Hi Alpha, I'm a MB based in Sydney. Happy to assist with any questions.jlackersteen@investorfinance.com.au

does anyone know if PMI gives refunds? I raised the whole LMI refund issue with my broker and she believed that this is a myth.  Would appreciate some feedback so I can fill her in!

this month's API has an article on this. I posted a response to a question like this on another forum a few months back and hubby and i have our case study in the mag (they got it a little wrong tho but it does prove you can move up the ladder with not a lot to start)

find out the agent in your area of interest that sells foreclosure properties at auction. Depending on the state of the market, the properties may need to be sold for a high amount for the bank to recoup all of its costs, so not always a bargain.  Having said that, there are bargains out there.

I haven't had to exercise an exit plan, but I do have one just in case. I buy properties under market value that can also have a value add by doing a few cheap renos. I know that if I needed to sell, I would make at least 40K, even at fire sale prices.

count me in pleaseJenstagolfgurl27@hotmail.com

I bought in outer western sydney when I was 25 (in 2000), bought a cheap 3 bed townhouse, basically the cheapest thing in the suburb. 2 years later the boom had started which upped the value, so I used this place as equity to buy a place closer to the city.  I bought the cheapest, liveable property on the market rather than the maximum i could…[Read more]

As you are heavily negatively geared, have you considered obtaining your tax return in weekly installments rather than getting the fat cheque at tax time? This could improve your affordability.  If this frees up your cash, you could then purchase a cheap property with a good rental yield that would be close to paying itself off. If you sell, you…[Read more]

are you saying that you made an offer that was 25K less than the purchase price and this was the value that the bank gave? The bank's generally value the property at what the purchase price is, regardless of how good a deal you think you have got. I purchased my PPR 40K under the asking price and the bank valued our unit at that reduced price.If…[Read more]

I think buying ex-housing commission is worth it. I definitely wouldn't do it sight unseen or without doing some serious research into the area. Some of the properties are in OK areas, others not so good. Depending on what section of the Commission is conducting the sale, sometimes repairs are taken care of before the auction, e.g, one i recently…[Read more]

Worldchanger, what area are you referring to?

Hi Zoe,We've done OK so far with our properties. We bought 2 in country NSW that had boards on the windows to make it harder for vandals to enter but looked pretty damn ugly. At settlement we had no further damage to that existing at auction day. Rental yields are quite good but as yet have not found tenants (we settled 4 weeks ago). The problem…[Read more]

We had a no children policy at our wedding. It had nothing to do with money though, kids 5 and under would have been free. We just didn't want 25 children under 5 at our wedding!

I have recently purchased a few properties from Department of Housing. We saw a few things we were not happy with in the contract, but as we bought at auction and could not make changes to the contract, we just had to take the risk that nothing happened to each place. It was a bit unnerving knowing that there was a clause somewhere that indicated…[Read more]

Well said Leilah.  We got married a few months ago and while we spent a little more than appears necessary from most of the above posts, we wanted all of our extended family sharing in our day so we had a large wedding and had a lovely ceremony and reception which was exactly what we wanted.We spent what we could afford and at the time of the ho…[Read more]

We recently settled on a property in NSW.  We only found out the costs about 2-3 days before settlement. Depending on when your solicitor requests the information on rates, water, etc you could probably find out the details earlier than that

I signed up to Dymphna's real estate success course and attended her Sydney workshop last week. There were a number of WWW there. I think any of her courses are good value, she does not limit the education to one preferred method of acquiring wealth through property and she speaks in plain English so none of her strategies do not appear to be too…[Read more]