Personally I’d steer clear of providing internet services. You’re potentially lining yourself up for a whole world of hurt with support demands and complaints. If the tenant wants internet access then it should be up to them to organise it for themselves.

Well put Adrian. It’s a tough balancing act between maintaining some sort of moral standard and progressing in a business sense. Toughest of all for the nice guy who wants to do the right thing by everyone.

I’d say bank will probably treat as commercial given that it’s a going concern, and Richard Taylor is right, the insurance will eat into the majority, if not all of your profit. Not something that I would personally look at but do your DD, it may be something you’re prepared to do.

A man cave in there would be awesome… Check with the local council and go for it I reckon!

Find a good mortgage broker and get them to do the hard yards for you (that’s their job after all). You might have a bit of trouble with the job stability side of things, but the fact you’ve got no debt will work in your favour. What area are you in? Others on this forum are bound to have recommendations of a good broker in your area.

Ouch Cat, harsh but fair?! Lol.

Pretty sure most states would be in the same ballpark with this – ie he’d need to be a specifically licensed roofer.

It’s a tricky question because everyone’s goals and aspirations (and personal circumstances) are going to be different.  Best thing to do it=s what you’ve done: get advise and carefully weigh up the pros and cons of each situation.  Good luck.

I'd hold the cash-positives for now and reevaluate once you've tied the knot and everything has settled down again.  Congratulations!

I'm with thecrest, we need an update paulnmarn!  Let us know how you're going.

Don't take it to heart James.  We all stuff up every now and then, the trick is to learn from it and move on.

From what I've heard, if it's built to a good standard and there's no major incursions where there shouldn't be, the approval shouldn't be too hard to get, although depending on the Council they can make it a bit of a pain.  One downside could be that once they know about it they may order it rectified if they don't approve…

Don't know about "encapsulation" – sounds like a bit of an impressive buzz word, but steam cleaning is always the best for me.  Just make sure the house has a good air flow to dry the carpets out.  Or hire a carpet blower (dryer) to ensure it dries out perfectly.

I don't see a problem with you leaving your phone number for the agent to pass on to a couple of their clients.  Obviously you probably can't get their details unless they've already volunteered them but I don't think it's an unreasonable request.

The Dark Knight is spot on.  Have to declare it as non-rental income.

That's a really good question and one that I've often wondered.  I would assume that there is some sort of legal obligation on the part of the agent to report this but I have no idea where it would go.

I must admit I haven't heard of a saniflow unit for sewerage before – only for kitchen waste.  Are they actually available (or legal) in Australia?

It sounds as though the owners almost have it in for you.  If you're getting no joy from the agent (and it sounds as though you're not), I'd suggest having a word to the tribunal via their help line to see where you stand.  If these defects weren't acknowledged in your original lease…

The numbers look in the normal range, you've done your DD, if you're still having doubts you should probably pull out.  Often your gut is the best test.  Final decision can only be made by you though.

I'm pretty sure it's different state to state so you'd be best to get advice from a realtor in WA as to what your options are.  I'm sure Terry will be able to give you some general advice on this too though.