I'm not buying right now because I plan on getting back into a PPOR in Brisbane next year.I basically do not have enough spare cash or equity to buy an IP at the moment.Wish I did though, because there's some good buys out there.

I personally wouldn't do this.  It must be a big block of land to fit two houses side by side?I also think that you are underestimating the build costs.  $140k is probably the bare minimum to build a 4BR house which would not include site costs (add extra $10 to $30k) or flooring, outdoor area, driveway, fencing, gardens etc.I'm not even sure y…[Read more]

I agree, your conveyancer/solicitor should organise it.This happened to me last year when I was selling a property.  The lender holding my mortage was late sending through the discharge and it was going to push back settlement.Then I get a call from my conveyancer telling me that the buyers were demanding compensation (a couple of grand I think)…[Read more]

I have previously bought a top 10 NSW hotspots from Hotspotting.com before, I think it was around $90.  Although I did not end up following through on buying an IP based on this report, I thought it was worth the money.

Very well done mate.When's your book coming out?   No joke, if you had a book, I'd probably buy it!

I'm personally a fan of Margaret Lomas and she has quite a few books out.I read "How to create an income for life" a few years, which really made me look at the concept of buying property for cashflow (instead of focusing soley on capital gain).I want to read another of hers "20 Must Ask Questions" before I buy my next property.I watch her on Sky…[Read more]

Hi Jaclyn,I have had good experiences with Ray White, but not in that particular area (mine was in Logan).I think you should expect to pay 7 to 8% in commissions and management fees as standard, you can probably do better if you negotiate.Therefore if you are going to be getting $300/week for your property, you will pay around $21 to $24/week in…[Read more]

Hi Ryallsy,Are you planning to use equity in your townhouse to fund the purchase of the next property?The reason I ask is I have a 2 year old townhouse on southern outskirts of Brisbane and it was recently revalued by my bank to be less than what I payed for it in 2009.  I think the bank is being too conservative because I saw a sale only a month…[Read more]

It all depends on whether you can afford to subdivide AND build.Have you done calculations to show the profit you will make off the land only, compared to profit made with house and land?

I would personally steer clear of the Gold Coast for now as it has not done much in the past few years.That's not to say coomera will not do well in the next 5 to 10 years, but it's not likely to gain much in value in the short term.If you can get a good yield (hopefully positive cash flow) and are happy to sit back and wait for the capital gains,…[Read more]

I can't give you advice on using a trust, but I think I have heard that you cannot tax deduct your losses against your main income if the trust owns the property (somebody correct me if I'm wrong).As for accessing the equity in your existing IP, you should be able to get at least 5% (taking the LVR back to 80%) and therefore not have to pay…[Read more]

My first property I bought at the peak of the boom at the end of 2003 and didn't move in value for the next 2 years.The month after I bought, interest rates went up for the first time in over a year.  Just my luck!I ended up holding that property for 6 years and got a total capital gain of 60% which is pretty good.My point here is if I had of let…[Read more]

It probably depends on what you are looking for in an investment, but I will assume you mean the best suburbs for future capital growth?You can probably find plenty of suburbs that have good potential for long-term capital growth (eg. undervalued suburbs in the inner ring of Sydney) but you will not find very good yields on houses here.I have done…[Read more]

I think the second rental property is fine, assuming it has it's own loan.  The problem with the other loan is that you've paid non-deductible expenses out of it (eg. groceries, bills) and so the accountant cannot seperate the interest for investment purposes from the interest accrued through normal daily spending.  This strategy was fine as l…[Read more]

Yeah this happened to me as well, I had a property years ago and I never got charged a "re-let" fee by my agent Ray White.  However, with my second property, the management was by an on-site manager and when he first charged me a re-let fee of 1/2 week rent I was surprised and I questioned him about it.When I went back to my written agreement,…[Read more]

Hi Michael, I feel your frustration, I also bought a property in 2009 in Logan (Underwood) and just had it revalued.  It came in $15k less than what I paid for which is disappointing but not surprising considering the property market in Brissy.  It could be worse, lucky I didn't buy in some gold coast areas! At least the rent has gone up t…[Read more]

Welcome Ben.You have not mentioned where you plan to invest and what type of property you want to buy.Are you seeking a positive cash-flow property?If you have not chosen an area, then you could be doing some research around that.  It is really a good idea to be looking for an area that has a potential to grow in the first few years you own it…[Read more]

Good to hear you have been re-evaluated to buy both properties.Personally, I would not have gone for the option of putting a contract on both properties without finance approval.  If you had done that and then renovated both properties (and then finance fell through) you would be deeply out of pocket and the owner would keep all your nice…[Read more]

You can use the "sold" feature at RealEstate.com.au, it shows the date and price sold for some properties in the area you search for.http://www.realestate.com.au/soldAlso, if you pick up a copy of "Australian Property Investor" magazine, at the back they usually have data tables for median prices of all suburbs across Australia for both units and…[Read more]

Richard has a good point, the $25k won't stretch very far, unless this is your first property in which case you can get the first home owners grant and an exemption on stamp duty.  Have you ever bought a property before?Whilst I like your idea to invest in Logan (I currently have a townhouse there and I previously made a good gain on a house in…[Read more]