Hi Luke,

Being an eternal pessimist, I wouldn’t count on the FHOG being around too far into the future. There used to be one years ago which finished just before we bought our first place, then it came back a few years later by which time it was no good to us as we were no longer first home owners. If you can’t see yourself buying a bigger…[Read more]

You need to weigh up the transaction costs & CGT (& time/headache) of selling, then rebuying a new IP at a later date versus the interest savings of your PPOR loan. There is also the lost opportunity for capital growth of your IP. This is the same answer as Derek’s in essence – it has to make a big difference to your PPOR loan interest savings…[Read more]

I think the idea is to get both parts of the split (which, since one of them doesn’t have street frontage, both have to go together anyway), then realign the split so that both blocks now have street access – this now gives you 2 blocks which can be sold independently. The bonus is, apparently, that you don’t have to pay the massive contribution…[Read more]

Hi maternic,

Good to see you getting going. A couple of things:

1) Talk to an accountant who is experienced with property investment before you start. I think you will lose a 50% CGT discount if you sell within a year, so yes – bigger tax bill.
2) Don’t listen to a real estate agent when it comes to anything which could cost you money. As a…[Read more]

Oh yes – not thinking straight and regurgitating the banker’s line. So you would extract equity on 1st via LOC then standalone loan secured solely on property held in trust, using LOC as required to cover deposit & LVR requirements on trust property – keeps things a bit cleaner?

No one in their right mind would be setting up loans without…[Read more]

Matt,

Welcome to the forums.

Have a look at previous posts on this – there is a lot of information already out there. Search box is at https://www.propertyinvesting.com/search, try entering “setting up a trust” in the keyword box (no quotes). Here’s a couple I found pretty quickly which I think provides info on the first…[Read more]

Different skills – you need to understand how trusts work in general first before you can figure out how to apply them to property investment.

Nightelves,

I only bought it recently and I am now confident about the questions to ask my accountant in a couple of weeks’ time, and also have a good idea of what structures make sense for me. I will re-read 3-4 chapters just before going in to talk to my accountant because some of it is quite technical (eg the different roles involved,…[Read more]

PS – I have recommended this book a couple of times on the forums – I have no association or interest, I just got a lot out of it.

Hi Nightelves,

If you want to get educated before seeing a lawyer or talking to an accountant I have found this to be very useful: http://www.trustmagic.com.au/ – $55 for the ebook – so that’s 6 minutes and and 36 seconds of lawyer time! He also has some links to practitioners in this area.

Cheers,

Looks like someone asked a month ago – have a look at https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/getting-technical/legal-accounting/4332979?page=1&highlight=Lawyer%2CMelbourne. Not a lot of help, I know, but should get you started. Does it have to be Melbourne? These days it is pretty easy to work remotely, in which case Rob Balanda on the Gold…[Read more]

A google search on, for example, “NSW land tax calculator” will give you what you need. The office of state revenue typically has a calculator online to help – eg NSW has one at http://www.apps05.osr.nsw.gov.au/erevenue/calculators/landtax.php, but you have to read the fine print as the meaning of taxable value and exemptions vary from state to…[Read more]

Simon,

I don’t know of good lawyers in Melbourne – I know there are Melbourne based mortgage brokers on the forums who may be able to point you in the right direction.

With crunching the numbers it is all about triage – you have to look at quite a few (eg 50) properties to find one where the numbers stack up so you need a “fast numbers” approach…[Read more]

Simon,

Good luck with getting going!

Do you have much in the way of savings yet? If you go into a JV with a mate you will need to get some good legal advice to structure the JV agreement properly so that you stay best mates and this advice will cost money. Same goes for trust structures. (“Trust Magic” – search for it online – will give you…[Read more]

Depends how fussy you are:

http://www.realestate.com.au/property-residential+land-qld-blackall-2780255

Hi Pootie (again),

Sorry – I meant to also say that I can’t comment on the trust structure that you are proposing – I’ll need to leave that to someone more expert – I’m just saying be careful around the personal services income.

JJ

Hi Pootie,

I’m not an accountant but if your husband’s company is essentially personal services income you may want to check on the ATO’s “alienation of personal services income” provisions – the ATO doesn’t like structures which distribute $/hr worked type income from the person earning it to others to minimise tax. If there is warranty risk…[Read more]

Congratulations on wanting to get going on property investing so early!

You should read up, ask questions etc to learn, but the best education is getting your hands dirty with your first property. Nothing beats having $200-400K on the line to focus your learning. As they say, “Experience is the best teacher, but it unfortunately sometimes kills…[Read more]

You could read up some more on what different trust structures deliver in terms of advantages and also additional costs (http://www.trustmagic.com.au/ is great for this – very small investment for a whole lot of information – there are plenty of ideas in there on how to leverage trust structures harder than what you generally hear about and if you…[Read more]

ABS just released this: http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/nrpmaps.nsf/NEW+GmapPages/national+regional+profile
May be handy for zoning in on areas – it has population estimates, income estimates etc for 2004-2008 so can help with some trending but obviously misses 2 critical years. It doesn’t unfortunately, go into individual towns either -…[Read more]