Milly, Chermside is 10kms from CBD of Brisbane, not about 15kms.

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Have you been able to get a projected capital growth for the unit?  Don't accept the spin from salespeople, you need to get some independant advice on this.  There is a good program on 4BC from 10-12 every Saturday when you can ring up and ask for advice.

I don't think that there are renovation and maintenance issues if you buy land and build a new house.  You are also appealing to a wider market.  Corporate rentals can be okay if you know what you are doing, the problem is that the appeal is to a very limited market and if that market dries up you could be in trouble.

I've got a great property manager.  Even when I'm travelling overseas or interstate, I never have to think about maintenance issues.

There is definitely an opportunity for corporate rentals, if you can tap into this niche market.  The returns would be better than normal rentals and you don't have so many problems with damaged furniture.  You have to look at the overall return (rental return and capital growth) to work out which way to go.  I read a report recently which indicated that some corporate travellers are tired of being stuck in hotels for days on end.  They'd rather live in an apartment in which they can live a more "normal" life.  Most capital cities don't have enough these type of facilities. 

Over the last 18 months I've deliberately decided to follow the John Fitzgerald model of investing.  Buy land in strategic locations, build brand new homes and hold on indefinitely.  After each project, I've gained instant equity of approximately 20%, never had any problems with maintenance & tenants and the depreciation allowances are fantastic.  A number of my friends and family are also successfully using this method.  It's a lot easier and cheaper than renovating.

As I said earlier, I'm not a great fan of apartments, new or second hand.  If you haven't got the time or the skills to investigate returns on units, it is much better to concentrate on house and land situated no more than 25 kms from the CBD in any capital city of Australia (excluding Hobart). 

I got a ruling from the tax department on this in May 2007.  You definitely can claim a deduction on the interest to date.  Your accountant is correct. 

It's all got to do with your original intention. If you bought the land with the intention of building on it for investment purposes, you can claim all the interest that you paid.  You don't have to build on the land straight away.  You can wait a year or two before you build.

Have a look at the latest Residex report on residex.com.au/newsletter/source2007-11bMC.html.  In nearly every area in Australia whether it be capital cities or regional prices have gone up by close to or above 10% for the last 10 years.

Don't say rubbish without looking at the facts.

I recently read a study ( sorry can't quote it because I printed it out and gave it to a friend) which stated that in 83% of cases, people are worse off fixing their interest rates compared with those who stayed on a variable rate.  The research was conducted over the last 7-10 years.

I would never fix for any more than a year as anything could happen after that.  Who would ever have thought a year ago that the US would start cutting interest rates as it is doing now?

I've had properties for over 35 years and during that time I've had both fixed and variable.  In the majority of cases I've been worse off using a fixed rate.

The valuer physically examined the properties, meaured out  the size of the house, asked questions about the area and I assume used RP Data to work out the value. It was certainly no drive-by.

The purpose of the valuation was for refinancing.  All my properties  are cross collatirised so I am getting out of ANZ and using a range of banks.  All of the properties will be stand alone – anyway that's another topic.

I'm paying quite a bit of money to get the valuations done.  The valuer seemed to know what he was taliking about.  These valuations are going to be critical if I want to continue investing in a big way. My opinion counts for nothing, it's the bank's opinion if I want to continue investing.

I went to a Property Seminar recently where Margaret Lomas was a guest speaker.  Margaret has 38 properties scattered throughout Australia and is the author of a number of property investment books.  She mentioned that she now buys all her properties unseen.  I think that she uses trusted agents or buyers agents.  I have done a google search on Margaret and am very impressed with her investment strategy.  I intend to buy some of her books to see how she does it.

Bank valuers are usually pretty conservative so expect a figure which is at the contract price or below.  However there is a boom going on in Brisbane at the moment and the valuers are all over the place.  I've just had all my properties revalued,  Some are way below what I consider to be a fair valuation while others are above what I thought to be the market value.

Just about impossible to get anything in Brisbane for under 300K,  The median price in Adelaide is lower but I'd much prefer Brisbane in the long term as it in the centre of one of the fastest growing areas in the Southern Hemispere.  Both cities are going through a boom. 

If you are going to anything move quickly because I can't see it slowing down over the next few years.  There is a severe shortage of properties in Brisbane – I think that it's the same in Adelaide