I think this is a great topic if egos can be put aside. 

I have only been investing in property since 2007 and have enjoyed the ride.  I have only really educated myself properly in the last year.

I have made some mistakes like anyone and a few of them are as follows.:

My finance was not set up properly at the start.  I always did what the banks told me and now I am paying for it.  I never new about offsets and taking equity out to dump in there and having stand alone mortgages.  This undoubtedly was my biggest mistake.  I would also like to pass on my thanks to NAB for setting it up like this and telling me cross collateralisation was great and the way to to it

I focused in one area at the start but am now open to investing in other than areas surrounding where I live.

Not intially investing in blue chip areas due to where I was living.

I didn't take advantage of the interest rates when they were at their lowest.

Not initially using a Mortgage Broker.

I have learnt so much over the past year mostly from this forum and somewhat books and magazines.  These resources give you the courage and self belief to invest further and explore the different options.  It makes you believe you know you can do somthing rather than thinking you can!!!!!!

Hi Nightelves,
                             There are many ways to do this.  It depends on how much time you have, motivation, lateral thinking and knowledge.  I will list a few ways that I know but I am sure there will be many people who can give you much better advice than I who will no doubt post on here.

1.  Buy at a good price.  Knocking 20-50k off an averaged priced home is a great way to get that little bit ahead at the start of your
investing career.

2.  Buy in an area on the up. ie Hotspotting.  Find an area that is about to have a project start or finish that will improve infrastructure.  Or an area that is just about to boom due to market timing.  Research is the only way to do this.  If you wish to buy in an area that you live near due to familiarity buy the best that you can.  You may find you make 100k equity in a year with this tactic.

3.  Buy a property that needs a bit of cosmetic work.  Maybe a property that needs a lick of paint, a new front fence an landscaping, simple bathroomkitchen tidy up or small renovation.  By doing a cosmetic renovation it won't take up to much money as opposed to a full make over that will take up alot of time and money if you are inexperienced.  Alot of cosmetic work you may find you can do yourself.

4.  Buy a property on a large block you you may be able to subdivide and sell the rear block or keep it for yourself and look to build a second dwelling on it.

5.  Using a good brokerlender.  This sounds strange but different banks have different valuations come in.  I recently had one bank value a property 50K more than another.  To me this was alot of money that I can now use to move forward.

There are many ways.  The forum is a great way to find out all the tricks you can use.

I hope this helps.

I think the dis-respect comment is very valid.  Alot of people are very tight for money at the moment.  It could force them to leave and then your property could sit vacant for a few weeks losing you X amount of dollars.  If they are good tennants they would get the bond back at the end of the new lease even if it increased.  So you wouldn't make money off the bond as such.

Secondly I think the bond should really only be increased if you renovate the property but that would be hard if there have been tennants living there.

Corner blocks are fantastic……. However in light of your DHA Lease back scheme…… DHA I am 90% sure have certain requirements for yard size private areas etc they even go to the extent of having so much metrage of clothsline.  You may want to check that out with them if you are still keen to lease it to them.

If you are able to subdivide but DHA don't accept that I would be sticking with the subdivision.

Also after a course in Melb.

WoW……………. Sorry I dont' really have any advice but if people out there are good mates with real estate agents……. Need I say any more…. Im not talking about out of control valuations but maybe that 3% as needed could be given.

Does St George do all valuations like this for a refinance unlocking equity??

I think valuations across the board are hit and miss at the moment.  I think it is best to hang in there or see if another lender comes in higher.   They all have different methods and requirements of what level of valuation they will conduct. I have had a couple of properties come back as follows both in the same suburb:

Property 1: ANZ Higher NAB Lower by 40K

Property 2: ANZ Lower NAB Higher by 20K

I had NAB tell me that 40K isn't much…….. It may not be.  But to me at this point in time and what I want to do it is!!!

It should be 20% on todays sale price.  Who knows what the market could do in 30months.  Im sure there are many a developer who went under during the PAST 30 months.

Was it 30 months from settlement date, 30 months from the start of construction or 30 months after completion of construction.

Not that it matters regardless but just curious.