I'd be very wary of using a hybrid trust as the ATO has recently clamped down on these.    Surprised your accountant still recommends it with all the limitations the ATO are putting on  them,   If it is cashflow neutral, I'd say you dont need a hybrid structure. Just set up an ordinary discretionary trust and have a corporate trustee if you want…[Read more]

If you check out the property area reports on domain .com, they will tell you what the average discounting amount is that houses actually sell for. This can be a helpful guide. Days on market also helps to find "conditioned" buyers.   Personally, I'd offer less than what I was actually prepared to pay, so that you can eventually negotiate t…[Read more]

S.N.M.   They used to say asbestos was totally safe in the day too, until people started dying.  Ever watched the good asbestos teams remove the stuff, they don't stuff around. My point was not about Minimum government requirements, which mean jack squat. it was the  control measures you need to take to safely work with asbestos. For instance…[Read more]

Miike, You will know if you contract an asbestos disease in 15 years when it becomes terminal.I.P.F. , you should know better than to tell someone that it "probably isn't asbestos", c'mon mate? The fact is that all it takes is a couple of fibres in your lungs to contract the disease.   Similar diseases will probably soon appear for fibreglass in…[Read more]

look up the PMT function in Excell. It will save a lot of effort when setting up a spreadsheet.

dcn,    tax minimisation is absolutely the goal. No-one should be paying more tax then they have to, that is crazy.   You are clever to continually question to get to the bottom of the matter.    CGT is a massive cost to investors and is worth investigating.   The best approach i have come across is to amass a huge debt, incur a huge tax liabilit…[Read more]

I am not qualified to answer this … however.    I understand that the CGT exemption can be applied for the period you owned the house.  So , if you have owned it for 8 years and then rented it out for 2 years.  You would have an exemption for approx. 80% of the capital gain you made, depending on the CPI for this period. 

dcn,    Capital Gains Tax is twice as bad for company owned assets.  If you make a Cap. Gain with your own property investmentsyou get a 50% discount if you owned them for over a year.   If they were owned in a company you would get no discount. Paying twice as much.  The only way to not pay any cap. gains on a   property is if it has been your p…[Read more]

I.P.     Isn't it funny how the ATO demands money immediately when you make a profit, yet are happy to let you off for a few years when you lose.       And as a Victorian I also know the roughly shoved pineapple that is Land Tax. Those poor yanks…..

There are many ways to use equity to buy income producing products or other. You don't need to rely on the big four banks for everything.Don't forget  you can use rental monies to pay down the debt that is created to spend on living expenses.  And then borrow deductible money to pay down the deductible interest.   Living on equity works for as…[Read more]

or the other way is to never ever sell. and then you never pay CGT in your lifetime.Simply draw money out of the houses with more and more loans (search "living on equity")This is a very cool theory if done with caution…… ideally leave the properties with huge debt and huge capital gains to your least favourite relative. HA.

The other way to lurk your way to capital gains joy is to rent your house out during periods when house prices are flat or falling(negative gear), and then live in your house while prices are booming. This could be covered with a valuation each time you move in or out. – The theory here is that the property only appreciates while it is your…[Read more]

The ATO base Capital Gains/Losses on an event.Ie: the financial year you sell an investment property triggers the Capital Gain event and must be paid that year.  The only hope you have is that in the same financial year you make an equivalent capital loss by selling an investment that lost money.    For instance if you lost a heap of money in th…[Read more]

You only have to have the property as your place of residence (ppor) for 6 months to satisfy for FHOG..(make sure the electricity bills and gas bills are in your name – keep these.You could buy the first property in your name now, live in it for 6 months and have your other two friends rent a room (or pay board) to you. You wouldn't have any…[Read more]

   In Melbourne,  you have a greater appreciation for these sorts of "period originals". Especially in a lot of inner subburban areas.  You would be crazy to knock it down.   If it can be incorporated into the theme of the property – I'd make it a feature.If you can't, cover it up carefully… you don't want to damage it.     This kind of thing…[Read more]

i have been with ingdirect for years – I found them good.I think they are a bigger organisation than any of the big four banks in oz (correct me if i'm wrong)They don't overcharge their existing customers who are already in loans  in order to fund "glitzy" introductory rates on new customers (unlike other lenders)They are conservative in who they…[Read more]

I'd say usually a bidding war will be won by over-emotional home buyers who have fallen in love with the home and will pay well over market value to get their hearts desire.   Investors should not ordinarily be involved in this sort of money wasting.   The only exception is if you honestly believe the property has much more value than the…[Read more]

Rule of thumb,  Unless you are sworn at and chased off the property with a broom – you offered too much.

Basically , yes.However the kind of properties that offer rental guarantees and extra arrangements are usually in obscure locations and have other bad karma.   Good capital gains appreciating property rarely has this type of "extra" frill thrown in.  Property investing involves taking some risk in order to crack higher rewards.  There are are…[Read more]

watch for tax implications.if you renovate before renting, and even if you renovate during tenancies, the tax dept. consider this to be a capital expense.which means you can't claim it as a deduction against your income or against your rent.30 grand on a reno could probably be instead spent as deposits on 2 – 3 more properties.or a better…[Read more]