I assume you have posted a letter to the address you are interested in.

It would then redirect to the owner.

And they could then reply if they are interested.

?

I think everyone needs to bite on LMI to get started.

But after a few years the equity in your properties should be enough to set up LOCs to pay that extra 20% and avoid the LMI sting.

In the long run, the thing that holds you back is actually serviceability.

Funny, I remember thinking of every idea under the sun to buy property with no money down and now I wonder why I bothered.

Now it is just a calculation on serviceability which gets easier as rents and inflation goes up.

Best approach is to buy property with potential and add value. Then equity will abound.

Or….. just wait. Time will give it to you.

I would suggest that most seasoned investors aim to gear between 65 – 80%. And never consider LMI.

If you constantly gear over 80%, you risk giving all your profits to the bank in the form of interest and loan costs.

You need to keep an eye on the GST when regularly developing (ie: more than once),

Ie; Dual Occ Sub divisions,

Extensions,

Or even major reno’s ……..

My understanding was that you may have to charge some GST on the price you sell for , in these circumstances.

… And that now the ATO considers you to be in the business of developing, then you may also lose the 50% capital gains discount and start paying full income tax rates on all profit…….

Definately worth a chat with accountant prior to planning a deal just in case the tax man steals all your profit.

Dom,
In Vic, you would likely give the Agent 5% commission just for selling the place.

You would pay 5-6% in government costs to buy the new house (about double Qld. Stamp Duty Rates)

Moving costs and incidentals would be insignificant.

… And Just to confuse you more, consider market moves.

If you sell and then start looking for a new place, what happens if the house market price goes up 10-20% ?

What if you buy the new place and then can’t sell, you may have interest rate expenses on 2 mortgages. Imagine if interest rates spike 10%.

Ideally, if you could sell your place for a good price and buy the new place at a discount in a flat or declining market with stable interest rates… this would effectively recover the cost of the move.

The other thing I would consider, is how desirable the new house is. If it is a better/bigger house in a more popular suburb, the long term capital growth may far outweigh the transaction costs sting.

Don’t miss the forest for the trees, the costs at the time of change may hurt, but could be insignificant in the long term gains of a better property.

Very Interesting comments.

If all the central banks and major economies are printing money faster than ever before, surely the value of money has to be decreasing at the same rate.

This would resolve all the government debt. issues as their debt would be reduced to nothing.

History tells us that this is what governments do when they have no other option.

Unfortunately it means the price of living sky rockets and no-one can afford to buy anything. With long protracted periods of poverty for the people.

I hope we aren’t headed for hyper-inflation……

…Maybe time to bury some gold and baked bean cans just in case.

Thanks mike.

Extremely useful info – will keep your services in mind and pass on your contact details

You can have a certain amount of land in any one persons name before you incur land tax in Vic.
  I think it is about $300k or so.

-remember it is only the land value, not the value of the buildings on it that is counted.

   So if you already have land in your name, simply put the property into the name of a different family member.

   You could potentially finance the mortgage in your name, and have the property in the other family members name.

I'd be taking your problem up with the purchaser. Your losses now are due to them not fulfilling their original obligation in a signed contract of sale.
 
If they had originally signed a contract for settlement in early April, and you are now incurring a loss because they have been jerking you around, they could be liable.
 
Even if you re-signed with a different purchaser, I'd say you still have a case to sue the original purchaser for any loss you are suffering now.

   Just send them a bill for "17.5% Penalty Interest compounding daily", to recoup your losses. It is THEIR responsibility to ensure they pay on the day of settlement.
.
  You would be surprised what a kick in the bum like this will do, which is to get your purchaser to actually chase up this loan through their bank to get you money. 

  In the past when I have purchased and my lender stuffs up and I can't give the vendor payment on time, I have been slugged with penalty interest until I sort it out. And rightly so.

    In my experience the banks don't particularly care if things are done on time or not. Not their problem. I will bet the paperwork for your purchasers loan is sitting in an "INBOX" doing nothing because no-one is chasing it up – and you are paying the penalty. 

GET ANGRY.

  Stand up for yourself, and read everything you sign into carefully.  Very good experience to learn from. 

If you have a property in your own name already, you will probably find that moving the other properties into your name would make negligible difference to the land tax payable, as the more land in your personal name , the higher the percentage of land tax anyway.

   Remember also that land tax is a deductible expense.

  If I were you, I'd leave it as is.

If you are highly geared however, it may be worth selling a property if the land tax is eating into your equity that much.

  If my memory is correct, queensland has some of the cheapest rates of Australia anyway.

  ….Oh, and I love how accountants will recommend that you change your entire structure and incur thousands of dollars of stamp duties and transfer costs simply because "They would have set it up differently"

   All structures have different benefits and drawbacks, changing things halfway through is a "Last Resort" in my opinion.

  Tell your accountant to "jam it" from me.

   …oh and your friends advice is …..um.  …    incorrect.

Could they instead put their rural retreat into a "Trust" with their kids/grandkids as beneficiaries. Then they technically do not own it.