Hi Mandy

Sorry to hear about your trouble!

Just a couple of observations:

– The suburb is noted incorrectly on the listing.

– There is no picture of the garage. While it is mentioned in the text, a picture tells a thousand words, and people like to see where the car is parked in relation to the front door. It is always a good idea to have a pic showing garage entry and front door in the one pic.

– I notice there are several open for inspections listed, each of which conflict with the standard work day, and Saturday morning soccer practice. I wonder whether your agent is being accommodating of people wishing to view outside of these hours. I would consider having a mystery shopper ring up and enquire about your property and explore whether requests for such inspections are being accommodated.

At the end of the day if the pics are appropriate and the ad is appropriate and the agent is performing then the thing to look at is the price.

kris07 wrote:

Just had a quick look at stock and something like this could work quite (yes a little more than you expected to pay, however it will rent easily and is really well located);

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-ballarat-120207309

For that sort of yield you could be in a sturdy brick property in the suburbs of Melbourne.

I definitely do not disagree with the concept of investing in regional centres, but I expect the yield to be higher than the suburbs of Melbourne, especially where weatherboard residences are involved. Weatherboards cost money to maintain and I expect the rental return to foot the bill for this.

Hi Lee

Answers as follows

Lee wrote:

Q:Should we continue to smash our home loan down to $0 before we start investing so we have family security? My answer Yes

Not necessarily. You cannot save your way to glory. You have equity that can be used to get you into another asset that produces income and capital growth. That is a model that out-paces your ability to save.

Lee wrote:

Q:is it stupid to redraw from family home to put a deposit on a IP or is it smart practice? My answer stupid

True. It is not the most tax-efficient method of accessing equity. Redraw is very different to refinance to release equity. Very different post-taxation outcomes. Don’t assume you know the difference. Be sure you understand the difference and only use brokers/financiers that understand the difference too.

Lee wrote:

Q:Is there any reason why investors buy existing dwellings over building new ones to rent out?

Yes. One example is the difficulty of financing new-builds when the build takes longer than a bank loan offer document. Another is peoples’ inability to visualize a finished product.

Lee wrote:

Q:is it best to buy a turn key property or do the finishing touches yourself I.E.flooring,painting,landscaping,curtains (I am a handyman )

Unless you a tradie expert in all these fields I do not think you could finish the product cheaper than the bulk builders could.

I agree with the sentiment on Point Cook. I would not touch it either. Oversupply of same same stuff and insufficient infrastructure to get people to and from work (single lane road gridlock traffic to bash your way towards the nearest freeway or train station).

I also agree you should not necessarily be forcing yourself to choose between Point Cook and Altona North. There are plenty of other options out there.

The interesting thing about these sorts of super funds where the employer makes extra contributions is… the only rule that seems to apply is that your member contributions have to land in that fund. What happens thereafter is up to you. We have a lot of clients with a similar situation. They let their contributions land in the fund in question, and then once or twice a year they do a chunky rollover to their SMSF.

I have a high-level spreadsheet that looks at retirement funding expectations, factoring in assets outside super, and also factoring in super. Feel free to drop me a line if you are trying to determine if you want me to run your numbers through.

Hi Bnk

There are some areas to absolutely avoid in QLD at the moment, however there are also some absolutely fantastic pockets offering some cracking buys. We’ve secured some beauties for clients lately.

Hi Garth

If you intend to buy an investment property and THEN do your subdivision/construction, first check with your broker that the lenders would actually fund both of these exercises.

You will find that GST will apply to the newly-constructed property. For this reason, people who do a build in the backyard of their home often opt to move into the rear dwelling and sell the front one. Discuss pros and cons with your accountant.

Capital Gains Tax will be in play and you should discuss likely CGT with your accountant also.

Once you do your subdivision you should expect that council will hit you with two council rates notices rather than one. For this reason, people often construct first and leave the subdivision till last.

As to whose name to buy the property in is a question for your financial planner or accountant.

How much do you current have in super between the two of you?

$40k won’t be quite enough to do much, however we have some lender options we could look at for you without having to wait the full 2 years. Perhaps wait till you’ve got $50k saved and feel free to give me a shout to kick off the conversation :)

Hi ProtonEnergy

Yes of course you are welcome to shoot me a PM. Drop me a line to kickoff the chat and am happy to jump on a Skype call if you wish.