Hi REQ,

Thanks for the comment. Yes I'm sure we will get there with hard work! Actually the motorbike I mentioned isn't too bad – I use to go to work everyday no matter what the weather, and it costs me $15 a week in fuel. No parking fees. So that's great. I'm doing lots of other things to help – as daft as it sounds, I take advantage of the off-peak hot water cycle! (11pm to 7am) i.e. At 11pm every night I switch on the hot water, and when I get up in the morning I turn it off. It sounds like a pain, but after a while I just got used to doing it. (I can do these things as I live alone – and there's still plenty of hot water. I've seen a big reduction in the elecy bill, and my water bill is down to below what I supposed to be using. The effect is that I'm using less money on those and able to put more into paying off debts and investing. Currently replacing bulbs with those funny shaped low watt ones too.  After I pay out the motorbike I'm actually thinking of swapping it to a large-ish scooter and getting rid of the car. The scoot (I've ridden a few already) will become my sole transport, and then I can stop paying rego and insurance for the car when it's sold. I already know what my tax return will bring and that's going straight off the CC.

Yes my outlook has totally changed and I have definite goals and reasons. It certainly helps me concentrate on doing it. Without that goal I've just been drifting along up to recently. Now it's all clear! Thanks in a great part to Steve's book, this web site and peoples stories/comments. I've read some comments about the 0-130 and 0-260 properties books perhaps it not fitting with the current economic climate, but I don't mind. It gave me food for thought, gave me a push, and most of it is still relevant. Yes, I sure wish I have bought another 10 IP's in 2000 when I bought the first one! Timing eh?

Cheers
Phil

Hi, I'm pretty sure timing has a lot to do with it. I had a property in the uk (my home) which I had for 10 years. Sold it for  what I paid for it. Nightmare. After another 7 years it's now worth 4 times as much. Just my luck. I bought a property here in Oz in 2000 for 137k. Gone up in value very nicely! So I'm in luck with this one. Trouble is I can't access the equity – well I can officially, but my parents live there and they want to buy and….. long story but it's painful.

As a newbie (I also don't hear too many of "How I did it" stories), here's how I'm doing it. I have set my goals – income required from CF+ properties, the reason for it, where I want to be etc. First thing I'm doing is sorting everything else in my life that's financially related out – first of all I'm getting all my super into 1 place. My aim with super is to make 20% every year, and I'm currently getting 30%+ each year. Happy with that. I sat down and analysed what I owe (excluding the mortgage) – motorcycle loan, credit card etc. Ranked them into what was costing me most (interest rate). Now I'm hammering those to pay them off. Actually, my CC is the first one to go. Then I'll pay out the bike loan with the CC to take advantage of the 55 days free interest period, and hammer the CC again during that period. This way, I know when I'll be debt free except for mortgage.

My current IP is costing me $500 a month – yes I know, but try upping the rent for your parents, or kicking them out so you can sell it, especially as they're retired. I've agreed with them to up the rent so I'm out of pocket $400 a month. Shortly I'm changing the mortgage from P+I to I/O which will mean negative by about $100 a month. This will be through ANZ Money Saver Residential Home loan – 7.37%, flexible principal payments etc. (It was taken out as P+I because it was going to be my home and I wasn't focussed on investments back then). Then I'll hammer the principal for a few months to get it into a breakeven or even +ve position. During that time I'll be looking for another property. I don't mind taking a NG property for a while, but after getting IP number 1 down to a positive state, I'll use my salary to hammer the second one down to make it positive, plus look at other methods (making improvements etc). Yes I'm working and have to for my strategy to work well. I'll probably be going for 100% loan, IO for future investments, unless I can unlock some equity for a deposit. Then hopefully I don't have to pay the principal down for too long before it becomes CF+.

After reading Steve's books, I know it's not easy – I remember him saying they lived on bread and jam – or something like that. Well, I've done my budget for the next 2 years, keep minimum required for bills, food etc, will put all I can into mortgage, look for opportunities and MAKE them happen.

My goal is to live overseas, but I want a strong financial base here in Oz before I go with property, super and a few shares. I'm aiming for about 20 IP's. I regret buying my motorbike (new not secondhand), but I've decided on how to pay it off quickly. I drive an old car that's reliable and have no interest in renewing.

So I've started. I hate HAVING to work to pay the bills. I want to be in the position of being able to choose to work, start a business etc. First though, I had to have my goals. Now I understand what I want and how I'm going to get there. IMHO and in my case, it's not just property, it's sorting out all financial aspects – debt, super, shares, etc AND property. Now I know when I'll be financially independent, how I'm going to get there, and importantly, why i want to do it.

Cheers and good luck to all!
Phil