Agreed.

Positive = The property will pull its weight and allow you to build your portfolio further.

Negative = If there is capital growth good, though remember it is not guaranteed.  Either way, capital growth does not get the mortgage repayments made.  Rental yield does.

When agents try to hype up a property to me because it has "better capital growth potential" my response is always the same.  I am a yield buyer.   For sure I expect a property to go up in value at the usual rate that property should.  But I also expect it to pull its weight along the way.  Property is an asset class you tend to hold for a while, and a decade is an awful long time to keep all fingers and toes crossed hoping and praying for capital growth to make up for lack of yield.

Hi kjmh

It's a common thing we see – the selection of the suburb followed by the frustration in trying to make it fit the end goal (and it often doesn't).  Best to do things the other way around – define the end goal and then determine which suburbs can help you get there.  If you cannot do this yourself for whatever reason (lack of time, lack of confidence in doing due diligence or negotiating offers etc) then outsourcing of such things is an option.

Most importantly as has already been alluded to by the other posters is that yield is important.  Wipe out the concept that you must buy in pretty and prestigious suburbs – you want to buy a property that has appropriate numbers, that's what you want. 

You are approximately correct in saying your budget would be below $350k.  If you were moving overseas and were stuck with 80% LVR then that'd be about your budget, allowing for keeping some money in the emergency fund and such.  That said, some lenders go higher for Aussies working overseas.  Richard Taylor who has already responded above could assist you further on this.

I'm not a fan of handing over money to the bank unnecessarily as it is then annoying and not without expense to get it back.  In this regard, if I had available to me $100k for investment, I'd be looking to contribute as little as possible towards the acquisition and borrow as much as I could…. but have a giant pile of money in the offset account.  This gives you options later on if you want to redirect those funds to a different purpose.

Something else you need to determine is whether there will be any spare money from your overseas salary after paying your living costs.  This will determine whether you'll be accumulating money for further property investment whilst you are working overseas, or whether the acquisition of your second investment property will have to wait till you return to a role with a higher salary.

Hope this helps

Ah very good.  Apologies Joe

It means you should vote in a manner that boots the Labor Government out of power in the next federal election, which is around September I believe

I prefer the heritage brick look over painted concrete. Painted concrete gets dirty-looking quite quickly, and is difficult to wash/repaint without scaffolding when you are talking second storey or loft

Hi Dennis, adding to what others have already covered, read up on land tax and how it is calculated so you can understand what the likely land tax bill if you buy all your property in the one state versus having property in a mixture of states.

Very refreshing to see that you see mentoring as a two way street Sebastian!  (ie that you are keen to absorb information and even do the gardening for someone!)  Plenty of folks out there stumble onto forums demanding free information in a less than polite fashion.  Good manners and common courtesy will take you far . 

There will be many folks that will have an influence over your investing approach in some way or another.  Little nuggets of wisdom that spill out in the course of dealing with your accountant and mortgage broker are two examples.  Point being, be sure to choose your support crew wisely.

Absolutely bang-on post from Freckle.  Very very relevant and concise.

Hi Mikal

You'd need to check with your accountant but you might find you cannot claim travel unless you are already an active investor.

Hi E Wolfe

I cannot stress enough the strong suggestion to steer clear of investing in onsite vans in caravan and holiday parks.