Hello Crystal
Of cause it's possible to sell a house while your overseas, as you've now posted yourself. I've sold 2 that way myself with my sister signing for me using a power of attorney. I don't think that is actually your problem.
I don't think the vendor is interested to sell the house yet otherwise they would have left a key, at least, to enable inspections. The only suggestion I have is maybe if you can find out who the owners are and locate a relative (parents of, or children of), maybe via neighbours you may be able to get more information.
I wish you success
ElkaJust to clarify that a bit. What Simon was saying was yes, as long as your friend doesn't get another PPOR in the up to six year period. You can't declare 2 PPOR's at the same time. If he keeps renting, then no problem.
If his other property is an IP then this does not effect the situation.
I believe that if he buys himself another PPOR ,lets say after 4 years for example, then the calculation for CG for his original PPOR would start from that time so he would still win that extra 4 years CGT free.
An accountant would be able to verify all this for him.
Hope this helps
ElkaHello All
My first comment is that it's easier to criticise (and cheaper) than to create and offer such a site for others to use.
Steve, thank you for offering this site. It's certainly faster and remembers me. Two positives.
Since you wanted suggestions I am contrubuting this list of some of the things that I really miss. Will add more when I come across anything else.
1. A member profile with at least as much information as on the the old site. It was very handy to see who you were talking to and at least where they are from.
2. The list of your own and other members last posts, in the member profile area as before.
3. All the posts since you last logged in. I prefer them seperated into the different areas, as before, and not just one list.
4. The search function is not as good as on the last site.
5. It was very handy to be able to see if a PM you sent had been read.
6. After you post you get taken back to the first post in the thread rather than to the place you were at when you posted.
Hope this helps
ElkaHello Glasco
How exciting to have bought your first property.
Basically a depreciation schedule is a list of all the items in the property that loose value over time and will need to be replaced or redone at some stage (eg. hot water system, carpet etc.) together with their value and how much can be written off each year. Different items have a different life and therefore a different percentage that can be written off (deducted as an expense) against the income from the property. This is a good thing because it's a non out of pocket expence that lowers your tax bill. If the property has been renovated then you may get a very nice depreciation schedule so it's worth having it done professionally.
The other thing to do is to get landlords insurance. I assume you have house insurance and public liability already.
It may also be a good idea to go around and take many pictures of the property inside and also of the garden to show what fittings are everywhere and the condition of everything. A good PM should do this together with their property condition report but they will never take as many pictures as you will and it's good to have in case of any dispute about anything missing or damaged when a tenant leaves.
Good luck
ElkaHello Lucy
Nicely done. 15% shows a good saving habit though of cause I don't know over how many years.
Yes renegotiating your loan would help you reduce your repayments but then naturally your "redraw money" would no longer be available to be redrawn again. Also changing it froma PI loan (principle and interest) to an IO loan will also help in this. An 100% offset account where you deposit all your wages, linked to this morgage, would also be a good idea. It would not reduce your repayments but it would reduce your interest so effectively you would be repaying some principle each time. At the same time the savings in this account would be usable for whatever you want.
You should also get a depreciation schedule drawn up, specially if your appartment is not very old, as this will help you reduce the out of pocket cost of keeping your appartment. Also a good accountant.
What you should do is all a bit dependent on what your goals are for the future. Are you interested in being a property investor? Are you interested in trying to keep this appartment and still buying another property in the future? If so, you should not tie up the "redraw money" as this could be the start of a deposit for another property, whether another IP or PPOR.
I don't know which lender you are with or what, if any charges/penalties would be associated with changes to your mortgage. Maybe a good mortgage broker, who is also at home with investing, may be able to help you structure your loan correctly for the future and reduce costs of doing so. Certainly worth asking your lender and then also consulting a MB. There are some on the forum who would be my choice.
Hope this helps
ElkaHello LucyofOz
"The reason I ask ‘theoretically’ is I believe I may have inadvertently removed that option: I redrew most of the extra repayments I had made on my mortgage because I was expecting to sell imminently & therefore figured the whole mortgage would be paid down once that happened so I might as well put my extra payments to work in ahigh interest account.
Does this mean there is NO WAY I can now make ANY of my interest payments deductible if I rent it out? Is there anyway around this?"
Surely at least part of the interest will be tax deductible.
Lets say loan $200K
Extra payments which you redrew $40K
This will still leave you interest on $160K to deduct I should think.If you want to deduct the interest on the part you redrew as well you could always put it into another investment…. for example blue chip shares. As Terry advised speak to your accountant.
" If I’d just invested those extra payments elsewhere in the first place I wouldn’t have this problem…"Or if you had just put these extra payments into an 100% offset account linked to your mortgage you would have had the same effect (i.e paid less interest) and still not had this problem when you moved the funds out of the offset account so as to be able to claim the interest on the full mortgage. I love offset accounts.
BTW Unless you have a fixed interest loan taken out when the rates were very low, I can't think of an account that will pay you a better interest rate than that you are paying on your mortgage. Add to that the fact that you will pay tax on the interest earned ( in this new account ) without getting a tax deduction for the extra interest you pay on the mortgage while you are trying to sell the house, this seems like a not so good idea, unless I am much mistaken.
Cheers
ElkaHello mum2 five
It sounds to me as if you would be better off selling the house you are currently living in if you see that the prices are going to fall due to people moving out of the area.
If your planning to stay in the area and start a business why not rent for a while and see about buying again after the dust ( from those leaving
) has settled. Your original house is giving a good return and you think that a small boom is coming so why sell that?Just another option to think about.
Cheers
ElkaThis is no solution to the active topics problem but have you noticed that if you reply to a topic then you automatically get subscribed to it ?. If you don't get an email telling you someone has posted an answer then don't bother to go looking. Nothing has been added to the thread.
Hope this helps
ElkaHow much does one needs to retire on comfortably, in todays dollars, is a question that I have been mulling over for some time so last month, when I was having a meeting with my tax accountant, I asked him that question. I added that I didn't need any Mercs or BMWs but that I also didn't want to be forced to check out the specials at the supermarket. A comfortable rather than luxurious lifestyle with the odd diners out, holidays etc. etc.
The answer I got was $1500 per week after tax. That's $78K per year after tax. Of cause, if your a baby boomer like me, the easiest way to achieve this is to put as much as possible into a SMSF (and that can also be in the form of commercial property) because the tax free aspect of that income means you need to earn less to get more.
Hope this helps
Elka
) has settled. Your original house is giving a good return and you think that a small boom is coming so why sell that?
