Ah sorry I misunderstood.  Rereading, it does indicate that you meant you wanted to sell a few of them.

Seriously tho – why sell them?  Why not try a few different things towards renting them?

Are any of the properties within reasonable commutes to a defence base?  If so, maybe you could try and rent directly to the defence force?  The Aussie equivalent is http://www.dha.gov.au . 

Are any of them close to universities?  If so, contact the uni housing department.  They might be able to get you a tennant for the next academic year.

Have you taken a look at the rental vacancy rates in the area that your properties are in?  Is the vacancy rate high anyway, or is it low and sadly your properties are the ones not getting rented?  If it is the latter, try looking at how your properties look compared to the ones that get snapped up quickly.  For example, is the kitchen a darkish environment with brown cupboards that could be brightened up cheaply with some white paint?

I can't comment on the Craigieburn area.  What I will say about Point Cook is this:

I do not have property there.  I have property down the road in Hoppers Crossing.  Last time I bothered to look at Point Cook as an investment possibility, the roads linking the area to the freeway troubled me.  It looked like a huge bottleneck with more houses being built (and thus more cars to delay getting onto the freeway).  I would research such things.  If possible, simulate the commutes between a suburb and the main centre (Melbourne) during peak hour.  This will tell you whether your proposed investment property is a feasible commute for most people working in the city.  I'd also compare prices in Point Cook to the neighbouring suburbs.  It seemed kinda overpriced to me, though I've not looked for a while.  Check how close it is to Altona Meadows which still seems cheap, and work out if it will soon be the case that the two will merge, and if you would as such have spent too much for something just across the road from a cheaper proposition.

All that said, Point Cook has been a popular area.  Must be a reason.

jac

Maybe try renting as a holiday rental while waiting for more permanent tenants?

Hi again

Those seem like great numbers to me.  I have been taking a look at a model of :

IP property price = $250k
Deposit = 10% ($25k)
Interest only mortgage
Nomatter how I look at this, it seems to me that I would need to contribute $300 towards the mortgage per month.
The exception to this rule is should I be negative gearing against my day job income, in which case I'd expect to get about $4k a year back from the taxman for a few years.  I guess that would cover  the $300/month, assuming the negative gearing tax laws do not change.

Is that pretty much the model you are looking at, or am I missing some golden nugget of information that makes the contributions less in the absence of negative gearing?  (The reason I ask is that I really do not feel like having to earn a mega-salary for the next 30 years just to get $4k a year back ) 

ps http://www.myrp.com.au is somewhere to start looking at suburb statistics

Here is one place: http://www.myrp.com.au/

I don't have an opinion one way or another about whether to keep it or sell it.  Remember some money is lost in the selling and rebuying process.  Here are some options to throw in the mix:

If you keep it, you could get another IP with a big loan on it so that it makes a spectacular loss, and you can offset the Blue Mountains income against it. 

If you keep the Blue Mountains place, have you considered renting it as a holiday rental instead of regular?  You could register on http://www.stayz.com.au …  it might make a better rental return by doing this.

Wow – let me get this straight.  You are 21, and intend to acquire 4 properties in 4 years.  I am presuming each property will require you to put your hand in your pocket to some degree… I am intrigued.  I am wondering what kind of well-paid role you are already doing at 21 to provide you with such a slushy fund   Impressive matie!  I think I must be missing something – most properties I look at would require me to put my hand in my pocket and pitch cash in each year for quite a few years.  Is this not the case for you?  If not, do share the secret!

Hi Bob

So many options!

It is not out of the question for you to continue renting, and to purchase an investment property that a tenant can pay off.  One big benefit is that you can negative gear the "loss" of your little property business venture against your day job tax.  So in theory, you might get some of the loss refunded from tax you pay.  This might be a suitable avenue for you to follow if in fact you are paying enough tax from your day job to make it worth trying to claw some of it back.  In this regard, you would indeed want to seek financial advice about this.

If you decide to buy something and live in it and can't find anything you like, what about buying something that you don't like at the moment, and fix it up as and when you can afford it?  For instance, if you bought a 2br house on a largeish piece of land, you could live in the 2br house for a while, and when you feel you need more space, you could extend the house, or bulldoze it and build a new one.  Alternatively, you could purchase a slightly larger house that structurely is fine, (eg you are happy that the brick facade is fine, but don't like the paint job inside or the presence of certain walls) and put up with it for a while and make aesthetic changes in a couple of years when you have your mortgage payments at a manageable level.

I am assuming you will be eligible for the first home owner grant, which is worth at least $7k to you – more if you buy something before the end of 2009.

Jac