I used credit cards when starting out to get a foot in. Instead of cash advances though, I used them for most of my expenses so I could save my salary. I would then balance transfer it to another card. Then when that interest free period expired, I’d do another balance transfer. You can keep doing them until you run out of banks really.

Although I paid very little by the way of interest it’s hard to say whether it was the best thing to do as opposed to just save. I guess it got me in the market so no complaints there. Only issue is that it took a few years to pay off and reduced borrowing power.

Other than making deals with the vendor the only option really is to borrow it. Private investor, family, friends or a bank.

Is your mum even going to be entitled to get the government pension?

I don't know a huge amount about the criteria but I can only assume that someone with a $500k house/unit mortgage free, $2,000/month passive income for the next 20 years plus $500k in the bank isn't going to be entitled to a whole lot. If the $500k is earning 5% she'd be looking at having a passive income close to $1,000/week.

I think the pension is meant for those that chose not to invest for retirement.

But yeah, as Richard said, best to get some professional advice.

Hi cbarry,

Welcome to the forum.

It's a bit of a tricky one to do a buy and hold in Sydney if you are looking to purchase something else in the near future. Doing so would somewhat stifle your ability to borrow again as your serviceability level would deteriorate with the negative gearing. It'd also be harder for you to save for your next deposit due to less net income.

I've invested in units in the Redfern/Alexandria area and whilst some good capital gain have come, it has been a slow road to building a portfolio due to poor loan serviceability. A lot was to do with a limited employment income.

As an alternate strategy, you may want to look at picking up a positively geared property first, perhaps in a regional area. Something that nets you say $4k per year. You may need to put $20-30k down or less if you want to be creative. After this purchase, then use your remaining $100k as a deposit for something in the Sydney metro area. This will leave you with a potentially neutral cashflow but still with good exposure to any capital gains that comes from the Sydney market.

Also, don't necessarily rule out 1 bedders. Generally they have a better yield and in my experience grow at a similar pace. Choose carefully and keep away from the small ones though.

Best of luck.

Plummer

In my opinion I think there are some benefits in doing your own tax. If your returns are simple of course. For me, I feel I have learnt in detail the way our tax system works and how to strategically use the rules to my advantage.

I think if I had refrained from learning this type of stuff and just left it to a Tax Agent then I would have made some decisions from a less informed perspective. I have friends who just 'dump' statements with their Tax Agent every year without ever understanding the rules. I see this as a disadvantage for them as they don't strategise in this respect.

The deals I have been involved with are simple though and no doubt if they became complex I would use a Tax Agent. As said above, its going to be cheaper in the long run to get them right the first time!

Hi Luke,

Good to see that you are thinking about sustainability.

My suggestion for you is to consider being creative with your property investing. If you have bought one property then you know how the purchase works. The next step is for you to learn how a more advanced type of strategy works like a reno or sub-division. Maybe find something that could be a reno however also suffices as a buy and hold. Something where you at least have the option of adding value.

Properties in the inner-west imo will have steady growth over the coming years so it's not a bad option. You can also find good deals out west if you do your research well but only time will tell which will outperform the other.

Have a look at some other cities that have cheaper properties where councils encourage development. You might find something that interests you which will get you a much better return but more importantly will teach you about a new investing technique.

Good luck and make sure you post back in this thread once you complete your purchase.

Plummer