I think I would prefer to live across from a park rather than be backing onto one. Going in through a backyard is a lot less obvious for the thieves.

My sister and her husband are both coppers and were absolutely (dare I say) paranoid about NOT buying next to a laneway, as of course they had all the statistics of burgs etc. to back them up. Also near reserves were no nos, among other things, which became quite frustrating at times.

Cheers
Mel

I’ve never been a tenant[biggrin]… not a paying one anyway. I lived ‘out of home’ for six months in my grandparents house while waiting for the papers to be sorted so I could buy it, but then I moved back home…

Then I moved in with my partner for four years (no rent there, but lots of hassle[thumbsdownanim), then I dumped him and moved back home[specool].

Was going to move out so I could have my dogs with me two weeks ago (to rent from my brother), but in the end my other brother moved in there instead…

Why leave home? It’s sooo cheap, and Mum does my washing and ironing, and cooks my dinner…… I’m only 29, so I’ve got 6 years to that magical 35 that people keep talking about that the kids will stay at home til.

Actually, I’m waiting for Mum and Dad to retire down the coast, then I get the whole house to myself[thumbsup2]

Cheers
Mel

Hey guys

Can’t resist a quick point on Kieran’s ‘article’. He compares the borrowings of Aus and NZ, and states that Aus is 10 times the Kiwis. Is that in total? Surely that’s so easily accounted for in our population differnces?

Cheers
Mel

Myydral, if selling through an agent, I think about 3-4% is normal. then you’ve got solicitor/conveyancer costs for the contracts. Then you’ve got the possibility of not getting the price you want….

With buying you have the solicitor/conveyancer costs, stamp duty, inspection costs etc. These things really eat into the amount of money you think you had….

Cheers
Mel

Hiya Dom

Make careful note of the new tax brackets that are being brought in over the next couple of years….

If you can, I would suggest as Derek said, staggering the sale. The reason for this is as he said, that the taxation can be less.

For instance, if you sold one in July this year, you not only have a year and more before you have to pay the tax, but you also have time to plan how to reduce your income for that year…

As Terry said, you can prepay interest. A plan could be to sell one house, and in June of next year, prepay the interest on your two remaining properties, thus reducing the income for that year. Having prepaid the interest will not stop the bank from discharging the loan if you sell one of them the next month, so that’s not a problem.

It might however, stuff you up for that FY, but again, you’d have a year to sort it out – or two years starting from now….

Is there any reason you ‘have’ to sell all three? Could you not sell one or two, and use the proceeds to pay off the PPOR, and keep paying the same or less payments onto PPOR to reduce the loan quicker? This would also reduce your total out of pocket expenses for the two or one IPs, although still being slightly negative, but that’s ok as long as you have PPOR debt…..

Cheers
Mel

Jars

I’ve got no problems with the level of your portfolio, especially as you have the income to service it. I also believe in rewarding yourself or else what’s the point…

Anyway, if I had such a large income (and obviously you have the possibility of increasing your wages as your deductions increase, thus keeping your tax payable down….) I would look at purchasing post 1985 properties (preferably newish ones) that will rent reasonably, but will give bucketloads of depreciation.

Also, instead of aiming to pay them all off in 10 years, I would look at increasing the portfolio steadily using IO loans (and paying all extra off your holiday house[biggrin]) even though it can be deducted too…..

That way, by the time the next boom comes around, you’ll have a bigger portfolio to go into it with, thus having bigger growth. then you could choose to sell off one or more of your properties, to pay down the debt on the others.

Then of course, you’ll have a tax problem[biggrin], so buy some more new houses for the depreciation…….

Cheers
Mel

Bucko, don’t ever sell that pre 1985 house. They are like gold… Once gone, you will never get it back.

I like the idea of purchasing a second place in Brisbane, and claiming that as your PPOR. Then rent ‘out west’, which should be covered by the two rents you’ll get on your IPs…

Plus, if you’re not sure how long you’ll be out west, it might be better for you…

For anybody that has property purchased pre 1985, do not designate that one as your PPOR. You don’t even have to keep a record each year of which house is your PPOR, just in the year of sale of the particular property…. cool huh?[specool]

Cheers
Mel

Lucifer, from memory there are Aussie stories, and I think Kiwi stories as well – to show that it can be done worldwide I guess!

But again, how long does it take to a. receive submissions from your readers, go through them to choose the ones to use, prepare them in readable format, get them edited, and then published etc. etc.

So wherever the deals were found, it was at least a couple of years ago. I’m not saying that they are impossible to find now, just that you need to be really creative. I think there are some creative ideas in the book, but (again from memory – maybe I’d better read it again[biggrin]) a lot of the deals were stock standards available at the time…..

Cheers
Mel

learay, if you look at margaret lomas website, she has a free download program that can work out stamp duty and other things for you.

As for letting fees, I’ve found it’s a weeks rent, or 2.3% of yearly rent (which is almost the same).

If all the prices of houses are approx the same, you’d probably only need to get a rough idea once and you’d be about covered….

Cheers
Mel

Elves, check out http://www.notgoodenough.org (I think, maybe .au) and http://www.crikey.com.. Crikey may not be relevant, I’m typing off the top of my head (aren’t I clever[biggrin])

Cheers
Mel