Luke, welcome

If you do a search for Perth or WA on the forums, you’ll come up with a wealth of information on who does what.

You’ll probably get some emails of people you could talk to/meet up with also.

Cheers
Mel

dragon, that subscription is probably for 12 issues – ie 2 years worth. That’s what I just paid when I resubscribed for 2 years.

Cheers
Mel

Matt

In a P&I loan, over a long term, there is not all that much principal paid off anyway. As we are talking about making houses more ‘affordable’ and discussing 40 year loan terms (which are US only at the moment), I suggested an IO loan, which is the lowest payments that the bank requires for you to own the house.

Perhaps you really want to own your PPOR, but can’t quite afford a 30 year loan, and would like a longer term, then an LOC would allow you to pay only the interest. I think you’re mad if you don’t at least pay some extra off, so that you are ‘buying’ yourself some equity, and not relying on the CG.

So it’s not really increasing cashflow (PPOR purchase), more it’s making it possible where otherwise it might be more of a struggle, and it provides a bit more flexibility in payments.

Cheers
Mel

quote:

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my question is how do I know if I have enough equity in my home and investmant property to purchase a new investment property.

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As Jester said, you subtract mortgages from value. However, to work out your ‘available’ equity, which is what the banks will lend, you need to subtract your mortgages from 80% of the value. Banks are generally happy to lend at 80% LVR (ie 80% of the value), so it’s a good starting place.

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also is there another way to have your house valued other than having a valuation report done

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Yes, ask three real esate agents to come and do an appraisal of your house. It won’t be accepted by the banks, but it will give you an indication. Also ask them how they’ve come to this figure, and ask for recent sales to back it up. When you have these sales, and you do need a valuation for borrowing purposes, you can provide them to the bank’s valuer to help justify why your place is worth $x.

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but i never see the end result to see what the property actually sold for.

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Ring the agents and ask them what it sold for.

Cheers
Mel

As Simon said ([]), an LOC can last an awful long time – and can be paid interest only if that’s what you want to do. It would cut the payments down, and you pay more as and when you can.

He’s also mentioned somewhere that age doesn’t seem to affect the granting of long term loans to ‘older’ people.

Cheers
Mel

Crocco, I think Aus privacy laws are a ‘tad’ more stringent than the US, so there’s no way like they have to find out about impending foreclosures.

The best you could do would be to talk to your network (accountant/banker/solicitor/real estate agent etc) and tell them that you could be ready for a quick settlement if they know of anybody that needs to sell quickly or they will lose their place. You also MUST be able to settle quickly[]

As for profiting from others misfortune – it’s not a nice thought to prey on them, but you didn’t get them into the mess, but are looking for ways to possibly save them from losing the lot anyway, and at the same time, you want a discount for helping them.

Cheers
Mel

spider, why would you want to retire to Sydney!?![]

Canberra is much much better!![]

A suggestion:

Find an area you like in Sydney. Rents are much cheaper than buying. 3-5% yields. Find a rental you like, and ask to sign a 5 year lease (or pick a number). Get some clause agreed to by the landlord that at any time, with 60-90 days notice, you can move out. If you change jobs, retire, leave Sydney etc. Work one out that may cause you to want to move – ie retirement.

Landlord is happy – no vacancies. You are happy, long term (cheap) rental that you can leave with a couple of months notice. Then buy some more +ve cashflow ips. When you do retire, stagger some sales of your other properties (to save CGT) and purchase your ‘retirement’ PPOR.

Cheers
Mel

I think westan has. If you have a search for Homepath you may come up with something?

Cheers
Mel

Bassla, have you bought another PPOR since?

If you have owned it for more than a year, you can sell at anytime. You can also claim exemption for that year you lived in it.

If you have not got a PPOR now (or even if you have, you can choose which one is your ppor for the time you have owned the other one) you could sell the place, and pay no CGT.

If you are certain there is growth, and you can afford the $500, keep it. If you are not, then perhaps it is a good time to sell.

Cheers
Mel

SIS, I can’t tell you which ones cos I don’t remember, but know that I’ve seen at least a few. They were at 7.5% about 2 years ago when I first saw them.

Ask a broker.

Cheers
Mel