Theres the Adelaide Real Estate Investors Group which was formed about 3 months ago. We meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month (next meeting is on the 13th Jan 04) at Cafe De Val (Cnr Pultney and Pirie Streets). Its a great group for networking. Ray Summerton is our Chairperson, he normally posts a reminder about the meetings in the “opinionated” forum (i think January’s reminder is already there) so check it out and come along to our next meeting.
My parents invested in a Defence home a few months ago and you’re right, prices do seem inflated, its definitely NOT postitive cashflow and they are puttin in a significant amount extra to cover the loan costs each month. Plus there are management fees which is i think about $1500 per year (not 100% sure). But good thing is its gaurenteed rent for 9 years for them so hopefully at the end of it the capital growth would cover the losses they’ve made during the 9 years.
We’re building a house at the moment and from what we’ve been told by the bank, you don’t receive the FHOG until building commences so ANUBIS is correct.
I’ve been using EasyStreet which offer 4.8% (was 5% up until a few months ago). There are no hidden fees and is very easy to set up. The only thing is that you need a minimum $1000 to start the account up. Have been pretty happy with them so far (its been a couple of years) but my boyfriend also has an account with ING Direct which he is happy with also.
I’ve had a couple of people tell me that when they went to find out more about it, apparently what happens is that you pay no upfront fees but as soon as they start building, you pay these weekly repayments which do not get deducted from your “mortgage”. All that money that you pay when the house is being built is apparently to cover all the fees. The day they finish building the house is the day the fees that you pay on a weekly basis gets deducted from the cost of the building. So i think people are being tricked into thinking the weekly repayments made during the building is taken off the cost of the building however thats not the case.
I have not had dealings with them myself so i don’t know how true all this is or even if it would affect the situation of an investor.
i’m from adelaide too……only starting but been doing lots of research and am ready to buy our first IP, we are building a house at Evandale at the moment…..
Summo, i received the seminar invite from Rick Otten too, unfortunately we just purchased our tickets yesterday cause we couldn’t find a third person…..i should have waited!
I’m from Adelaide myself and my partner and i have been looking for an investment propery/first home for the last 6months. Everything thats around abouts our budget is gone or goes for ridiculous amounts at auction so we’ve been unlucky so far. We’re looking at the eastern suburbs like Magill, Kensington, Rosslyn Park etc.
Hi, thanks for the advice guys………….the way you understand it is that we could still qualify for the FHBG even if we take the loan out as an investment property??? Well then the bank we went to is either not too knowledegable on the the topic or is telling porkies! He told us that if took the loan out as an investment property, we would not be able to qualify for the FHOG.
I think i’ll have to go back there and ask some more questions about this.
Thanks for everyones advice on this, very much appreciated.