Remember just because people mention now is not the right time to buy anywhere, and also Melbourne is not being listed as a great place to buy at the moment, it doesn't mean that there aren't bargains out there.  As JacM mentioned, API magazine is really good for finding areas that are good for buying in, it is also good for keeping track of your chosen suburbs which you are focusing on (that's what i use it for).  This month's article contains a good write up on Melbourne and its current situation.  Worth a read.  That's where i would start.  I could also recommend hitting the books, you would be surprised how well many property investing books are written these days and you can learn a lot from them, the things you don't understand come here and ask someone who knows more than you, they will more than happily explain and i'm sure many others will benefit from it.  I would be taking my time right now in regards to where/what to buy.  That's what i am currently doing.  No point rushing in and purchasing the wrong thing at the wrong time, there's a good chance it will end badly and then you will regret it.  Timing and Due Diligence plays a huge part in this game from my SMALL amount of experience so far, good luck.

My Goals for the next 12 months are:     1) The Wedding

                                                                       2) Small reno's on current IP.

                                                                       3) Eliminate almost all (bad) debt

                                                                       4) Move Expanding To our next home (renting to leave extra room for bank loan)

                                                                       5) Save hard to buy our next IP and put small amounts into my trading account. 

Firstly congratulations you sound like you have had a good win on the house you built.  I agree with Catalyst, i think some more information might be needed here, by the sounds of things i think you might have a few other options on the table here that might involve not selling that house.  I'm not as experienced as some of the others on here but I'm sure with more information there will be plenty of idea's thrown at you.

I have gravel/stones the size of 10-20cent pieces on my side access that the house i am currently living in.  I really don't like it and is really annoying as it ends up on the lawn and just creates headaches when it comes to mowing lawns and stuff.  Not to mention it looks untidy when it is uneven from pets etc. walking on it all the time.  

Based on that i would recommend concrete.

Hmmm that sounds overly complicated. I’m not sure what your legal obligations are here. Technically your renting the place to “your client” therefore its already under lease, and your are still responsible for it depending on your contract. I don’t know if the client can then go and rent it out again. If he did, who is legally responsible should something happen to the property or tennant? I suppose it would kind of be like flip renting but without the flip? I’m interested to see what our forum experts have to say on this one as it is a doozie.

Hi Ethan,
Hmmm and i thought i was young when i was interested in property (i was 16). Basically i don’t really think there is much you can do but choose business orientated subjects at school and pay attention. I started saving for my first house when i was 16 and bought it when i was 19. Reading a lot of books is something else you can do that may help. However there maybe a fair bit of stuff in there that you might not understand, but thats what mums and dads are for. If i were you i would concentrate on doing well at school so you can get a great job and maybe even ask for some work experience in real estate or accounting places. This will be difficult though because i think your still to young for work experience, I could be wrong though. Basically at the moment all you can do as far as i know is read books, and read the threads on here. There is a lot you can pickup through reading other peoples posts and listening to their experiences.

Good Luck.

I’ve recently gone and taken out both life insurance and income protection. I went through a financial advisor and he was fantastic, i work in an industry that is difficult to get coverage for. I ended up being referred to him through my Mortgage Broker who informed me that they are obligated to offer to have life insurance/income protection as part of your documentation. Although at the end of the day its up to you, they have to offer you protection. Up until a few months ago i never bothered as it was “too hard” and i never really had any dependants, but after going through the advisor and having him put together a fantastic deal i’m glad that now I’m covered, especially when i’m planning on really growing my portfolio over the next few years and would like my family to be protected should something happen to me.

There was a write up in API magazine the other month which said that there is a different land tax threshold for all states, i believe from memory that victoria and nsw are the lowest. Queensland never really used to have one but now it is set at somewhere around 600,000. I think this is why a lot of investors with several properties try and stagger them accross different states to try and decrease the land tax that they are required to pay. Don’t hold me to it, but i think there is some truth to what i have just posted. I would recommend looking into it, by the sounds of it though depending on the value of your property you might not be eligible for any exemption.

I am 24 and planning for retirement already i don’t think you can ever start too early…. Planning on retiring at 40-45 though. And not living cheap, im hoping to have enough investments to have about 100k coming in every year, so me and the wife and the kids can enjoy our “Golden Years”. I work long hours and spend 220+ days away from home every year so I’m not doing that so i can have toys and stuff now, i’m going to make it work for me. So i can enjoy the later years of life.

I’m also planning on the fact that we Australia will no longer be able to supply a Pension to the Retired when i get there so i know i sound extremely selfish, pig headed and even like a bit of a douche. But these are my goals, Aim high, then if i succeed i can be extremely proud of myself, and if i don’t then i can still be proud of what i managed to achieve. I would maybe even like to purchase a pub somewhere and run that for a while after retiring because i would like the challenge and my mrs loves hospitality. But who knows that is further down the track, for now i have to focus on minimising my debt so i can really expand my portfolio in the next couple of years.

I have a friend who live in toowoomba and he said there is a new development going in out near the university which is something im interested in looking into. I too have been thinking about toowoomba and will be keen too read some ideas and knowledge from others.