We have just divested ourselves of two 1-bedroom units and bought two 2-bedroom units instead.  We've found that one bedroom units are more difficult to rent and have lower capital gain, hence the swap.

How about something along the lines of, 'Subject to pest and building inspection reports to the satisfaction of the purchaser'?That way you (the purchaser) can say if you're satisfied or not.Just my 2 cents' worth.

We have just sold two properties which were tenanted, to fellow investors.  In the ads (we advertised on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au, didn't use a RE agent but did it all ourselves) we did the following:- made it clear that there was an existing lease until month/year (eg. November 2010);- included the weekly rent;- made positive (and t…[Read more]

sammmeee, definitely go with your price of $275K.  If they say yes, you're done!  Easy If they say no, make a lot of noises along the lines of, 'Oh….. that's disappointing….. my (wife/partner/OH/whatever) really doesn't want to pay above that…… s/he says it's not worth it to him/her to pay any more…….' then finish the call with, &…[Read more]

That does sound overpriced, assuming you're a PAYG wage earner (ie. not a business owner etc).For our last returns, we were charged just over $400 each.  That's for PAYG stuff, charitable donations, medical expenses (we both spend over $1500 per year), other deductibles (work clothing for him, work-related study for me) and all the paperwork a…[Read more]

Okay, where we went wrong….1. Buying one bedroom units which were smaller than 50m2;2. Getting a friend to help us with the renovations on one of those units (took ten months and nearly sent us to the financial edge due to lost rental income over that time);3.  Buying one of those units in a really bad complex – no upkeep/maintenance done,…[Read more]

whoops double post!

We've really liked dealing with Tyron Adametz, from Select Mortgage Services.  His mobile is 044 88 99 173.

We buy places that need work (renovation or rejuvenation) and do as much of it as we can ourselves.  This means we typically get it for a good price, and the cost of the renos is far less than the amount of capital gain we get from doing the work.

I should probably add I'm not getting any kickbacks for advertising MHIFS, and I'm in no way connected or associated with them – we just had a great experience selling ourselves, and they were a big part of that. <end disclaimer>

We have just sold a property in WA.  It was a unit in a strata titled complex.Documents required for the sale paperwork include:- an offer and acceptance contract (we used one we had previously signed as a template doc, which we then retyped in Word);- the joint conditions booklet (the yellow one) – this forms part of the contract of sale;-…[Read more]

I have to admit, of the people who we speak to about our properties, they are fairly carefully chosen.  Apart from immediate family (my parents & brother) and his dad and stepmum, other family aren't aware.  This includes my husband's mother, stepdad, sister and brother.  They wouldn't understand, and there's no point banging your head against a…[Read more]

There are definitely ways to turn a -vely geared property into a positively geared one.  Of our four properties, two are +ve cash flow, and the other two are +vely geared after taking tax returns into account.  Our strategy is as follows:1.  Only buy places that need some work (you can negotiate a much better price if it's unappealing – it's am…[Read more]

We have had our four depreciation schedules done by Australian Tax Depreciation Services (ATDS).  They are excellent.  They charge $495 which includes a site visit, which is preferable.  Very happy with them.  We've just bought another property and will be going with ATDS for that schedule also.They have offices in all states of Australia too.…[Read more]

We haven't got into development as yet (we tend to buy units, renovate, furnish, then hold) but in my RE travels I've noticed both Balga and Osborne Park look like good candidates for capital growth – relatively close to the CBD, larger blocks with old houses still available, etc.  If I could convince the husband, that's what we'd be doing, but…[Read more]

We do the same thing.  In fact we bought a property just under two years ago, renovated it (did a lot of the work ourselves) and just sold it for an amount 30% higher than the original price.  Not bad in a market supposed to be fairly flat.  Apart from completely renovating it, we added furniture, and tenanted it for an excellent price, which ma…[Read more]

Here is a link to the Victorian Residential Tenancies' Act 1997:http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/rta1997207/According to section 26 of the Act, all written tenancy agreements must be in a standard form.  A copy of this standard form can be found…[Read more]

Definitely go for a QS.  We have used Australian Tax Depreciation Services for each of our four properties, and I can strongly recommend them. (And no I'm not an agent for them or a relative!)  They come out and do a site visit plus the schedule for $495, and are just excellent in terms of customer service etc.

You should be able to get most of this stuff for free through the Department of Commerce's website:http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/ConsumerProtection/Content/Real_Estate/Renting_and_tenancy/index.htmYou will need two copies of the lease agreement (either fixed or flexible, whichever you go for), and a copy of the Schedule 2 to give to the tenant…[Read more]

Oh my.  This is an interesting topic!We bought a 1×1 apartment in the WA suburb of Osborne Park a couple of years ago.  While OP is not that bad overall, the apartment block itself was a bit of a blight on the landscape.  Extremely high proportion of tenants, most of whom were very dodgy types (we heard the block recently referred to as &#03…[Read more]