Hi Paul, good reasoning. If you buy the standard residential property anywhere in Australia now, it’d be -ve cashflow. This is OK if you inject earned income & take advantage of -ve gearing. The cash injection will ensure that it becomes neutral or positive at some point.

Better yet, do what Jan Somers suggests. Buy a property that’s under the…[Read more]

Hi again, since I’ve told my story ( like giving away a bit of myself) let me add this.

I don’t wish you to rush out and buy a property. Need to appreciate that the most successful property investors built on a mountain of knowledge.

I feel like I’ve read every retirement and investment book ever written.

“Live long and profit” – very useful.…[Read more]

Hi,
I was 42 in 1994. I had $240000. I started looking at property in 1992 but bought only in 1998.

Obviously, the timing means that I hit the jackpot.

A combination of fortuitous timing and personal circumstances.

I bought my sister’s house to save her agent’s fees. I lived in it free of charge for a couple of years after all.

I was $10000…[Read more]

Hi, your posts are interesting. Last Christmas, my sister gave me dire warnings about my pending residential property redevelopment. She said all the experts predicted a huge crash.

I have since ‘gone slow’ but could not resist buying another property.

The purchase price is $223000. It is let at $220 a week. I have drawn up sub-division plans to…[Read more]

Hi, this is my personal experience of being a landlord in Adelaide. The overall cost of ‘holding’ a conventional 3BR property is around $2000 – $2500 per year. It may go up to $4000 if there’re maintenance & vacancy costs.

My previous manager (I chose a local man for the hills area) charged me ‘high’ rates 8% of everything including maintenance…[Read more]

Hi, I’ve never understood why semis make good investments unless you can buy the both on a big block. Why not buy a free standing home on 750 – 850 m2 in suburbs like Kilburn, Blair Athol or Clearview? Even Clovelly Park or St Mary’s may have cheaper old houses that are rentable as is and down the track may be good for redevelopment.

Having said…[Read more]

Hi,
now is very late in the property cycle so please consider carefully. I’m Chinese, by race not citizen & I ‘bought’ a unit in 1 Park Avenue Shanghai. I wrote a $5000 cheque to book the purchase which was built and marketed by a Singapore company linked to the Singapore government. That was in 2002. I then got cold feet & withdrew. Now, if I…[Read more]

Hi, I’ve reading with interest the mix of comments from relatively new investors & a couple of obviously seasoned property investors.

It’s difficult to get banks to lend on commercial properties. I have 2 small blocks of suburban shops,fully tenanted & only a couple of banks would look at them. The mitigating circumstance would be if the borrower…[Read more]

Hi, just to add an old hand’s perspective to the mix. Most people take a long term view i.e. 5-10 years for property to realise enough gain to make it worthwhile.

Looking at your numbers, I would concentrate on ‘gathering’ more cash first. Jumping into another property without cash or income backup is very, very stressful.

A 20% deposit is much…[Read more]

Hi, in your situation, the worst case scenario would be that there’s no rental income i.e. you can’t get a tenant. That means you must have $2600 every month to pay the outgoings.

You will get back the -ve gearing on your ‘loss’ but this comes off your tax. Therefore you must be earning income that is taxable. So if you earn $100K a year and pay…[Read more]

Hi Manic, I looked at the numbers you posted & can tell you 12K liability for anyone working in Singapore is no big deal. You can pay it with beer money!

I was contracted to the government on $50K p.a. and I first borrowed $200K against my house. Then I upped the borrowing to $420K. I eternally regretted not borrowing the extra 80K that I could…[Read more]

Hi, I’m Australian PR, bought my sister’s house & had no money to live on so went back to work in Singapore for 6 years.

I geared the 1st house to buy 3 others in 1999/2000.

There’s a 6 or 7 year rule that allows Australians to rent out their homes (depreciation applies) and still claim primary residence CGT.

Another negative gearing can be…[Read more]

Hi Redwing,
It’d boost my confidence if you’d kindly explain why SA looks good. I bought a couple of low cost properties for development & everyone I know scares the s out of me with their negative remarks.
Thanks,
Kum Yin

Hi, I bought a block to sub-divide into 4 lots & 12 months down the track, still haven’t got approval yet.

Look into these:
1) the holding cost : your outlay will be around $420000. This means around $2500 per month in holding cost. Multiply this by the number of months before approval is granted.

2) the site preparation may cost more than…[Read more]

Hi, the land is non-performing thus robbing the owner of income rightfully deriving from 100K (even sitting in the bank @ 5% you should get a few hundred dollars every month)

After building, the property should be @ approx 50% LVR because you’ve paid for the land. It’ll be a self-funding propspect.

However, I do realise that I’m not aware of…[Read more]

Hi, the e-mail address is
support@smats.net
Steve (can’t remember his surname) is the tax consultant. He used to work for Ernst & Young. Currently he does heaps of work for overseas investors.
Get an appointment & go to their office & TALK to somebody.
I now do sub-divisions in Adelaide although I still keep the NZ investment properties. I’ll be…[Read more]

Hi, sounds Singaporean to me.
a) AUD is still very strong – highly unlikely to appreciate further against the SGD
b) tax : have someone calculate the tax for you. There’s an accountant in Singapore [at the Concord building]. He is very good. Ask his advice. He is also not expensive.

Personally, I would take the profit and run but there are so…[Read more]

Hi, just a word of caution. Impt stuff to consider :
a) purchase price [you know this]
b) cost of building : $150000 per townhouse approx. [depends on who the builder is]
c) the sale price : IMPORTANT. Most of us especially novices (I’m one myself even though I bought my 4 properties before the boom) tend to inflate the sale price. Look, it might…[Read more]

Hi, I don’t mean to dampen your enthusiasm but if you want to develop property for other people, they might want to investigate your ‘portfolio’ before they give you any work.

Indemnity insurance doesn’t come into it until you have a building licence.

Why not start by doing a small development of your own? Then you can make a profit & learn…[Read more]

Hi, I lodge the returns electronically myself. I have to wait till the tax dept send me the paper returns because I’ve to use the number they assign. The paper return they sent me 2 weeks ago says I have until 8 July or something like that. I intend to lodge mine end May because I’ve done all the calculations already.

I suggest you get the…[Read more]