Hello,
I am currently living overseas and looking to buy a property with saved funds.
I am not planning on returning to Australia for a couple of years.
Is it possible to use funds from a SMSF to renovate the property I have purchased outright ? (Funds not associated with my SMSF)
For example completely update an apartment. (Kitchen. Bathrooms,…[Read more]

ajago5 wrote:
Thanks guys you've been a great help .. I had a look at the links, very interesting stuff and Im in the process of setting up a spreadsheet to help me with risk analysis and other issues. It is a bit tricky though but Ill keep at it. Thank again adam

You might want to take a look at @RISK — Risk analysis software. A great free…[Read more]

Are Low Doc / No Doc loans still available?What are the requirements?Minimum deposit / Maximum deposit? Would someone qualify $650 K deposit, ($50K to be set-aside for mortgage payments) borrowing $400k. 

The Economist has just published an article 1st March 2011 on Australia's housing.http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/03/australias_house_prices"This week in The Economist we will publish our quarterly index of house prices around the world. Australia's homes are the most overvalued in the index. The ratio of prices to rents in the…[Read more]

toe wrote:

white_goodman wrote:
your first sentence makes zero sense.

I can only assume you've misunderstood my point, because it makes perfect sense.

Quote:
From SMHAbout a quarter of  Australians rent their homes through the private rental market — and nearly half of these (45%) are helped to make the rent through subsidies from C…[Read more]

fWord wrote:
Yes, prices have crashed in these countries. Why is it so? Are there an overwhelming number of similarities we can draw between Australia's property market and those of which have crashed? And believe me, I'm not touting that the Australian property market cannot falter. In life, we can only expect to be surprised. What I am…[Read more]

mattnz wrote:
Just looking at Genworth's financial position and exposure. In 2008 their share price dropped from ~$35 to $1.12 due to their exposure to the US housing market. The scary thing is their exposure to the Australian market is far larger and any significant drop here would almost certainly cause insolvency. Of their 3.8 million LMI…[Read more]

nicolas_b wrote:
Here is another article from Seeking Alpha.http://seekingalpha.com/article/227083-the-great-australian-housing-bubbleMost of the people I know have been off-loading their property portfolios. (All based in Sydney). You never want to put all your eggs in one basket, especially if the egg is leveraged.   What worries me about A…[Read more]

Wynyard wrote:
"prices in Singapore are highway robbery" Why are we in this position? Indeed, that is all news to me, thank you for lifting the wool from my eyes. In someways I'm glad to know we're not alone, it strengthens my feeling that we are all screwed – and that perhaps there could still be a revolution (several, a la Egypt). Maybe there…[Read more]

Here is another article from Seeking Alpha.http://seekingalpha.com/article/227083-the-great-australian-housing-bubbleMost of the people I know have been off-loading their property portfolios. (All based in Sydney). You never want to put all your eggs in one basket, especially if the egg is leveraged.   What worries me about Australian property, 1…[Read more]

keiko wrote:
I would like to know what the renting people are planning on doing, move to a new town suburb or clean up there rented house and stay put.

I believe it is the responsibility of the landlord to repair, clean  the property. Correct me if I am wrong, I believe Flood damage is classified as an emergency repair.  The best indication o…[Read more]

I think you should educate yourself to the actual facts. The Labor Govt’ (admittedly never voted for them, never will, it’s just not what I have been brought up to do.) actually saved the Australian property market through the Govt’ Guarantee.  The Banks’ crawled on their hands and knees when the overseas debt markets dried up during the height o…[Read more]

"is there a difference between rich and super rich … is our rich middle class as we know them and supper rich another level we never talk about? … super rich pay 20 million for a penthouse and don't care if it value drops here and there ??? … who are poor people and what level is poor?"The "super rich" people I know do not invest in…[Read more]

It all depends on how much money you have.You could possibly get a E2 visa so long as you meet and continue to meet the requirements you can stay indefinitely.Check out http://www.globalvisas.com/ and or US Visa Wizard http://canberra.usembassy.gov/niv_wizard.html

I personally would not be putting every spare cent I have in Gold. Gold is an investment in Govt default. I do not believe there is any empirical evidence of Gold being a hedge against inflation.One suggestion I would put out there is Education. "If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in…[Read more]

Our banks have mark to market RMBS debt held on their books. The only way property can continue to rise is IF international investors continue to rollover the banks finance at affordable levels. The banks and LMIs have been reducing capital requirements by continually updating valuations and doing capital calculations on the updates.Which…[Read more]

50mil,I good study of Australian house prices is from "Long term housing prices in Australia and some economic perspectives" by Stapledon, Nigel David, Economics, Australian School of Business, UNSW.You can find his thesis here http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/unsworks:1435Essentially here is the graph.

http://www.refindhouseprices.com/

Nothing is set in stone. I would budget for 200 basis points. From the http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/RBA-Reserve-Bank-interest-rates-stevens-paul-bloxh-pd20100921-9H39W?OpenDocument&src=pmm "Within 24 hours of being appointed by HSBC as chief economist for Australia and New Zealand, former senior Reserve Bank economist Paul…[Read more]