There would be a form you would have signed to nominate whether you want them to handle maintaining it, or maintaining it yourself. Politely remind them of this and indicate you look forward to seeing your reimbursement for the error on your next statement. If it doesn’t show up, go the appropriate small claims route through Consumer Affairs (VCAT in Victoria).

daniel vic wrote:

save money on agent fees & letting fees

True, though check with your insurer if your premiums will go up if you are self-managing. I would be surprised if they don’t. Also be aware you’ll have to spend petrol money driving to the property to do routine inspections, or any time something needs to be reviewed before deciding to send tradies to the property.

daniel vic wrote:

get paid 26 times a year rather than 12

A lot of agencies do offer a fortnightly payment – have you asked about this?

• This reply was modified 10 years, 7 months ago by  Jacqui Middleton.

Be sure to check on the insurance situation. Might be treated as a commercial venture.

Further to what Terry has already said, you might want to include time limits on your conditions, and an indication of the consequence if the condition is not met.

… or you can attend the open for inspections for properties in the target area. You will observe current demand very quickly in this way. If you see queues of people at the front of the property (like the queue at the bbq at Bunnings) waiting for the open, and several people asking for application forms, that shows you demand. Go inside and listen to what people are saying to understand what the features are that are attracting the people.

When you decided the IP would become your PPOR, there was no conveyancer or solicitor involved (whereas there would be when you are acquiring a property).  As such, it would be your responsibility to contact the SRO.  I am sure your solicitor would happily do it for you, however there would of course be a fee for their time.  As this is something that you can do yourself, you might as well save yourself a few dollars.

In Victoria, the exemption threshold is $250k worth of land.  If you look at the council rates notice for the IP and look for the land only valuation, you’ll probably find it is less than $250k, so you owe the SRO nothing in terms of landtax.

Normally it is the job of your solicitor/conveyancer to lodge details of your purchases with the SRO, but if you are concerned, give them a ring and make sure they are aware of your holdings.

Primary residences are exempt from landtax, so I am not sure why your wife got a landtax notice for your home.  Was it an investment property at some stage?  If so, did you notify the SRO that it is now your home because you are living in it?

Hi Ben

If you are using exclusively natural equity growth (as opposed to the forced variety through value-adding such as renovation and subdivision) and your day job income to fund deposits etc on subsequent properties, then one way to maximize what you can do with your available equity is to keep your deposits low, and go a higher lend on the main IP mortgage (eg 95%).  Yes you will have to pay LMI (lenders mortgage insurance), but that tends to be cheaper than stumping up for bigger deposits.

Some other things you can do to expedite getting you in to more properties are of course increasing the income you earn from your own labour (eg get payrise, take a second job etc), force equity growth through renovation / subdivision / buying under value, or introduce another investment stream that earn you more income faster without having to turn up to a job.

There would be an insurance policy for the shared driveway, so at some point the owners of the front and rear dwellings need to agree on the policy and pitch in their respective share of the policy price.  This would be quite problematic if one owner would not agree.  You’d then have a public liability risk on the common parts.  If a visitor trips on the driveway and wants to sue someone, you’re exposed without some sort of insurance.

A large house with a smaller backyard might be less desirable for a family with young children, but no problem as the children get a bit older.  If the area has a suitable outdoor entertaining area there should be no issue.

If the rear dwelling had been a one-bedroom flat and a single male lived in it, a family with young children might be reluctant to reside in the front dwelling (a relatively-resolvable issue by increasing fence heights), but given that the rear dwelling does not fall into that category, no problem.

Hi Solomon

With regards to property being the vehicle, if you bought it in your own names, then transferring/gifting it to your son would result in Capital Gains Tax for you, and Stamp Duty for him.  In this regard, a family trust may well be the way to go.  With a bit of luck Terry will pop in to say hi and contribute his thoughts on the matter.

Property is of course not the only vehicle for investment, but this being a property forum, most of the response will be around the property topic.