Forum Replies Created
Sorry – no.
MargThe ATO looks closely at these claims.
Brisbane is an hour's drive north of the Gold Coast. Hard to see you claiming much if you travel from Sydney to the Gold Coast for 3 days when your IP is in Brisbane. Probably you could claim the cost of a hire car for a day to travel to see your IP.
Our accountant told us that the ATO looks at interstate travel to inspect an IP as usually considered a direct flight to the nearest city and one night's accommodation. Tack on a holiday and they consider the prime purpose of the trip is a holiday and attracts minimal deductions.
Check with your accountant.
MargThis is quite common in Brisbane and would not be much of a bargaining point. Rooms without legal head height cannot be legally described as bedrooms, but are often used for that purpose. A friend had a high house without legal head height on the lower level. He built in a study, a sewing room and a storage room.
MargI would be strongly against it.
Even though you take out your own loans, as joint owners you are all responsible for all loans. So if one defaults, then the others have to pay up or risk the house being repossessed, with the resulting damage to credit ratings.
You will not get the FHOG – boyfriend's mum already owns property. And if you live there then you won't be eligible in the future.
Who decided the house was worth $600K?
MargThe figures don't add up. If your husband bought the house for $350K and his uncle loaned him $150K interest free, then the initial loan should have been $200K (or maybe a little more to pay for purchasing costs). He owes the bank $288K, and still has $20K outstanding debts. This means that he had approximately $100K in debts before he bought the house????
I agree with the decision you have made – don't sign. Yes, the bank may chase you for the money if things go belly-up, but it will be much harder for them. Otherwise they would not need you to sign.
Things will only get worse next year when the fixed rate expires.
By not signing you husband has only two options – persuade his uncle to extend his interest free loan, or sell the house.
Good luck!
Marg
This block of land has many problems, and unless you can get road access and services connected then you will be unable to build on it and it will be virtually worthless. I would have thought that without access then the land could not be subdivided and sold.
I suggest you look for land that has all services already available.
Marg
We own an IP with a pool on the Sunshine Coast Qld.
We have had no issues with it so far. It is written into the lease that the tenant must supply a certificate from a pool shop before leaving to say that the chemical balance is correct. So far our tenants have been happy to maintain it. Naturally we pay for any repairs to the pump, filter, salt cell or creepy-crawly.
The only advice I can offer is to watch when leases expire. We have found our best success is with leases expiring in January or August, and now insist on these months, which means a 5 month lease followed by a 7 month lease (or 12 months always offered). After all, who wants a pool for a six month lease over winter? Maybe if you are from NZ or Tasmania…..
We have found the pool to be a major drawcard, and never have any trouble getting tenants – not so much an issue these days with rental shortages.
MargToday I was at the Commonwealth Bank renewing term deposits for my mother.
Interest rate?
7.75% for 3 months
8.1% for 6 monthsThis means that the CBA is allowing for another .25% rise in the next few months.
MargGo to the rental section of http://www.realestate.com
See how many properties are available for rent and at what price.
MargWhat is generally overlooked is that any article predicting the future is simply someone's opinion. For every point of view there is an opposing point of view that is equally valid.
This is the third real estate downturn I have seen (and being in Brisbane it really can't be called a downturn yet, more a slightly slowing down). Auction results are unreliable for Brisbane as it is NOT the most popular method of selling.
Will this downturn last 6 months or 10 years?
I don't know and neither does anyone else. At work yesterday I was looking through 3 month old copies of the Business Weekly Review where "experts" were giving their predictions for 2008. Sadly, nearly all of them have since been proved very wrong. Just goes to show that no matter how respected and well-researched the contributors were, life has a habit of throwing curve-balls every so often.
At the end of the day, read widely and form your own opinions to base your actions on.
My advice, for what it is worth, would be to take a conservative view and build up a cash buffer – to protect you if you think things will get worse, or to build up a deposit in case you are more optomistic.
MargYou can try offering no deposit, but it will depend on the vendor whether it is accepted.
There is no way I would sign a contract to sell a property without a substantial deposit. Why? Because once I sign a contract the property is off the market. Then the buyer can walk away if there is no deposit. To me a deposit is a sign of good faith and a genuine intention to complete the purchase.
MargMy suggestion would be to untangle your finances from your brother – there are two properties that you both own. Have you thought of putting one in your name and one in your brother's? It would probably need a cash payment from one or the other. Yes, there would be fees and possibly CGT, but I would think that the sooner you are acting independently the better.
Unless, of course, this is part of some long-term strategy or there are other good reasons for you to have invested this way.
MargHi Tingata
You would be truly surprised at the amount of bark and branches that gum trees shed, particularly large ones.
Another option would be for the rubbish to be removed.
Perhaps your manager could obtain another quote to rake up and remove the rubbish.
Your neighbour will be concerned because of the bushfire danger.
MargIt could be simply that once owners saw the prices the other units were receiving they decided to sell too.
It is the same with different streets. The street behind ours had seven houses sold within 3 months, after several years of inactivity.
MargHi Paul
Don't sell.
Your comment "there is not much money left at the end of the week" means that you are able to meet your payments.
Tighten your belts just a little and you will be OK. You don't have to have ANYTHING left at the end of the week, so long as you are paying your way then you will be fine.
Can your partnet get even part time work to tide you over? It may not be an ideal job, but even $100 coming in would cover the IP. Telemarketing? Local supermarket?
Is your IP on interest only? If not, can you switch without too many costs?
This is a temporary problem, selling your IP is a permanent reaction.
Good luck
MargI am concerned that you signed contracts without reading them carefully – what if the error had been in the vendor's favou?.
Having said that, by law a contract is an agreement which is legally binding on both parties.
You are under no obligation to do any more than is in the contract.
We sold a unit last year. I assumed that the dryer would be included in the contract. When we were presented with the contract already signed by the purchaser, the dryer was not mentioned. I questioned the RE agent and he said he had told the purchaser he was not sure if it was working as he did not know how old it was, so it was ignored and not included in the contract.
The agent was quite amazed that we even read the contract!!
The dryer was only 6 months old. On RE advice that it was not part of the contract, we kept it.
MargCheck with your body corporate to ensure that floor boards are allowed.
Some buildings won't allow them because of noise issues, particularly if you are on a higher floor with another apartment directly below.
MargHi James
One thing to check is the amount of notice needed to terminate the agreement. Most agents try for 90 days, which is 3 months too long if there are problems. I would suggest no more than 30 days, that should give them time to sort any issues out.
I would suggest going with someone local, but the main avenue these days is the internet. Check that they advertise rentals with http://www.realestate.com, the biggest of the real estate sites. If not, find someone else who does.
Someone nearby is better able to keep a general eye on things.
Marg
I remember reading some time ago that one problem with Queenstown was that there were no PMs in town, so when it came to renting owners were very much on their own.
Things may have changed.
MargWhy not simply buy one unit each?
Marg
