Peter,

I feel for you. I know exactly how you feel. your question on the property prices crashing, my view is unlikely. And if there was a crash, you are unlikely to want to enter at that point either. If a downward spiral does occur most buyers hold off until the boom starts again and it’s only the very smart money that can pick the bottom of…[Read more]

Not sure if you have purchased anything yet but i think you need to consider a few things and reassess what it is you are trying to achieve.

Firstly, what does it cost you every week to live? do you have a budget? i know you have returned to work but even so, you have an existing mortgage payment to make, you must be running 1 or 2 cars, plus…[Read more]

does your $650k in development cost include interest?

Will the land already have permits to complete the dwellings or will you be having to do that yourself. If so, that will take some time and you’ll be paying interest on the $380k of land for a period.

if you haven’t included the buying costs, subdivision costs and interest costs then…[Read more]

my builder would want a 20% margin on anything. I haven’t bothered approaching him on doing it at no margin because to me, then the bank will have to make the drawdowns to him, not to my contractors that I’m going to get to do the work.

Some numbers:

Land value: $130k
Mortgage on land: $58k
House contract w/builder: $160k
Other costs: $40k

now…[Read more]

The short answer is yes you can.

But you have to be committed to what you are doing. The fact you stopped at chapter 15 and didn’t finish the book makes me wonder how interested you are in the process though. I haven’t got the book handy, but you couldn’t have had long to go.

Remember that book is only one book talking about one path to an…[Read more]

get an application in to be heard at the tribunal immedietly. They will get notified of having to attend.

If they don’t show then there is a big chance of the tribunal ruling against them and issuing a warrant for the police to remove them if they’re still there in two week.

If you’ve given them their chances take proper steps to remove them.…[Read more]

you should get your own development consultant for the subdivision component. I have been doing the same thing and my builder has helped out with some aspects for works related to him. My builder isn’t doing all the works. eg. when i got a quote for the stormwater and sewer works from my builder (spec home builder) they wanted $20k. the actual…[Read more]

why should a tiler get paid $50 an hour. it shouldn’t be more than $35 an hour.

At $50 and hour, that is eqivalent to an income of $100k a year. Should a tiler be earning $100k a year when you can go and do a weekend course and have a bit of home training (walls first so nobody notices they’re not flat). That shouldn’t get you $50 an hour.

I…[Read more]

1500sqm of land in that area should be able to accommodate 5-7 townhouses depending on what is proposed (singles,doubles). So, the value of the two blocks with permits (varies greatly depending on the permit you get) would be over $1m. Depends though if you are selling with or without the permits and the size of the townhouses that are…[Read more]

James, what about getting a new job with a payrise which will help to fund the large amount of debt. Not sure what profession you are in, but moving jobs is an easy way to get a payrise quickly.

she might jst have to pay it out – it’s only really 3 months rent. I guess that is one of the things with building a house – you take it as it comes. Imagine if the house had been delayed and she had to live there anyway. She can still leave, just has to keep paying the rent.

Why did she sign a 12 month lease when she didn’t need 12 months?…[Read more]

Pete,

good area. First thing to do is get yourself a town planner and sit down for a chat. They’ll have a list of what needs to be done to complete a subdivision and it will be pretty clear to you then.

You will need to obviously do an application for subdivision. Some of the fees include:

arborist report (trees)
survey
engineering…[Read more]

we started with an IP that is now our PPOR and then used equity after 2 years to buy an IP. We have then subdivided that and now have land that we’re in the process of building on which will become our 2nd IP.

From there we will use the equity of IP’s only to buy another development site.

You don’t have to put your PPOR as security against the…[Read more]

i believe that you can claim this. In the event these costs are over $100, then you need to tax deduct the costs over 5 years. can still lead to a pretty decent size deduction if you’re going to 100% finance the mortgage.

please note that this is only my thoughts and you should seek professional advice

Do you care to share the list?

depends what sort of concreting job you’re doing and how the units would but based on block size to concrete a drive down the side of the block to enter all the units I would budget $10-15k.

what about pits and so on? on a 4 unit development the site coverage in any council would require pits to be installed etc.

in our PPOR we have some walls like this. they are a big pain to paint and take a while, but because we had painted everything else, laid new carpet etc, it looked dull and old without painting them.

i think painting the whole house brightens it up and demands a better rental return.

I am guessing you are talking about National Builders based on the info you have provided.

The ‘from’ price doesn’t include a lot of things. They are offering that price on the basis of building you a house that doesn’t have floor finishes other than the wet areas, is on a perfectly flat block with no issues in the soil, has connections that…[Read more]

If you don’t have a mortgage and have a job why can’t you take out a personal loan to do the maintenence work that you want to complete? she shouldn’t be paying the maintenance if you’ve been living there 17 years rent free.

Instead of buying the house off her couldn’t the following work:

– you start paying a nominal rent to her weekly of say…[Read more]

I’m feeling a bit old at 25.

I bought my first property at 21 and had a tenant for under a year and then did full internal renovation and moved in – my current PPOR. Made over $100k in equity via the reno and natural growth in property at the time.

Bought my second property at 24 – currently rented and undergoing subdivision.

Plan to kick the…[Read more]