Hi Lee,

It really depends alot on the individual house and exactly what the job entails.

For instance, Tongue & groove / wooden board walls take more preparation time (snd/wash treat for mould?), more paint, possibly need time to ‘fill gaps’ where the boards have separated.

Does your quote include the removal of the wallpaper?

What quality paint is being used, how many coats etc.

You will need to be the judge for yourself, however my builder got a quote for me to finish off painting in a large highset Qldr to include preparation to walls and ‘pressed metal ceilings’ etc, including mould inhibitor and at least two coats , with gap filling etc to an amount of $5,500 for four v.large rooms plus corridoors plus entry area.
The bulk of the time was to prepare the walls & ceiling,(sand, sugar soap to remove traces of mould, wash off, paint, gap fill & repaint etc)

We didn’t endup going with this, and instead got a different tradesperson to attend with a desil powered pressure washer to clean the walls – this was a fraction of the cost and brought up a fairly good result!

In the end focus on what you really want for the house, is it worth getting a good paint job done, or do you plan to sell within a year? Will you tennants (appropriate for this property), typically value a good paint job, will a top class paint job earn you extra rent-short and long term?

There are times when it is worth doing a job well…only you can be the judge in your particular case.

To answer your question, I believe that a $4000 paint job can be valid for certain situations, the real question is, is it valid for THIS situation.

All the best,

RosePink

Hi Kenyaboy,

In the end the option of talking to a solicitor may not be as horrific as you seem to anticipate! Having said this, we have now completed two such rejuvination projects during early access without any complications.

Laws do differ between states, certainly I would be UNWILLING to carry out extra work before the Contract became unconditional.

The idea of contract clauses which would ask for a refund of monies spent if the contract fell over due to the vendor’s fault, seems to have merit, but you’d need to check the validity of any such clause with your Solicitor. In the end a few hundred $ to protect your funds not only in this instance, but also in any future similar transactions would seem to be well spent.

Best of luck….

RosePink

[cap]
Hi AJX,

Not sure exactly what details your advisor is talking about with the “property trust” ..more details might help. [blink] But I’d advise caution until you’ve had other independant advice!

However, What about sellng the investment property, realising the $100K or so equity and using whats left after costs and CGT to reduce your tax inefficient home loan.
You could then take out a loan against the equity in your home for the purpose of purchasing a positive income property, thereby reducing the drain on your income and allowing you to pay down your home loan that much faster.
Alternatively you could simply keep the realised equity in an offset account (offset against your home loan) and purchase Positive income properties without having to cross colateralise against your home.

You have probably thought of these b4…so please excuse me if there is a glaringly obvious reason why this won’t work…
all the best and let us know the outcome..

Best Regards,

Rosepink

Hi Steve,

ANZ are doing a ‘Breakfree’ package which you might like to look into. It’s for a variable rate… not fixed, and has several conditions applied, but if the conditions fit you get to save on all acc fees, credit card fees, application fees, get get insurance rates (similar to bank employees) and they’ll knock 0.5% off the 7.07% (currently) rate, down to 6.57%.
This does have a yearly fee, but is available to cover 5 properties under the one fee, and give limited free valuations. You might find it worth looking into… tel. 131314 and select the options for a new loan

Happy Hunting,
[^]

RosePink