Thanks mate,

We were hoping to fix some loans at what we thought was the bottom of the cycle.

Clearly the CBA is making this harder than first thought.

I feel you Karenday,

I used to be with CUA. They were great when I only had one loan, but as soon as I came knocking on their door to purchase further properties they were extremely cautious. They made it very difficult to use their services again so we reluctantly went with Comm bank who were very keen to aid our investment ambitions.

It's a shame because we've now lost out on the 100% offset on a fixed rate. Comm bank will only offer us 1.5% on monies in offset account when home loan is fixed

Best of luck with your loan.

This book is worth its weight in gold.

"Saving tax on your investment property" by Julia HARTMAN and Noel WHITTAKER.

10/10

I took notes whilst reading this book. I found that I was only skim reading through Margaret LOMAS' "20 Must Ask Questions for every property investor." LOMAS' book outlines a few helpul sources for finding the info you need for your due diligence checks, but overall, there seemed to be a few pages which were just filling the book.

7/10
 

G'day HK,

To an extent, I agree with Hbbehrendorff.

Hervey Bay offers great housing value for home buyers, but can be a little bit less rewarding for job seekers. Rental returns are fairly poor but there has been steady capital growth in the area.

There are a lot of oldies living in Hervey Bay who are pretty good at counting their money. So there is not a lot of money flowing into the local economy.

If flight services at Hervey Bay airport expand and includes regular flights from Cairns etc, then maybe the place will liven up. 

Hervey Bay is a relatively safe area for family and kids and has some great fishing areas. Housing at River Heads also offers some cheap views to Fraser Island.

I have started getting curious about properties at Redcliffe as I think they will offer better capital growth than Hervey Bay. Value for money though, Hervey Bay is definitely worth a look.

Best of luck with it.

We're paying 5.04% with Comm Bank Wealth Package at the moment.

The five year fixed rate is currently 6.49% with the wealth package.

We're keen to utilise the low variable rate at the moment, but we'd get real interested in locking in for about 5.7% for five years if it became available.

We intend to lock 3 loans in when we think the time is right

Yes Linar,

I absolutely agree. In QLD, the spousal transfer duty exemption is only applicable when transferring the title into joint tenants or tenants in common 50/50.

It will not be applicable when trying to remove a name completely.

Interest Only with a 100% offset account.

Unless your oozing with cash, you're probably a battler like us who has goals, and some effective money management.
If you can't save, investing won't work for you.

Just keep paying your extra savings into your owner occupied offset account. That extra principal from the other loans will go a long way to reducing your non deductible loan.

G'day Ozyboy84,

I am too lazy to research the FHOG Act again but I believe that your defacto parter is eligible to apply for the FHOG. Although the Acts Interpretation Act defines you as defacto, the FHOG Act further defines a defacto relationship as having resided together for 2 years. I can't remember if becoming engaged will throw a spanner in the works (have a read of the act as the misses might just have to wait another year.)
I ended up going guarantor for our loan but I wish I was on the loan as this would make the transition smoother for tax purposes. Unfortunately the banks, financial advisors, OSR were not helpful to our cause, and a bank knocked back a loan application because it 'felt funny.' The bank manager said yes but head office said no. We sent all the relevant legislation down to them with no success.This decision stuffed us around a great deal. I would suggest that you consider completing your own FHOG application and politely say to the bank that you wish to do it yourself as to not complicate things.