I use Adam and Ann from Housesmart Realestate. They manage 3 of my rentals. Haven’t had any problems and always seem to get good tenants from their screening process. Other management agents manage 150 homes per person whereas they manage a fair bit less than that.

I’m with EBM insurance brokers with their Platinum policy. Home and contents with landlord insurance. Never had a quote cheaper than them, no problems with claims and very good cover.

Im interested in how these spreadsheets are set up since the way I track my costs could use improvement.

I use what I call a net debt graph where I track my overall account balance against time.  Generally it trends down which is a good thing….  Im sure there is a better way though.  Just havent worked it out yet…

Another spreadsheet I keep seperate is all income and all outgoings for each property.  One tab per property.  Will make it easy when it comes to claim my tax at the end of the year.  As Terry suggested, this takes a few minutes per property every month.

I believe there is money to be made if you are building however if you are buying off a developer then there will be little space to create equity as you and Jamie has suggested.

By living in the house upfront you will be losing out on a fair bit of depreciation in the early years of the property.  Of course the tax advantages shouldnt be motivation to buy but it is something to consider.