if you read steves book, you will find that trusts are explored in detail, they are safer as the bank wont be able to touch you if something goes wrong, and also you will save money in the long run because once you sell the properties you can decide who in your family gets the fund.  You do this based on their tax bracket.

i personally have not used trusts and wont be, i feel the purchases i have made are safe and my income is sufficient for multiple interest rate changes and market movements (unless the rental market turns upside down then i am screwed!)

i think you will need to assess your risk profile and how much risk you are comfortable with

why dont you look in the regional space, you can get a good positive cash flow property or neutral and it wont affect your lifestyle.  with your salary you dont want to put too much pressure on yourself, what if interest goes up by 1% in the next 12month, how will that affect you?

not always the best option to look at expensive properties

sorry table above didnt come out:

4.5% is yield
Median Price $555k
(Aug 2009) 12 Month -13%
Growth 24 Month 5%
Growth 36 Month 26%

also if you are looking for good yield worth looking at lakemba, you can still get units for around the 250k mark with a pretty good return.  i read somewhere that the liverpool area is forecasted to grow by somthing like 90% in the next 15 years…could have been from the council website

thanks mike again another quick reply!

hi ceffo use the website on my signature or there is a thread of mike who supplies free reside reports for properties

i would be interested in the answer as well

hi mark, are the reports still only limited to victoria and sa?  can you do nsw?
cheers