Everybody is looking out for their own interests, and their own bank account balance.  It is important to remember that.  Very few people remain in the world that are happy to be honest about how an investment will impact you – even if it means they lose out on a sale.  It is for this reason you need to be sure in your mind of what you are doing because you have done your own research.  It's no use crying and blaming others if you buy something that turns out to be a bad investment for you.  Buyers Agents certainly have their place, and often hear about good deals that never get advertised on the real estate websites.  But to blindly buy something just because somebody tells you to, without looking into it and being sure in your own mind that it's a good idea is fraught with danger.

It would be a worthwhile exercise comparing the council rates and such.  I recently had the opportunity to see the council rates, body corporate fees and such for a new "house" for 2011 and also 2009.  I was able to see how rapidly the bills had risen and it was disturbing.  Basically what had occurred is that a developer had bought the street, and turned the whole street into a body corporate.  The council rates were wayyyy higher than those of an older house on a plot of land of twice the size just around the corner (a location of equal stature) and the body corporate fees had gone up astronomically.  The body corporate is covering the upkeep of the naturestrips, the street lighting (that's right – it's not council's problem), the roads and pavements, and buiding insurance.  A couple of years ago I observed that a new subdivision (ie new suburb) near my home has been developed as a body corporate.  The whole suburb is a body corporate.   It's poor residents are even forking out for the local leisure centre… whether they use it or not.  Be wary of the holding costs in such new subdivisions.  I would imagine that it's the way of the future – state government squirming out of maintaining the streetscape by having entire suburbs declared body corporates responsible for the upkeep of their own roads and street lighting (and remember street lighting attracts an electricity bill, and that electricity goes up each year).  In this regard I'm very wary of new areas and prefer older areas.

Not being funny, but what can they do if you choose not to pay these fines?  You are not an American citizen, so what is their plan?  Extradition?  Hehhee

Charge more rent (say $15-$20 per week) and get them to sign a pet clause, acknowledging they'll be liable for any damage the pet causes.  Also have on the clause that they have to steam clean the carpets and curtains every six months and show the property manager the receipts.  I've got someone renting a one-bedder from me that happily agreed to steam clean the carpets every six months in order to be able to keep a cat for company.  I did not increase the rent due to the cat moving in because the place is pretty dated and in the event the tenant moves out, I'd do a major renovation anyhow.  If the cat passes away, the tenant has to go and sign a new pet clause if he wants to get a new cat.  The clause is not transferrable. 

Be careful with your insurance – insurers don't tend to cover pet damage, so don't assume you'd be covered there.

A labrador is a pretty large animal so I suppose you're talking a fair bit of shedding of hair, and big muddy footprints on the carpet  if it is allowed to move freely between the backyard and carpeted zones.  If you have tiled floors, probably doesn't matter.  But I think they are a pretty placid breed so unlikely to chew the place to bits. 

Loving this thread Engelo.  Keep the story rolling! 

I live and invest in VIC.  Richard (who posted in this thread) is a broker based in QLD and he is my broker.  You can arrange all that sort of thing via email, fax and phone these days.  You do not need a local broker.  You simply need a good one.  Doesn't matter if he/she is on the other side of the country.

As Richard says, the $6k stamp duty and fees is not realistic.  I just did a smsf purchase with St George as the financier… Richard organised the mortgage (thanks Richard! ). 

To give you an idea of the costs you'll be up against, even after the smsf is set up:

Bare Trust : $800
Bank fees: $2300 (seriously – they charge $1500 just to read your 4 page bare trust deeds)
Solicitor: $800
financial advisor (requirement of St George smsf loan) : $450
Building inspector : $400
Pest Inspector : $330

So you're already at $5k before you even pay your stamp duty.  There are online stamp duty calculators where you can determine the stamp duty payable.  Unless you're buying something off the plan, stamp duty will apply.  You said you were planning to do a flip which means you are buying an established property, so stamp duty will apply, and it will be a good whack more than $1k…. which is what it would have to be for all your costs to come in at only $6k.

Any idea what time at the Mitcham hotel, and if it is necessary to book?

Have you thought about rolling your existing super into your own smsf (self managed super fund) and using it to buy property?  Banks will loan up to 80% for such a purchase, so your smsf would just need 20% deposit, stamp duty, legal fees and a couple of extra thousand for incidentals…

exactly!

maybe build yourself a little spreadsheet that makes sense to you…. and which helps you figure out costs you definitely know a property will incur in a reno.  and then of course expect the costs to be higher for all the stuff you don't know about

the thing about a reno is, once you start, you kind of have to finish.  so you don't want to run out of cash.  costs you too much in resale value to offload an unfinished property.  it puts people off.  largely because they see unfinished stuff and have no concept of how much effort or money is required to finish it…. so maybe the fear of the unknown makes them assume the worst.