I’ve lived in Geelong for most of my life and know many of the suburbs quite well.

Norlane – originally back in the 60s and 70s was a housing commission suburb but since then many home owners/investors bought out the housing commission houses and have cleaned up the suburb mostly. There are still bad areas in Norlane though.

I’d rather put my…[Read more]

We’ve run a rooming house for a couple of years as one of our IPs.

We cater mostly to non-students/working singles. Some of these people can’t budget and love that one single payment a week pays for everything – rent and utilities and they only have to pay for their food.

One idea for student accom would be to include cable internet as part of…[Read more]

My parents did it a few years ago when selling their business.

You don’t necessarily have to charge a higher interest rate for the risk. They charged slightly less than the banks AAPR for a business loan but was able to sell at full price. A slightly higher interest rate may mean that the buyers will try to discount the price.

Just a thought…[Read more]

Just a couple of questions

Would you be renting this out on a room by room basis or a student holding the tenancy agreement? If on a room by room basis you may need to increase the rent to cover utilities.

One option to make it more appealing is to add cable internet to each room. Set it up on a unlimited download plan and include that price…[Read more]

Just been reading some books by Robert Allen – talking about “nothing down” deals. Just wondering if this would be possible in Australia.

Ideas such as vendor financing. I could see this being of value to say retirees who are worried that taking a large lump sum now may affect the assets test for their pension. So these people may be amenable…[Read more]

I think one of the problems is the definition of insider trading. It is very hard to prove in the courts and most of it doesn’t even get detected.

When should you be charged with insider trading. I mean are you charged with it if you got a hot tip and invested in a company and lost money?

If someone from inside a company rings a mate that’s a…[Read more]

Don’t discount Franston North we buy in that area but then those houses fit the market niche that we are aiming for. You just have to know where to buy in the suburb to avoid the really bad areas.

Maggie – yes that property was a Frankston North property.

Every time there’s negative press about Frankston North I cheer. Less competition for houses []

We’ve invested in Frankston for a while but +ve cashflow propeties have been hard to find. So have renos.

The last property we bought, in Mar 03, was a 4br concrete ex housing commission home for $165k that we have rented out for $450 per week.

I think in Frankston who your managing agent is important as they can handle problems quickly and…[Read more]

I think blanket statements such as the Melbourne or Sydney property markets are going to plummet 30% are so nonsensical that they belong in the newspapers. The statement implies that all properties in those cities will fall by 30%.

Probably the top quartile price of properties will fall by 30%+. The bottom quartile will probably plateau or gain…[Read more]

Actually I checked out the storage company that was advertising in Melbourne mainly as an exercise in analysing a deal.

They are called Strata Storage Investments and their website is http://www.stratastorage.com.au

They have the numbers including for analysing the deal. Interestingly enough the management fees is almost 25% of gross return so the…[Read more]

Minimogul

Just a quick question – Is this your first Investment Property?

Many of the strategies mentioned are if you happen to have a few IPs already and the pressure is off to get the runs on the board.

I sometimes encounter pressure tactics by agents such as putting an offer in immediately but I always state that I have to do my due…[Read more]

I think private treaty sales are sales that are not listed with an agent ie FSBOs (For Sale By Owner) or individual to trust/company. I got one of those price guide reports and a property we had bought last year was listed in it and we’ve never bought at auction. So some of these reports may contain up to 95% of sales data depending on how many…[Read more]

Most of the time when we are called by those offering a free seminar we ask if it involves negative gearing. Normally they say yes and we just say we’re not interested. However sometimes they do offer cheese and wine tasting as well as an investment seminar. My wife and I decide that we might make a night of it and have some cheese and bikkies…[Read more]

I saw an article by a group that has had a good history of forecasting interest rates and they were forecasting that the rate will be at 10.5% in 4 years.

They were also saying that when rates hit this level there will be blood in the streets for the housing market as people will be selling due to drawing down equity in this low interest rate…[Read more]

I admit that it’s harder now finding +ve cashflow deals in my area of the outer SE suburbs of Melbourne.

I recently read a property report on Tasmania which was interesting. The gist was that prices in the state cannot be sustained as there is still 8% unemployment and the net migration is from the state to the mainland. The article made some…[Read more]

Richard

The uncertainty you have as to whether you are moving or not creates some difficulties. There are some options available.

Option 1 Hold both properties in your own/you and wife’s name. The advantage with that is if you sell your principle place of residence (PPOR) its exempt from CGT and the IP is at 50% CGT. This way one property…[Read more]

Another version of a trustee is to not use a company but a person as trustee. This option can cut down on the costs of maintaining the legal structure.

I don’t believe that when starting out initially, properties should be bought in a trust as statistics show most people only buy 1 or 2 properties and the fees and time maintaing such structures…[Read more]

Paul

I did last years seminar. For $2195 you can take a friend and also it is a tax deduction.

If $1100 is written off in tax then really the seminar only costs $550 per person.

The next deal that I did after the seminar using what I learnt in the seminar I got 14% yield on a property and its not a wrap. The net cash flow $5500 per year.…[Read more]

Listed property trusts are treated like shares so it depends on bank on what % they will lend on depends on the trust.

Unlisted property trusts – I’m not sure about.

I don’t understand what the scam is here? Can you explain further why if the deposit is transferred to a 3rd party you can’t settle on the property.

Twice now when dealing with distressed vendors we have had to release the deposit early. Once was so their bank would release the mortgage and the other time was so the vendors wife could get an…[Read more]