It's not always about being "the provider". Maybe they are being chivalrous; you know; that politically incorrect practise of being nice to the fairer sex , and for that matter; anyone else on the planet.

Maybe they are disgustingly rich and like to pay. My best friend is rolling in cash and loves to be the first person to put his hand in his pocket; because he can.

Let 'em pay; saves you a business expense (and some cashflow) that you have to pay out of petty cash, which you have to claim back at the end of the year.

Be careful of their alterior motive though… I would tell you what it is, but it may be a sexist (but true) observation.

Renting a place yourself while you rent out your other properties for most people is the finacially smart thing to do. All the interest and holding costs on your I.P's are tax deductible, and if you are a fairly high income earner it is even better. Many can't stand the idea of someone living in their PPoR though, but if it doesn't worry you then go ahead.

The problem with studios is quite often the size. Most lenders won't, or a reluctant, to lend on anything smaller than 50 sq/m.
You would want to check the size of the apartment, and also the body corp costs. They can be rather high in bigger buildings.

Another possible problem is that traditionally the land content of a property is what appreciates while the building depreciates. Given this scenario, the likelihood of cap growth on studios should not be as good as say a townhouse.

But the demographic factor comes into play these days, with young, professional people seeking this sort of accommodation. Therefore you may get good cap growth anyway.

You may be able to rent a nice studio for yourself in Sydney, and buy one as an I.P, with the view to moving in there down the track, and it may cost you no more money out of your pocket to do so. This, if you can arrange it ,would be a good move in my opinion. But don't do it if the bottom line wil put you under financial pressure.

If you do some heavy due diligence on the history of studios in the area; who is buying them, are they in demand, is there a glut of them in the pipeline for construction which may devalue yours, is there a demand for rent for this type of property, etc. you will have a more informed view of the investment.

No F; I don't think you are.

As usual, you are the number cruncher who reveals the real truth.

I remember reading a book by John Burley ("Money Secrets of the Rich" – every high school student should have to read it I.M.H.O), where he was talking about Banks.

He said that if a Bank comes up with a product, and also advertises it heavily, then you can be sure that they are making money out of it, and probably lots of it.
 
Of course; they will always present it in such a way to make it look like they are doing you a favour, but we all know better… don't we?

The arguments for and against what you are asking are numerous.

A main reason for owning an I.P as your first property is the tax write-offs from the holding costs of that property, but you still have to pay rent where you live as well, so there is a bit of a trade-off. Because you are self employed and probably don't get tax refunds, then this may not be as good a strategy as it would be for a wage earner.

Unless you own your onw home outright, renting is usually cheaper, and you can usually rent a much nicer house for the same money as your mortgage would cost. But would you do that? It seems to me that you are the type of person who would rent somewhere less expensive and commit more dollars to the investing track?

You sound as though you have the right mindset for owning and investing; you can see the benefit of adding value, and working towards owning investment property. It may be better for you to get the PPoR, and follow the plan of reducing the loan as fast as possible (as everyone should do I.M.H.O), then you can get into investing sooner.

You should talk to an accountant about the benefits/liabilities of owning an I.P while you are paying rent elsewhere, given that you are self employed.

My gripe with all these 'exotic' finance products is they are designed to make it possible for those who normally can't afford to get into the property market. With affordability at an all-time low, the finance companies and the banks are looking to invent new ways to get people into the housing market, and the M.B's are gunna push them as they get paid when they sign up a punter.

I.M.H.O, it is a similar situation to the F.H.O.G, where the first home owners weren't any better off as they all had an extra $7k (some had $14k) to play with, thus they could bid higher for their house, and did. The prices went up and absorbed any benefit pretty quickly. The same will happen in time as a result of products like these Shared Equity Loans.

The underlying cause – affordability (or lack of) will still be bad as the newly qualified buyers compete for the remnants of the cheaper housing to be had, thus forcing the prices up a little more and keeping the affordability low for a bit longer until another new miracle finance deal is invented.

It's all great for me; the cheaper properties go up, which forces the values of mine up, but the poor first timer will still struggle.

You can do the inspection yourself, but be prepared to get dirty and do some crawling around in roof spaces and under floorboards. Depending where the property is that you wish to buy, you can hire the services of a local reputable builder, or in bigger towns and/or cities you might try Archicentre. Try googling builders in the town concerned, or look in the local phone book as well.

Don't use a builder recommended by the agent selling the property – go to another agent for a recommendation if you must as the selling agent has a vested interest and this can be dangerous for you.

The cost can be a few hundred dollars, so unless the property is being auctioned then I would include the inspection as a condition clause of the purchase offer. If the property is being auctioned, try putting in an offer before, with the building and any other conditions in the offer.

Be careful with the wording as well. Simply putting "subject to satisfactory building inspection" is extremely limiting and can by interpretation cover only the frame of the building. You want to be very specific about what you want to satisfy you, eg; "subject to building, walls, guttering, widows, etc being in fair and reasonable condition given the age of the building".

If the report comes back that there is damage, then you can decide whether you want to proceed, or offer less based on said damage, or ignore the report and proceed anyway.

Make sure the date for the completion of the inspection is from when the Vendor signs the contract, and ask for at least 7 days to complete it just in case the inspectors are very busy in the area.

You are the person with the cheque book, so write your own rules and do it your way – not the agent's or the Vendor's. They (the agent) will try to steer you down the path of least resistence for them, and will try to talk you out of most things that will cause delays and/or obstacles for them and the Vendor.

There will be another "deal of the century" later on today somewhere else.

All done

Hey picklesam,

I am sure you could get work over here as a radiographer no problem; the hard part is getting here with the work credentials. You can apply for a work visa, but that will last a couple of years at best I think, the other way is a greencard; which is what we did.

Greencards are about 3-3.5 years to obtain and the process is a pain in the a**e. Check out in your field if they have a travel worker system like the nurses do.

that's not a bad criteria; at 1.2% per $1,000 per month that is 14.4% per year. Unless interest rates climb to that level, you are doing well.
Why does he not advocate paying anymore than this?

Looks like a "secret for BoB Proctor " to get rich to me.

What would I know; I'm just old and cynical and have seen too many slick cons before by guys with perfect hair in tailored suits.

Another money making scheme targeting the weak of mind?