Ahh see… there's the kicker – to you  having TV during that 3 years isn't worth anything.  To me that's 3 years of having something that I want & enjoy, something that I share with the person closest to me (GF & I are movie buffs)… so having it now is worth something to me and I'm willing to pay it!  And if we are going to do a financial analysis – don't forget inflation mean's I'm paying less in real dollars buy delaying the purchase (ssshh steve keen). 

The TV's just an example.  Everyone has things that they want.  If they are prepared to pay for it AND they can afford, it go for it I say.  I don't think anyone is here reading these forums because they love property investing per se – it's because PI brings people a way to get the things they want, albeit financially, whatever they may be.

 F.- if you are happy with a basic existence then I am truly envious and I wish you the best.  I admit, I want a lot from this world before I die, many of these things are expensive.  And so I am here.

PS I don't lease a car, I drive a 91 laser with 200 000 kms on the clock   Of course, on a purely financial basis leasing any sort of car does not seem like a good investment… UNLESS you put a value on the joy & satisfaction you get from driving it.  I guess that just depends on your perspective…

F. – my next question is then, why participate in a property investing forum, when you are in essense idealogically opposed to the idea?  You say you don't advocate anything for others, I find that quite a comical statement given your quite prolific promotion of anti-debt theories here.  If you are trully happy with your own life and choices, I don't think you would feel the need to come here and tell people they are wrong.

To me your situation sounds much the same as the indebted masses you deride.  You have 1-2 years cash saved up… so what?  Most people would have the same if they sold their assets tomorrow, as is their option.  What happens if you're injured and can't work?  What happens if you wish to start a family and provide for a wife and child?  How is your 1-2 years cash looking now?  And good thing you like your job – you would want to, given you have to keep working at it (or one similar) for the rest of your natural life, to survive.  Freedom, I think not.

On the idea of 'the bank owns your house' …

Yes legally they do, but you get to use it, and you profit from it's appreciation.  Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.  You don't need to own and asset to benefit from it, merely control it.  Same goes for other items – cars, TVs etc… I would suggest most of the satisfaction is in the USE not the OWNING.  If I was driving around in nice car I think I would prefer to know that it was leased, and my capital was invested somewhere else with a better prospect for growth.  Yeah, the finance company technically owns the car – and good thing too, they're usually bad investments…

My advice would be – don’t read one book on property and adopt it as your bible. Positive cashflow is only one way to invest is property. After I read Steve’s book I was sold on the idea, but after doing some more research and reading, I believe investing for capital growth is where the real money is.

Check out Michael Yardney’s first book or more recently Peter Spann, good reads that will test your faith in the positive cashflow dogma…

Great thread.

This is something I think about just about every other day… and the main reason I am into property!

A few days a week, I would get up at a reasonable hour and head over to my office and review my investments, look for new deals, basically keep my affairs in order.  It would be a small place, just with a assistant to take calls and do admin and maybe a couple of junior people I'd be mentoring.  I've always thought that I would like to have a place like this to do business so I can keep my home free of it and relax when I am there. 

The other days of the week it would look like handy andy's idea.  Sleep in, nice big breaky, a bit of exercise.The rest would be for catching up with friends, shopping, and indulging in whatever pursuit has my interest at the time (they come and go )

But the main point is… I would get to chose.  Not wake up on Monday morning and realise that although I don't want to go to work and would much rather do something else… I have to go and what's more do it 4 more times until the next weekend rolls around!

Some interesting discussion here.

If I may I would like to throw my hat into the ring.

A couple of people have said that they don't think house prices will double within the next 7-10 years, as has been the trend over the last 25 years or so.  The argument given is that affordability will prevent prices from growing any further.

I agree that affordability is an important issue affecting house prices, but in reality it is only one among many forces driving the market.  On the other side, driving prices upwards, we have  stable economy, and growing population.  Most people want to live near a major city, where land is scarce and prices are already high.  Unless this situation changes considerably prices will continue to grow as they have in the past.  Prices do seem high now but I'm sure back in the 80' and 90's there were times when, without foresight, they seemed high then too.

Well thanks for economics lesson F but I do appreciate the cyclic nature of economies and the somewhat inevitable process of growth & contraction. But to go as far to say that all debt is bad and borrowing against property is stupid, is where I disagree.

Edit (in reply to your edit…)
With regards ownership. I’m no lawyer and have no intention searching for a reference that interprets mortgage law differently (and I’m quietely confident I could find a lawyer that would, given aruing is what they do right? ) I agree the bank has a legal right to repossess or dispose of a property it has mortgage over, but only if the borrower defaults on the loan contract, or certain other conditions are met. That, to me, does not define ownership. It is still your name on the title, and you are free to use it as you decide. And, most importantly, you are free to use it as security with another lender, to leverage your assets more effectively and hopefully, create wealth faster!

I would advise against using cash to purchase the property if you are doing this for wealth creation.

Why? Real estate as an investment vehicle by itself is inferior to other vehicles (etc shares) over the long term. The only thing that makes it superior is the amount of leverage you can get on an RE investment.

If had 165k sitting around I would either use that to buy the most amount of properties I could, subject to getting finance OR gear into shares/manage funds albeit at a lower gearing ratio.

Just my 2c

I’ve also just read Michael Yardney’s book, and found it excellent. He presents an alternative to Steve’s +CF strategy which anyone trying to find +CF IPs should read. Michael also goes into the economics of the property cycle which I found very enlightening.