Thanks Tim, that’s a great idea, I’ll look into it.

Louise:
thanks actually I guess it’s just a case of how content you are. I’m just simply not happy spending 60+ hours per week at work when I could be spending all my time snowboarding the world, relaxing in my mountain-top luxury lodge and running my own computer game development company That’s my motivation/goal.

AD:
Yep, gotta get those goals written down! My only hesitation is, because I know so little about what I’m doing and my finance options and stuff, I find it hard to know what my limitations are. But, with every post I read and each day that goes by, I’m getting a little more confident. I’m going to call that mortgage person mentioned in a previous reply tomorrow and get some info on what my options are, finance-wise. And I’m about to call Paul, above, although I don’t know what to expect

But you know what? I think I’m going to write myself some basic goals (in relation to property control/ownbership) right now, even if I don’t know how to achieve them! Tell me if I’m being too ambitious or if you think I can do better! I’ll figure it out.

1. 1 property by the end of february
2. 2 properties by the end of march
3. 4 properties by the end of april
4. 4 properties by the end of may

that’s like 7 weeks to secure my first property. do you think that’s not enough time, given my present situation?

Thanks Hilary! I’ll give him a call

no enthusiasm stifling here, I just want to make sure I understand wht I’m doing! Thanks for taking a look at what I did, though. The loan interest rate on the allhomes site was about 6.7% I think, and me, not knowing the difference between a P&I loan and an interest only loan, chose the lower of the two. I assume the P&I loan simply means a loan with a deposit? If so, why would the site quote a minimum deposit of $x and then display the P&I mortgage monthly repayment AND the interest-only mortgage repayment? I’m very eager to work all this stuff out, as I want to know how people manage to incur all these fees and still come out with positive cashflow on properties like these.

Ok, I did a little bit of investigating by using allhomes.com.au which is a really good resource for the ACT and surrounding areas. It has past sales information for practically every property in the ACT for the last 12 years plus growth charts, etc.

I made a spreadsheet to do some calculating (Excel 2000) and have uploaded it to http://www.hep10.com/internal/dealcalc.xls. I am sure there are lots of gaping holes or things that are wrong, but hey, that’s why I’m posting it here!

I discovered the following:

1) Pretty much EVERYTHING in Canberra/Queanbeyan at under $90,000 is a low-quality 1 bedroom unit.

2) Rent for these places seems too low to cover the mortgage in the cases I could see.

3) There were houses for sale under $90,000 in Adaminaby, which is 100km south of canberra, but there were quite a few of them, plus it seemed that quite a few businesses were for sale there too. I wasn’t sure where to ascertain the population of Adaminaby, but it seemed that it may be a sign that people are moving away from there. On the other hand, according to a real estate agency in that area, a new water system is going in there next year, due to be finished by 2004. Maybe that will make the area more attractive?

4) allhomes.com.au has its own partnered money lending business, so my mortgage calculations in my spreadsheet are based on that.

I have 3 properties punched into the spreadsheet, although I tried a few more than that, and got similar results as what you can see there now.

Your comments would be much appreciated!