There are various products for this such as those shown here:

http://www.bunnings.com.au/search/products?q=gutter%20guard&redirectFrom=Any

If you go with one of these, secure it, don’t just place it in the gutter or the wind will just whip it out. Talk to the good folks at Bunnings about all the options.

Also roofing and guttering companies have more expensive alternatives.

It is interesting to observe this very topic was discussed in an article on page 10 of the July 2015 edition of “Your Investment Property” magazine. The consulting tax expert – an adviser specializing in property and taxation notes:

“If you are purchasing the block of land and constructing the dwelling for income-generating purposes, as soon as the property is available for rent (and provided the dwelling is constructed within a reasonable timeframe), the interest expense on the land loan and the interest expense on the construction loan of the dwelling are fully tax deductible during the period of construction.”

The key statement here is “as soon as the property is available for rent”. One must be able to prove a property was available for rent and advertised as such. Tenants often struggle to visualize what furniture will fit in a space, and what an unfinished dwelling will look like (I have seen scenarios where selling agents will push their luck and knock on neighbours doors saying hey your place is similar to the one I am trying to rent out – can these people nip through for a look because they are having trouble visualising their furniture in the property) – so whether there is merit in advertising a property for rent well in advance of completion is a separate matter.

Hi MsTrump

That’s a lot of information you are after that is specific to your own circumstances. Realistically you would need to discuss your circumstances with an appropriately-skilled accountant (and they would charge for this service). Key being “appropriately skilled” accountant. Someone that works day in day out with people investing in the property space with the types of structures you have mentioned.

If you would like a suggestion on such a person feel free to drop me a line and I’ll point you in the right direction.

There are people on these forums with experience in the field you refer to, but what is your question?

Hi Poe

Irrespective of how many days the course is squeezed into, there will still be assignments to be completed.

The path of least resistance to get her up and running would be to look for a role in Administration or Reception with a real estate firm, or to look at junior Property Manager roles. The reason I say this is because these tend to be roles that are fixed-salary which would probably suit her better given her traumatic times recently. Sales roles tend to have some or all of the wages in commissions, and as such are dependent on how successful you are at selling. An unpredictable income like this might be unsuitable for her at the present time.

Her clerical skills will be relevant to the roles I have mentioned so she’s part of the way there already :)

From there, experience can be gained and further qualifications considered.

I suspect you are focussing on the 2 day course because she wants to minimise the number of days she has to take off paid employment in order to attend the course. In this regard, doing the course online or via distance education (With course manuals or a cd of pdfs) might be more suitable. Then she can chip away at it with her spare time, as fast or slow as she likes.
http://www.reiq.com/courses-training/registration-course-property-manager

Hope this helps.

A good place to start is to understand ability to finance. There have been a lot of changes in this space lately. Understanding roughly how much you can borrow and for what sort of properties in what short of locations will help you avoid wasting time and confusion looking strategies that you are simply ineligible for from a lending perspective.

Hi Josh

Only investors will buy an entire block of units from you, irrespective of the loan type (an owner occupier will not seek to buy a whole block of units as their PPOR).

Something to keep in mind is that if YOU qualify for a certain type of loan, it doesn’t automatically mean that a prospective buyer would qualify for the same loan. However the more loan types the property itself is “in theory, eligible for, subject to the financials and serviceability of the borrower” then the easier it becomes to offload a property should you need to.

To more clearly explain what Terry mentions above:

Let’s say you have a mortgage (aka debt) against a home you live in (commonly referred to as your PPOR, your Primary Place of Residence). Let’s say you also have a mortgage against an IP (Investment property). Let’s say both these mortgages have offset accounts under a circumstance where money in the offset account assists with reducing how much debt balance interest is charged on (usually this circumstance is the loan being on a variable rate rather than fixed). If you could choose which offset account your salary and other spare cash should go into, then your money is more powerful in the offset account of the PPOR (or other non-deductible loan). This is because the mortgage interest on this loan is not tax-deductible. As such you’d focus on debt reduction on that PPOR loan before focussing on debt reduction on an IP loan.

Take a step back. Your objectives should always be to maximise both the rental return of the site as a whole, and also the resale value of the site as a whole. I could be wrong, there might be something unique about the market in this particular suburb of yours, but generally I would expect that joining two one bedders to make a two bedder, would reduce both the rental yield and the site value. Take a really close look at what one bedders rent and sell for in your area, compared to two bedders. Do this exercise for both renovated and unrenovated properties.

While having less dwellings might make you eligible for a resi loan, it might hurt you more to be going down this path.

If the units were on separate titles, then each unit could have its own loan on resi rates. The site value would likely be higher because you could, conceptually, sell the units individually rather than as a package deal, which brings owner occupier buyers into the equation. The council would likely hit you with overall more council rates because they would revalue the site after subdivision and announce it is worth more and thus more rates are payable. If you are not already being hit for separate council rates per dwelling then you certainly would be after subdivision. Then there would be the matter of insurance which would also have to change.

If your objective is to renovate and sell relatively soon, then perhaps step 1 should be strata titling, with a rejig of the mortgage and insurance bundled into the mix. You could renovate after all that is done.

Mortgage early exit fees depends on things such as which lender it is, how much they charge, whether you were on a fixed rate when you exited, and whether LMI (lender’s mortgage insurance) was in play. Speak to your broker to gain a better understanding of this.

Legal fees depends on the fees of the legal eagles you recruit for your purchase or sale, and whether anything goes wrong along the way that they charge extra for. For a standard transaction a conveyancer might charge somewhere between $800 and $1300. Some charge more.

There are also legal fees charged by the bank. Again, speak to your mortgage broker about this.