I believe trakka is right, I can tell you for sure that unit prices within a 5-8km radius of the city have begun to rise rapidly, with interest rate hikes deterring people buying expensive houses, and huge jumps in rent forecast over the next few years. Our unit is valued 25% higher than we paid 2.5 years ago. We have watched 5 units in our block…[Read more]

I have a feeling this site is not going to do my sleep any good! My mind is boggling with the wealth of info I have just taken in reading old threads.A couple of questions, both about things that I never understood the benefit of:1/ Would there be any way it could be beneficial for us to move out and rent, say 500/week, keeping our unit as an IP?…[Read more]

Thanks very much for the replies guys, they have been very helpful.Gary, you have kind of confirmed what I was thinking. We are doing things the wrong way around, having the higher mortgage as our primary residence and therefore not benefiting a whole lot from the tax office on the lower mortgage. The best we could do would be to redraw the $80k…[Read more]

L.A Aussie wrote:
I've done both.About the only difference is the cost (conveyancers are cheaper), but I haven't needed a curly legal ruling so far.It's a tax deductible expense, so if you feel more protected using the solicitor, then do that.

Is this the case? I was told that legal expenses were not deductible, see this page from the ATO…[Read more]