Hey Kerrie,

Firstly, if you go to a property forum and ask whether you should invest in shares or property you will get the same answer every time!!! Property!!! That is what the people in this forum specialise in so they will recommend it everytime. So if you are seriously weighing up shares vs. property don’t ask here.

Property has some…[Read more]

@ Richard – Who are the three standard lenders that will lend to a hybrid trust?

I was going to say what sonyasai said. Maybe try and lower your rents. If you can lower your rent and get someone in there for 6 months, maybe in 6 months time your situation might change and you will be able to charge a higher rent again.

One of the major risks with 1 Bedders is if they are under 50 Sq M. My parents owned one of these and it was difficult to sell as the buyers couldn’t get finance from traditional lenders. But at 63 Sq M’s you shouldn’t have a problem with this.

As everyone said, as long as there is demand for them then prices will go up. I had friends who paid…[Read more]

I would probably have to agree with what everyone else has said. 2-3 years is a long time and a lot can happen in the rental market in that time.

In the last 3 years rents in some parts of Sydney have increased by over 15%. If market rent is $290/week in 3 years it could be $335/week. meaning you would be renting your property for $45/week under…[Read more]

This sounds weird and risky to me. You see this all the time with units (strata titles), but not so much with houses.

Be careful as to WHO exactly owns the land. Do you both own it? Does one person own it?

If you both share the land then you will likely have to pay strata fees. Strata fees help pay for the maintenance on common ground. These…[Read more]

REMEMBER you are in the property business to make a profit. If you want to give to charity then give to charity, but letting an old lady live in your property for $60/week ($3,120/year) under value seems stupid to me.

If the old lady lived anywhere else she would have to pay market rent there, so why shouldn’t she pay market rent where she lives…[Read more]

homersyd wrote:

maree_bradross wrote:
No-one will be cheaper than yourself

I know…but we dont want to stuff it up as I’m not handy at all…

You don’t have to be especially handy in order to paint a house.

If you are painting your house to rent it out make sure you choose neutral colours. By choosing stark colours you are limiting…[Read more]

I haven’t used a buyer’s agent before, and the way I invest I doubt I will ever need to. Your situation is unique as you are after a very specific type of property so a buyer’s agent might be of assistance to you.

Make sure you understand all of their fees before you sign up with them. Usually (from my understanding) there is an upfront fee, and…[Read more]

@ Trev – You should probably speak to your accountant or solicitor on this matter as they can offer you professional advice.

@ Sonyasai – No usually bins are taken out when you live in apartment buildings, each person does not have their own bin….there are communal bins for everyone and a service is generally hired to take them out. Either that or one of the tenants is responsible for it.

@ Sofija – Good luck with getting a new body corporate. It definately sounds…[Read more]

@ Richard – Isn’t the FHOG only specific about this for married and defacto relationships. If moira is not married or in a defacto relationship then wouldn’t she be able to get around these regulations?

You need to be careful with these types of investments, as often your property is rented out by the motel managers. If the crap hits the fan (and sometimes it does) you want to make sure you have an exit strategy.

These types of properties can be hard to sell if the motel isn’t making any money. And if the motel shuts down you might want to make…[Read more]

I was worried about this when I was purchasing my first investment property. I decided to purchase with a trust…mainly for asset protection, but as a bonus so I could still get the FHOG when I was ready to buy my own home.

Good to know that you can invest in your own name and still get the FHOG

Thanks for the infor guys. I didn’t realise that it cost $20,000 to subdivide, that is pretty expensive and only really worth it for me if I was to build another house, which currently I don’t want to do. I think I will let it slide at this stage until I have more capital and time to go through the subdivision process.

Hey Kevin,

Keep us in the loop and let us know how this goes for you. It would be a great case study so everyone reading this thread can learn.

@ Young Investor – I think we are on similar pages. I think the the faster your can buy property the more you can take advantage of the growth and you can build wealth quicker. So if renting out your home puts you in a position to buy 1 or 2 more investment properties you would then be getting growth in 2-3 properties instead of one.

I am only 22…[Read more]

@ Veronique – Fair enough. Thanks for trying to help

I really like this forum because everyone in it is trying to help everyone else. It is really selfless and a great place to gather ideas and information. Thanks to Steve McKnight for hosting it for us.

Oh ok, good to know. Thanks for making me aware of that Scott.

It is an interesting way to build up a HUGE real estate portfolio…by using businesses to buy them.

@ozimwassabi – Conspiracy…defiantely not. It is a well known fact in the real estate industry that a lot of people who put their property up for auction are actually hoping to sell before auction. A friend of mine recently did this on a block of land he owned. He put it up for auction but sold the property before the auction ever happened.

The…[Read more]