Steven

I tried to read most of this. If your accountant is trying to push you into property, particularly new property, perhaps you should consider a new accountant or respectfully decline and ask them to stick to accounting.

I would not touch an Apartment in CBD Melbourne or student accommodation.

Cheers Ivan

John

You will need to engage a lawyer to review the contract and determine based on the relevant clause if the developer will allow you to sell prior to settlement and who keeps the profit – you or the developer. Some of these contracts are quite cunning in this regard.

There will be a nomination involved which the lawyer will provide legal advice on.

Of course – my post is not legal advice

Cheers Ivan

Hi there –

Good luck firstly with your new year resolution :)

Firstly you will need to be qualified and generally will need to be mentored for 2 years, even with 2 years of experience overseas. You can join FBAA with a Cert IV

1) How should i start out?
a) go out on my own and find my way
b) start working for somoneelse, get the knowledge then start my own business later
c) buy a franchise

Choose (B) – its hard to find your way as you need clients…..most MB lose in the first two years

2) How much do mortgage brokers earn from each mortgage?
Depends on the lender and type of loan. Generally for a standard resi mortgage will be 0.5-0.77% upfront plus trailing commission of 0.15-.3%. Remember the clawback, if your clients are shopping – the clawback is brutal.

3) How do mortgage brokers do in a recession? Do mortgage brokers add on insurance to get a repetitive income stream coming into get them through the hard times? Do they just refer people to someone else and make a cut?

Can’t answer this one, last recession was 1990, i was still in high school! Your protection is your brand and trail, everyone will still buy property

4) Do you need to study to become a mortgage broker? YES! Cert IV is minimum and diploma needed for MFAA

5) As i have quite a few investor friends and as investors buy multiple properties im thinking this is the best area for me to specialise in. Good idea?

Not sure, just because your investor friends buy property, does not mean they will go with you.

6) Is it very scalable?

Hope that helps

Cheers Ivan

Rocky

I don’t think anyone could answer your questions without a detailed analysis of your objectives, current super balance and investment strategy. If investing in Super – this will be Financial advice. In saying that, an analysis of your current assets and liabilities outside super as well as your borrowing capacity inside super – for instance is your current property leveraged? lots of pieces to the puzzle.

Cheers Ivan

Hi there,

Unfortunately you will be up for a last minute surprise. A FP will most likely charge between $1k and I have seen $3k for this sign off. Legally, it can be interpreted as credit advice, so good FP will most likely be reluctant to sign off. You can try ringing around, but expect push back, as the legalities around this are becoming public now. Liberty may have also created a side deed on your bare trust – you will want to read it closely. Personally, Liberty smsf is a lender of last resort.

All the best

Cheers, Ivan

Shawn

Depends on currency. NR loans have changed significantly and personally I let my chinese speaking staff deal with these, fact of the matter is the banks have finally decided to stop allowing deals to come in with falsified payslips from china. They turned off the tap. As a result, many chinese investors have now been left at settlement with no funder or private loans or non bank lenders with higher rates. NAB was the final major to cut it and not accept foreign income.

Now NR investors are left to decide to forfeit the deposit or pay a higher rate to settle, the max LVR from a lender will be 60% however this will be costly. We are still getting 60% at a reasonable rate, but NR investors are usually not understanding the state of current lending and left paying settlement penalties as they decide who are offering them money. Many are forfeiting the deposit and others are taking time to gather $$$ to cover the lower LVR. It can be funny and we do have a chuckle reading my wechats with a simple translation of ‘TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT’ maybe with a expletive.

In summary max LVR is 60% and can get to 70% with private lenders but you need a company officer in AUS which can be restrictive…

Cheers Ivan

Hi Keith –

There will not be a set fee a accountant charges. Generally the fee will depend on time taken and of course the structure used and the number of properties involved. Generally, the accountant won’t tell you the fee upfront, but if you are feeling you are not getting bang for your buck, then challenge the accountant or as your doing here seek a second opinion. You can generally obtain a quick free consultation and see if your current accountant is missing something. What I will say, your accountant/ tax advisor will be a ‘partner’ in your property journey, you would want to feel they have property themselves and know their stuff. Otherwise they may not be like minded.

Cheers Ivan

Heidi, where are you looking.

we have two sites at the moment and one took 12 months to get planning approval and one the second the council rejected after advertising (with no objection) for some unknown reason. This is Noble PArk we we have done 20 plus developments – this is repeated everywhere.

I am now getting sick of it and like most developers buying sites with plans and permits so we can dig immediately. Actually today signed one that is currently at advertising stage and pretty cheap with a ‘subject to’ plans and permits approved and we are saving a fortune in drawings and patience. If you have time its great, however, you may be paying interest on the property sitting vacant. Few years ago we would have plans and permits in 3 months no worries.

Some food for though…

Cheers Ivan

Hi Ziv

Was in Japan for a couple of weeks early this month, I’ll have a read and genuinely cannot see where Japan will grow……pretty dire over there in all the cities i visited.

Cheers Ivan

Richard – I would not bother with such an arrangement, if you are borrowing, this will need to be on one title, and otherwise your smsf auditor will questions –

Cheers Ivan