emma171 wrote:
Naughtyj…. ZERO question – in the US – no harm no foul on a primary residence… off you go, default away and 2-3 years later, with a bankruptcy AND a foreclosure you are right as rain to get a BRAND NEW FHA LOAN AT 4%!!! YAY!!!!In Oz… get real… no chance you can walk awayHowever, dear US investors PLEASE be aware that the…[Read more]

jayhinrichs wrote:
DO You not have any foreclosures in OZ??? Does every single borrower pay as agreed, does no one get divorced? Or die Intestate???JLH

I’d argue the primary reason we don’t have anywhere near the levels of foreclosures as the US (and likely never will) is that our loans are recourse loans whereas US ones are primarily…[Read more]

Has anyone got any feedback on this? Curious as to how useful people have found it, etc.Thanks in advance.

Actually, if the property is located in the ACT (Canberra), I believe the stamp duty is deductable in the first year of purchase, so depending on where hsingh10 is purchasing the property, it might be worth talking to his tax person about.All I could find was a Defense Housing Brochure to confirm this, but both IPs we've bought, the accountant has…[Read more]

Hey, if interest rates dropped to closed to zero, I'd be looking at taking out interest only loans on all of my IPs. *grin*

This is just a guess, but I'd say you probably could.That being said you'd probably need an agreement that's signed off by a solicitor.  And, your parents would also need to declare the money they receive from you as taxable income (after all, it's income received from an investment).The only thing that you might also need to take into account is…[Read more]

Quick comment – and this is uninformed, so if someone does have better info, then please reply.Firstly, I am assuming that you've only relatively recently purchased the property (reason being you would have been claiming depreciation beforehand).As others have said, if you have internals, then a QS probably will pay for itself in the first year…[Read more]

Again, I'm no expert, but I was listening to an interesting piece by Paul Clitheroe on the ABC the other day.  He made the comment that (in his opinion) house prices will slow, but on the other hand, they won't.  It depends on HOW you look at it.The example he gave was of a $500,000 house.Assume that the market goes nowhere for the next 5 y…[Read more]

That's kind of what I was thinking Terryw.I'd heard Paul Clitheroe talking about it on the radio and was I wondering about the lost opportunity cost.Plus, the point you make about next year being postive income unless you do it again is also something that you'd definitely need to consider before doing so (and obviously talk it through with your…[Read more]

Not after financial advice – I'm just curious is all what people's experiences have been (and it's the reason I posted it in the General section of the forum) and if it's the bank that generally benefits by getting the 'extra' interest by holding the money ahead of time.

Given you're in Queensland, this is probably of limited use, but we have two properties (in Canberra), both of which are with different agents.  Both agencies are charging 7.7% management fees (including GST).In the past, we've had both agencies try (on occasion) to tell us that the price is too cheap and they need to increase their fees (about 5…[Read more]

DetroitDan9 wrote:
NaughtyJ, LOL I had to laugh at your post. People can spend way too much time reading articles and less time actually doing it themselves. The best way to learn is to jump in, instead of having paralysis by analysis! I often see this with a lot of people who "want to invest in the US" they want to get involved, but have to…[Read more]

Not sure if this relates, but I am looking at purchasing a place that has solar panels on it (connected to the grid and drawing a feed-in tarriff).  Net result is that the electricity bill comes to around negative $23 per year.I spoke to the realestate agent who handles our rentals and she suggested that the easiest way would be to put the e…[Read more]

You know the thing that really struck me with that article?  The racist vitriol pretty much negated all of the other possibly "factual" and believable arguments that the writer put forward.By itself, statements such as "American sewer pipes are 2 inches, not 4 inches. Expect to be fixing blocked toilets every so often"  seem reasonable until you r…[Read more]

Thanks.  Kind of figured as much, but it never hurts to ask.Subsequent question:  I'm figuring that property prices won't move upward much in the next 12 months much, and I will be getting a current 2011 valuation on the property in a few weeks.Would that establish the basis for its "cost" value when I move out and use the difference between tha…[Read more]