Terry, here's some more info on the IP. 

We bought the property in 2009 (new apartment), moved in Jan 2010. My wife and I lived in it as PPOR until July this year, as we are relocating interstate. The property have just been let to a tenant only starting this month on a 12 months lease. I engaged a property agent to manage it and also got the…[Read more]

Thanks Jamie. I don't have any other debt/loan with interest higher than the unit trust dividend rate I mentioned in (2).

I'm now considering of buying some unit trust and leave some cash for expenses. Maybe open a savings a/c with interest earning for the spare cash.
At least it earning something other than 0%.

On LMI. Say if I go beyond 80%…[Read more]

Thanks Catalyst. I will get my property manager to produce a net income vs estimated outgoing expenses for the property factoring some items you described above. 

Will file my tax with an agent this Sunday, so I'll ask him for full list of what I can claim from the IP, then use that as a guide going forward.

Like you said, if positive I only…[Read more]

Thanks wilko for your reply and tips. It's a 3+ year old unit and BMT told me I can still get a decent depreciation out of it. I forgot to mentioned the insurance. I spent $277 on a landlord insurance for the property.

Never thought I could claim those expenses insured while visiting the property. Will definitely keep this in mind. Will keep…[Read more]

Thanks guys. I will take that into consideration and speak to my tax accountant further about it.

xdrew wrote:
hornbill,There are lots of parts to say about your current invest.First .. you do realise you have 6 years to be away from your PPOR and still claim it as a PPOR and receive all the capital gains from that? At the end of that 6 years you can either return to the property or sell it. Thats gotta be worth a cracker to you .. you can…[Read more]

Qlds007 wrote:
JohnHate to say no lender will lend your wife a cracker if she is unemployed especially since the intro of NCPP.If you decide to sell the property to your wife there is nothing to stop her being on the Title and both of you being co-borrowers or alternatively you buying a percentage of the property from and going from Joint…[Read more]

Thanks Freckle. You’re probably right. Doesn’t appear to be any chance of CG anytime soon. Main reason why i want to hang on to the property for now is because we have some building defects and legal issue going in with the builder at the moment. If i sell now, we may not get a fair market value for it, due to the building issues.

Assuming market…[Read more]

Bradley Beer wrote:
Hornbill,If you are looking to rent the property out. A Tax Depreciation Schedule can certainly add some financial benefit to your Tax Return at the End of the Financial Year.Regarding your query about whom can help, the ATO considers Quantity Surveyor's as having the skills and knowledge to estimate and assign values to the…[Read more]

Thanks guys…and happy Easter.

Here’s my plan:

1. Get a quantity surveyor to prepare a depreciation schedule.

2. Meet with rental agent to assess rental potential (and work out all outgoings – management fees etc).

3. Once I have all the numbers, meet-up with a tax agent to determine whether the property is in a positive / negative gear…[Read more]

Hi Derek, i guess you’re right. An agent once told me that if I upgrade to bigger property, I actually ‘capitalise more’ than I lose. He was saying 10% drop in bigger properties worth more dollars compared to the smaller ones.

I guess he made sense, although at the time I was thinking in my head he probably tries to encourage me to sell my…[Read more]

Thanks guys. I will look into the depreciation schedule. May I know who can help me with that? Tax accountant?

Initially I was thinking of converting the property title from joint ownership (me and my wife) into just my name, as she is a stay home mom and not generating income. I had the impression that I might be able to turn the property into…[Read more]

mattsta wrote:
I had a quick look at your numbers, and I suppose you made a mistake when you wrote Body Corporate fee : $420/wk? Perhaps you meant 420 per quarter?For positive cash flow property investing, you need to make sure that your weekly rental income is higher that weekly expenses. It's really as simple as that

You’re…[Read more]

Scott No Mates wrote:
I think that you'd find it difficult to get a money back guarantee unless you had some very tight KPIs. After all, they will present you with various options which will suit your budget, tastes, size requirements etc but you may not 'like' them.

I wonder if there is buyers agent out there that can offer negotiation…[Read more]

Jamie M wrote:
I forgot to add. It wouldn't apply to a PPOR because you wouldn't have to pay CGT on it.

Thanks Jamie. I didn’t know that about the bit when you can only claim BA fees after selling an IP. Guess that’s something I may need to consider in the future.

But for now, it’s for my new PPOR. Perhaps I just catch up with one of the…[Read more]

Scott No Mates wrote:
generally the ba will have more access to sales information than a buyer. They are better able to negotiate terms for the sale if there are special requirements etc.

Thanks Scott. You mean special requirements such as settlement date, property inspections etc?

Thanks Terry. Yes, I’m doing the sums now before deciding. Most people suggest that making the move towards your 2nd property tend to be harder than your subsequent properties.

Probably not a bad thing, so that I don’t anyhow jump into something so big without doing proper research and work the numbers. Reading some property investment books,…[Read more]

Terryw wrote:
Ideally I would suggest buying at least one property in personal names as you get the CGT exemption – which will be huge as values increase over time. But this one I would suggest should be in the name of the spouse with the lower risk so as to increase asset protection.There after, ideally, in a trust, but again it would depend on…[Read more]