Where are you located?

Hi DSH… I think just about everyone would do something a little bit different – I purchased a unit as my first property and would have preferred to buy a house (but we’re all richer in hindsight aren’t we!)… generally speaking, I’ve found that when push comes to shove, you have to do something – but keep your head about you.

You’ve raised…[Read more]

Im not sure if he or his staff cover the area, but you could try getting hold of Rich Harvey from Property Buyers and see if they do – I’ve worked with them and found them reliable.

There used to be a loophole that allowed you to buy an investment property and still claim the FHOG. This was because the FHOG used to state that you have not owned a PPOR before, rather than any property. This was changed a couple of years ago – I’ve included the major criteria below for your reference.

FHOGS is available to people buying or…[Read more]

This is a related party transaction.  A related party includes any member, a relative of any member, a relative of the spouse of any member, and an entity (such as a company or trust) controlled by one or more of the above individuals.The definition of relative includes a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, lineal…[Read more]

Indeed, interesting reading.  Only really skims the surface however.  There are so many different factors that lead to a country's general housing price trends that it's near impossible to generalise.

If you're improving the property with capital improvements, then yes – you should be able to claim the items that you purchased as deductible.  Keep evidence of your purchase and give these to the qantity surveyor to include when they prepare the depreciation schedule.

You may find it easier to go to the strata company that you would prefer to use and ask them to talk you through the process.  They should know the law and the processes back to front, and if they want the business, they will hold your hand through the whole process.Other than that, you need to find out the rules around your strata plan on how to…[Read more]

Hey everyone…As a financial planner, I get asked a lot of questions about various investments and buying property in America is a topic that I have been asked sufficient times for me to do something about.  So, I've spent the past few months researching and finding more about it – I've come across the guys at My USA Property, and while I have…[Read more]

Ah, the ones that got away…I've advised plenty of people over the years, and I've seen plenty of good deals get away, but two come to mind:1. I recommended a property I found to a client just outside of Manly, Sydney NSW.  The property was a 3br unit, on a hill with views over the surrounding areas.  The asking price was circa $260k.  The cl…[Read more]

You can nominate one property as your PPOR for a period of up to 6 years after you move out, even if you are renting it out.  You can not, however, have more than one PPOR at at time.  The ATO has some very solid material on this on their web site.  So, you can claim either A or B as your PPOR, but not both at the same time.  So, A would have bee…[Read more]

Much comes down to how the contract is written.  However generally speaking, special conditions are part of the actual contract, so once they sign it, it's all in.  However, if the special conditions are separate or require specific signing and it has not been signed, there is potentially scope for the contract itself to be binding, but the s…[Read more]

You are within your rights to withdraw the property off the market and move into yourselves – providing I have understood what you have written there. 

No, they are not your normal services apartments – they are closer to the holiday rental apartments that you find in SE-Qld.  Typcially, banks and valuers take a much better view of these as they are pretty much "normal" apartments – however freerenterprise is correct, a valuer might very likely take the value of the furniture package off the…[Read more]

Congrats on your first post!I don't personally know the Hurstville area sufficiently enough to give you a yes or no on the property that you are looking but just a few ideas to consider:1. you can buy either side of the median price in an area and still get excellent growth.  The median is just that, the middle – it does not mean it's what gets…[Read more]

I've always found that being straight up with agents works.  I've often negotiated set deposit amounts prior to auctions (ie, say $30,000 exactly, regardless of price) and asked for them to seek approval from the vendor.  It's good that you're aware of the issue re bidding too high for your loan approval – the easiest way to get around this is g…[Read more]

Nothing wrong with wanting your cake and eating it too

They seemed to go quiet for a while – I don't come across too many borrowers that fit that category.

Quite seriously, invest an hour or two per day just reading people's various experiences in here, and start asking questions as you start to develop your understanding of things. 

I'd love to hear of anything that's going on around Sydney – if not, maybe we could host something?