James from House of Wealth – he's been plugged heaps on this forum. Just do a google search for their details.

Not sure which part of Melb his in though.

Cheers

Jamie

Totally agree. It's something that shouldn't happen without your consent.

The seminar sounds quite cheesy as well.

I wonder what will appear tomorrow, a free assessment of your insurances maybe?

Cheers

Jamie

Hi Wilko

Most bank staff aren't equipped to take on queries outside the norm.

Using trust income for servicing shouldn't be an issue but it wouldn't hurt having a decent finance person look over your numbers and provide advice, particularly one with a knack for complex structures and one that's been giving outstanding advice for a number of years – the Terry W recommendation above is a good one.

Cheers

Jamie

Might be a few more in the future if the current news about oil in the area comes to fruition

Cheers

Jamie

Someone just came on asking about a PM in Coober Pedy.

Cheers

Jamie

I'm not a builder so I'm not sure about the extent of damage that could flow from this. But that's the question I'd be asking the person that gave you the quote.

I'd be thinking more so about the longer term effects that this can cause. $700 now might be a bargain compared to the larger problems that could surface as a result of it.

I came across this article the other day which mentioned this issue http://www.housenet.com.au/blog/418/10-warning-signs-of-a-problem-at-your-home/comment_829/#comment-view

Cheers

Jamie

Yeah I'm not sure whey they provide that. It just shows your actual equity – which is taking the value of your home and subtracting the loan amount. 

They won't allow you to access your actual equity because that essentially means you're borrowing 100% of your properties value.

We've been able to go up to 95% on equity releases previously (most recently with CBA) – but they're not the most enjoyable experience. The deal has to be extremely strong and the purpose of the equity release sound.

Cheers

Jamie

Hi Hiten

Are you looking to engage them or have you experienced issues?

Where are you looking for a property manager? If you mention the location you might have some people on the forum that can provide recommendations.

Cheers

Jamie

Ahhh – Tamworth settlement today. It just clicked!

Cheers

Jamie

Hi and welcome aboard.

I like the idea of buying your first home and then having your mates as boarders. It will soften the blow for you in terms of repayments.

There's a few things to consider with purchasing an IP soon after.

Firstly, you won't be eligible for concessions or grants on an IP so the purchase costs are going to be higher than for your first home. For that reason, you'll need to budget for at least a 5% deposit and enough to meet these costs. 

Secondly, have you considered buying something that you can add value to for your first home? That's how I help a lot of fist time investors get into the IP market. They purchase something that they can cosmetically renovate for decent equity gains – new flooring, paint, light and window fittings, kitchen refacing and landscaping are just a few ideas. I had a client in Canberra purchase a property recently for low $400s and the reval after the renovations came back at $480k – and this is in a flat market.

Lastly, for you – it sounds like it might be an idea to use a lender that will allow you to extract equity at high LVRs. You're probably saying to yourself "what the hell is he going on about?" Long story short, some lenders will allow you to take equity out of your home up to 90% of it's value. So for arguments sake, if you purchased a $100k home today with a loan of $80k then the Loan to Value Ration (LVR) is 80%. If your lender allowed you to access equity up to 90% of the properties value – that means they'd allow you to take your loan up to $90k which is an equity release of $10k. 

By allowing you to access equity at a high LVR, this could assist in purchasing your first home and your first IP sooner.

I don't know if it helps but I wrote an article for Australian Property Investor on buying your first home and your first IP soon after – here it is.

Apart from that, stick around, continue to ask questions and best of luck with searching for your first home. It's an exciting time!

Cheers

Jamie