It's easy enough to do yourself – accountant might charge you a fair bit to organise it. It's called a PAYG income tax withholding variation (ITWV). Scope out the ATO website for info on how to submit.

Cheers

Jamie

Yep, the rate should be the same.

There's probably no need to refinance with another lender. Just need to set-up the second loan split with ANZ as indicated above.

Whether you go to 80% LVR or higher comes down to your own individual risk profile. If you're reasonably risk adverse and would prefer to have a buffer then going to 80% isn't a bad idea. If you want to be more aggressive and accumulate more in a shorter timeframe, then you could consider refinancing up to 90% LVR – you'll have to pay some LMI (you can do a search on the pros/cons of paying LMI – I personally don't have a prob with paying it, especially in the early stages where equity isn't that plentiful).

In any case, a decent broker with investment knowledge will structure it correctly for you.

Cheers

Jamie

Your CF+ property will see capital gains – chances are they just won't be as high as those in a metro area.

Have a read of Margaret Lomas's "20 must ask questions" – she talks about finding properties with both CF+ and capital growth.

Like Catalyst said above – adding value through renos (or buying at a discounted price) adds equity.

Hi Rob

Welcome to the forum.

I like the title "help for an old school thinker" – gave me a chuckle

You're in the same boat as plenty of the clients I deal with. They've paid off their loan and are now considering purchasing an investment property (or 10)

What we generally do is access some of the equity in their current unencumbered property. For ease of explanation, if they were wanting to purchase an investment property for $400k, we'd take out a $100k loan on their current home and use this as a deposit towards the investment property. All loans are interest only – with an offset account attached.

From the $100k we'd use $80k as a 20% deposit (avoiding lenders mortgage insurance) and the remaining $20k for stamp duty and other completion costs.

Therefore, you'd have two loans set up – the $100k against your current unencumbered property and the $300k against your investment property. Both these loans would be tax deductible.

While you have a lot of equity, it's your serviceability that may be a slight hindrance. An income of $75k to support a family of 5 suggests you probably don't want to purchase an investment property that's too negatively geared (eg. you don't want to be forking out hundreds each week to keep the property).

Cheers

Jamie

Saving a 20% deposit will take some time. I'm not sure how much properties are going for in Alice Springs but if you were to purchase something for around $300k, you'd need to save a $60k deposit as well as the funds to complete (stamp duty, legal fees, ect).

By paying some LMI, you can enter the market quicker (and you can often add the LMI to the loan – so you don't have to use your own cash up front). Personally, I don't see a problem with paying LMI. For first home buyers, it enables them to get into the market without saving for years for a property that continues to go up in price. For investors, it enables us to purchase more with less – especially in the early stages.  

There's been a few threads on the pros and cons of LMI – do a quick search and you'll find plenty of info.

Cheers

Jamie

To sort this out, you just need to deal with a broker. However, I know Pete from Sage Lending also has a financial planning license.

I mentioned him in another post recently – Pete Tersteeg from Sage Lending. He's in Nunawading (if that's how it's spelt). Give him a buzz – I'm sure he'll be able to help you out.

Hi Ben

Yep, stick with interest only with an offset attached. It provides you with more flexibility and control. The reason being that you can access the cash in your offset account whenever you like. On the flip side, if you were paying down the principle on a principle & interest loan and wanted to access some of the equity down the track, it's harder to get this cash-out (and it will usually cost you some money).

To get the ball rolling, you might want to consider a 95% loan with the Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) capitalised onto the loan. That way, you only need to bring a 5% deposit and completion costs (stamp duty, ect) to the deal.

However, the issue with 95% loans is that they can be tough to get accross the line – they tend to make lenders and mortgage insurers a little uncomfortable. You will need to demonstrate a genuine savings history (generally over a three month period) and neither of you can be on a probationary period with work (which I suspect may be the case if you're starting in new jobs).

Most of the big banks offer 95% loans to "existing customers" – an existing customer can be someone that's had a credit card with the institution for at least 6 months……something to maybe consider. There are other lenders that will provide 95% loans to new customers also.

If you can save like crazy for 6 months then this might be the best approach. If you want to buy sooner than you'll probably have to bring a bigger deposit to the deal.

Best of luck with reaching your goal – you sound determined and switched on, I think you'll do fine.

Cheers

Jamie

Hi

Welcome to the forum.

What's your goal? What are you trying to achieve from investing in property?

If your aim is to create wealth over time by buying and holding properties, then the time to buy is now (time in the market becomes more important than timing the market).

If you're looking to buy and sell – Melbourne might not be the ideal place at present. It's experienced some massive growth over the last 12 or so months so you may have missed the boat. The good news is that there are thousands of other property markets around the country that are all at different stages of the property cycle.

If your looking for cashflow (which I suspect you're not from you're other post on tax savings) then you might want to look at regional areas with higher yields.

Based on the info provided above, your $80k savings and income would suggest that your borrowing capacity will be pretty strong.

Cheers

Jamie