For give my ignorance but what is a Hybrid trust and how does it differ from a Discretionary Trust?John

Hi,Sorry about the delay in replying to your last post.We borrowed the 20% deposit from money partners.  This is a short term project so the cost of borrowing the additional money is a big factor in the profitability.We have a spreadsheet that we plug the project financial figures into.  We factor in cost of sub-division, cost of reno, cost of b…[Read more]

Hi We interviewed several banks before settling on the NAB.  They had a centralised lending area and gave us a dedicated personal banker who would come to us to get documents signed and would bend over backwards to help.  Last year NAB 'improved' there service to us and got rid of these personal bankers.  We now have tthe local branch manager as…[Read more]

Hi,We have a trust structure and have borrowed 80% LVR from NAB for two 'buy and holds'.  We also borrowed 80% of final value using the trust for a two unit development in Adelaide.  We lent money at the current rate without any penalties.  We did have to give a personal guarantee for each of the loans.The only negative with the NAB was that they…[Read more]

One way to get a greater return than just a straight reno is to find properties where you can add value in different ways.  For example adding another bedroom can increase the value of a property by much more then it costs to build.  You could buy a reno where the block may be sub-divided and raise extra cash that way.  In response to Scott No Mat…[Read more]

Hi Alastair,We've just bought an IP which we are going to renovate and sub-divide the block.  This is our first IP project done completely on 'other peoples money'. We expect it to be completed within 6 months (although the subdivision will take longer).  We wanted short term borrowing and approached some friends to become money partners.  They ag…[Read more]

Hi, we've sold one of IPs privately.  We got our conveyancer to draw up a contract of sale and when the buyer gave us the deposit cheque, it had to be deposited in a solicitor's trust account (which attracts an additional cost).  Doing this gave us a legally binding contract with the Buyer and protected their deposit as we never didn't get the m…[Read more]

We've bought properties in several regional areas across Australia. Some in very small towns (less than 8,000 population) and have had good returns both income and growth.  One property we bought 2 years ago, in Charters Towers, QLD, for $68,000 has recently been valued at $170,000.  The real estate agent told us not to sell because there is he…[Read more]