what about buying an investment. keep living with parents for another year and saving like crazy then use the equity and savings to purchase your own place. you will still get the first home owners grant for your own place as your first purchase would be an investment. just food for thought

the other thing to remember to is if someone is interested in your property as an investment they are not going to keep uncoperative tenants so they are not doing themselves any favours

you can do what you like. i have had agents tell me the same thing and i insist they put it up in small amounts regulary or if change of tenant  $10 – $15 depending on what i think i can get. check out what else is available and at what price . you would think agents would like to put rent up as their commision goes up.  

you certainly can on fittings and fixtures but not the building unless there have been any additions as terryw said call a quantity surveyor this is also tax deductable. i have recently used depro and have been happy with them it cost around $500

we got a .8 discount to 7.52  (loc) including the recent interest rate rise. we bought across another 4 propertys to colonial to give us this bargaining power. westpac said they would have done the same when they rang us after getting the discharge papers. but i told them we had asked and we were   told they could't match it. the manager at that branch wasn't happy about us being told that and was going to look into it. go to a  mortgage broker or talk to some of your local branch managers and i'm sure they will do something.

hi alistair
no mortgage insurance  only do that if desperate and the end result justifys

i'd go 1 bedder rather than tacky 2 bedder which would you rather rent if you were a tenant

i thought i would pay the 8% and save headaches with painfull tenants. i had my agent do an inspection in late feb. told me everything was good grounds neat and tidy. in april we took tenants to tribunal once again for non payment of rent. had locks changed and to our horror found the place a mess. our backyard had 525 tyres of different sizes not covered by insurance as they classify it rubbish left behind. my agent told me the tyres were not there when she did the inspection and that our tenant had removed them for the day. the grass was growing through the tyres. it also took 2 ten tonne trucks to remove them so i don't think my tenant would have gone to the trouble or expense. we paid $1600 to get rid of the tyres and we had to load the trucks.our other quotes were between around $4000. the tyres were clearly visible from the road so i am not even sure how the agent got to the front door without seeing them. i now self manage 4 of our propertys as i am secure with the tenants and if that changes then i will bring an agent in. if you do decide to self manage don't believe what prospective tenants tell you no matter how genuine without some form of proof. ie bank deposits group certificates etc. go to where they are currently living this can be a good indication of how they will keep your property. do your checks on all tenants as one may have a bad history so they will put the lease in the others name  i now spend my weekends checking on my agents thankfully they are not all like this one and there are some good ones out there