Real estate agents have an obligation to present all offers to the buyers, but often they will reject an offer without even submitting it to the buyer.

Make sure your offer gets submitted to the buyer by informing the real estate agent of their obligation (if they are tough) and I have found that it helps to ask for a counter offer from the seller if your offer is rejected. Half the time you don't get one, but this shows the real estate agent you are ready to negotiate and aren't just low-balling them.

I have often made counter offers straight away after receiving the news that my offer was rejected. As long as you stick to what you want to pay for the property and don't get talked into going higher you should be fine.

Whenever an offer is rejected I will always tell the real estate agent that I need to look at my finances before I submit another offer.

Positively cash flow properties definately exist, and yes I have seen many properties that fit into Steve's 11 second rule. Though I haven't seen any of these properties in capital cities, only in rural areas. But not so rural that you could never get anyone to rent it.

It Australia it seems that most of the positive cash flow properties have to be made rather than bought. Because everyone has wised onto the fact that positive cash flow investing is awesome prices are pushed up, meaning there is less chance of positive cash flow.

Look into creating a positive cash flow property through renovations, creating dual occupancy, subdivision, rent out a granny flat separately etc. If you use your creativity you can definately achieve a positive cash flow result.

As for the market being high I believe you are right. Australia is one of the most expensive countries to own a home in. But as for the market about to crash, I don't agree. The desire for people to own their own home is still massive! And with the government giving you a tax write off for negative gearing this will keep the market going strong. Just my opinion.

Good luck in finding an awesome property to invest in.

@ Crusty – Give the kid a break…he is only 24.
Yes having a long term plan for your life would definitely make you someone with great vision. But for a 24 year old to even think about saving and investing in property is bizarre. He has more vision than 99% of people even though he is only looking towards the next 6 years.

You have to think about what you want and what you can afford.

Firstly, if the company is paying all your fees that is a huge blessing!!! How often does an offer like that come around?

From what you have said it looks like you have about $40k in equity and $25 in savings. That is a total of $65k

If you can only borrow $450k then you might not be able to keep both. And you also have to ask yourself whether you can afford repayments on both properties?

Buying to invest and buying to live are two completely different things. You bought your first home to live in, but that doesn’t mean it is a good investment.

Have a think about selling and buying a new home and then maybe using any extra money left over to buy an investment property. Maybe a cheaper one that has a better cash flow situation??? Just an idea to think about. That way you may be able to get a home that is big enough for you and still have an investment???

The first question you have to ask is not whether or not you should build a house on it, the question is whether or not you can afford to do so. Houses can take a long time to build and you have to take the interest repayments into account. Can you afford them each month and can will the bank lend you the money to do so?

Then look at your block, if it has a big slope or is unusual in any way then you may not be able to use one of the standard houses like the ones they sell at Wisdom Homes or that sort of stock standard home.

Then you have to look at your area and whether it needs more homes, is there a demand for it and what kind of home is in the greatest demand?

There is no doubt that building a house and then selling it CAN make you more money than just selling a vacant block. But do you want to go through all that hassle? If you do then great!!! Otherwise maybe you should think about just selling the block and pocketing your profits.

Obviously there are ways to declare things inaccurately to the government in order to lower your tax, but that is called tax evasion and it is illegal. You should talk to your account about some LEGAL ways you can lower the tax you have to pay on your investment property.

For example, you can often claim depreciation on the house and the items inside the home (Eg. Light fittings etc.). If you do repairs on the home then you may be able to claim some of that against your taxable income. There are lots of ways you can go about lowering your tax. Speak to a qualified accountant about how to do this (as I am not an accountant don't take anything I or anyone else on this forum says as "law").

I have heard that you can rent your house to yourself if you have purchased the property through a discretionary trust, and you rent it to yourself at market rent through a real estate agent. This means however that you will have to pay the real estate agents commission fee. But again this is something to talk through with your accountant.

Hope that helps. But really in my experience, cutting corners and doing the dodgy will only get you in trouble and set you back in life. Better to pay tax than to avoid it and end up in jail.

Often your 5 day cooling off period will turn into a 10 day cooling off period, this is normal so if it happens don't worry. Then the 10% will be paid but you will not have access to it until the settlement date. Unless you have included a specific clause in your contract.
If they reneg on the settlement then you should be able to keep their 10%

Yes I am also confused. Have you bought a property with your parents and you want to redraw equity to buy an investment property but they don't want to redraw equity?

Good luck! I am glad you have come to a decision. I am sure you guys will be extremely happy.

I agree with JacM, it changes everything when you have kids. Before we had kids we moved a lot and we loved it. Now that I have kids I am less inclined to move.

What do you think you want to do? Do you want the security of your own home? Or do you want to go hard on the investing side of things?