Forum Replies Created
HI Matt and others who are interested,
i googled NRAS as suggested and went to this site, at the bottom there is a section where you can register your email and phone number for people to contact you to answer any questions you may have. Also on this site there is a list of information workshops/forums that are being held in most states, one is on tomorrow night.
National Rental Scheme
NRASscheme.com.au
cheers
Sonya
Thanks Matt, if i can work out how to register I will let you know, good luck, Sonya
Hi, excuse my ignorance but what does NRAS stand for and where are these properties located?
Thanks
Sonya
If you want to buy something have the money saved up before hand, take out a loan and pay it off immediately. if you have a credit card always pay the balance in full each month. It is a complete waste of money to be paying interest on credit card purchases.
Also make sure that you don't keep increasing the limit on your credit card s the amount that you have AVAILABLE not the amount outstanding is what lenders look at when determining servicability
Make sure that you pay all bills on time, phone bills, electricity, even making sure that dvds are returned on time. (does anyone still hire dvds??)
be aware that any overdue accounts show up on your credit file..
cheersSonya
I was interested to read that owners put their rubbish on the ground where 'the bins should go'. Surely tenants can bring in their own bin. Anyone living in a house takes out and brings in their own bin. When I lived in a unit in Syndey, we took out and brought in our own bins. This simple process would stop the mice and would only take a minute to do.
Where do you live at the moment? that might help us to knowwhat areas close by you may be able to afford
Sonya
If your older lady is on a pension she would be entitled to rental assistance, maybe make some discreet enquiries with centrelink 'mystery shopping if you will' to find out how they determine rental assistance for pensioners. You may find that your tenant is not 'out of pocket' at all because centrelink will meet the difference, or alternatively, she may only pay a smaller increase than the amount that you raise the rent by.
How long have your tenants been inplace for and when was the last rental increase? Most agents suggest six monthly rent reviews, not necessarily increases, but just being aware of what similair properties are renting for. I don't think there are many tenants that expect to be paying the same amount for twelve months or more. So they may be quite okay with reasonable increases in rental payments. Once you have increased the rent or simultaneously install aircon and any other small works that improve the property and the tenant's 'view' of the property. Elderly people and a young family with a baby would greatly appreciate airconditioning.
There was another poster on this site who has an ebay store or online store that supplies materials and appliances for landlords at good prices. You may find them of benefit. you can also pick up a reasonably good aircon for about $700 from Bunnings.
Sonya
Have you thought about lowering the rent a little or offering some otehr incentive to entice renters. I wonder how much you will come out with and be able to buy by the time you factor in agents fees and commissions to sell, legals to both sell one property and buy two more properties as well as the building and pest inspections.
Once the property is rented again you may be in a better financial position. Are you looking to buy again in NZ or OZ? Maybe you can get an IP in OZ at a higher LVR
Sonya
Are you a 'tenant in common' or joint tenants? I know that you don't reside in the investment property, but these are the legal terms used when buying a property that has a mortgage. teh structure of which determines what happens if one of the partners die. Tenants in common means that the share goes into the person's estate. Joint tenants means that the share goes to the other owner. I would imagine that even though you didn't get a loan for the property, there would have to be something in your paperwork that relates to this. if not, perhaps majority rules and if the other two wnat to sell then you may have to sell.
Sonya
Hi Geraldine,
margaret Lomas recommends asking how many properties the agent is managing and how many staff are involved with the property management. it would seem that the abovementioned Pm has too many properties for one PM to manage effectively on their own. They either need to employ another PM or you could look to find a PM who has a more manageable portfolio.
Sonya
Just a question, you said that one of your concerns was that the house was in a flood prone area, why then had you even put an offer in if this was of concern to you. be careful to do due diligence on any furture properties that you are looking at..
Sonya
If you relocate and choose to rent and buy ivestment properties you may not be able to do family day care, you would need to check with the landlord. I was a family day carer while i was doing my teaching degree via correspondence. When i fininshed this I initially worked in a long day care centre until I relocated, then I applied to teh department of Education to work in the schools, I worked part time for a term and was then asked to work as a temporary staff member on a full time basis, which I ahve now been doing for 20 months.
If you have experience working with children you may be able to get a position in a long day care or preschool if you are unable to have family day care at home. You may need to take leave if your children are sick, but if you get a position in a preschool you would still have school holidays. the other area of employment that many people don't think of is working as an aide in schools. this may be workign with a child who has autism, cerebral palsy or who is confined to a wheelchair. Again, this work is in school hours and I know that many of the people who work as aides in my school find teh work very rewarding and flexible.
Keep your options open as far as work goes, if moving to a large city there is also demand for nannies who work in the family's home so if you are renting this would mean that you don't need permission to run family day care from your home.
Sonya
HI Kylie, i have looked at buying and relocating homes before, but do not know enough to feel confident that i will factor in allcosts appropriately. Have you 'learnt on the job' or have you been able to locate some material to help you calculate all obvious and hidden costs associated with relocating houses?
Apologies Kuradji for highjacking your post a little bit!
Sonya
How commerically viable is the property? Are you happy with the return, have you had good tenants or lots of vacancies?
How has the capital growth been?
Are you in a position to buy out your partners? if you own 33 1/3 % of the property then you already ahve enough equity to get a loan on your own to buy them out. This may also help to reduce your tax, as you can claim some of the expenses of buying the property.if you are able to buy them out, get some prices from a number of RE agents who specialise in commercial property. Go for the middle price and then discuss the possiblity of partners recieving slightly less than their 1/3rd share as you are not paying agent's commissions to 'sell' the property. I don't know the value of the property, but their commission could be quite substantial and therefore a big saving to both you and your friends.
Sonya
Hi,
I can soooo relate to you, i am a divroced mum of three children under ten, i have been divorced for three years (best three years of my life!) I have bought my PPOR and three IPS in this time. Admittedly I had a little more money, about $170K when i divorced, but I wasn't working and relocated 600 klms away from where I had been living to a large regional town where most of my family lived. My dad died last year, but my older brother and sister and their familes live here, so it's nice to have family support.
I now work full time as a teacher, so can have school holidays with my children and still earn an income that allows me to invest.
A couple of things to know and be aware of:Furniture – nearly all my furniture was bought at garage sales or on ebay, good solid furniture that is still going strong and as cheap as chips. Bulky items like lounges sell cheap on ebay, just need to be able to pick it up.
Moving away from ex – be reeeaally careful here you may run into trouble withe the child support agency as the ex may complain that he doesn' t have contact with the children. What are the custody arrangements? My ex professed to wanting to have 35% care of the children, however as soon as the divorce was through he moved 1200klm away with his 3rd wife!!! This meant that he had breached the parenting orders so I was free to move where I wanted to
If you are receiving government support you are entitled to rental assistance payments, but if you buy a PPOR then you don't get these payments. So you could rent and recieve financial support and still buy an IP.
if you want to talk please feel free to PM me or call me
cheers and good luck
Sonya
Hi GOM,
I have found that speaking to a number of property managers before speaking to sales agents can be worthwhile as they are the ones left 'holding the baby' after the sale goes through. Property managers do not want the headache of dealing with problematic tenants and unhappy landlords who may have properties vacant for extended periods of time or issues with property damage. Therefore if you speak to the PMs they will give you an honest opinion on where to buy in order to get a better quality of tenant and a property type that is in higher demand, therefore easier to rent.
After you have this info then talk to the sales agents, or look on RE.com
sonya
What is the current loan on, your current PPOR? What will you do with this property when you move into the the new property, keep it as an IP or sell it? YOu can only claim tax deductions on loans that are on income producing properties, therefore if you are living in the property then change it to an IP you can claim expenses after the date that you move out.
You can ask for settlement to be delayed until August or you can state that rental payments are to be made to you after settlement until the tenant vacates the property
I had a situation a littles like yours, however i had owner occupiers in the house that i bought as an IP, they vacated before settlement and were happy for my new tenant to move in before settlement. They received the rental paymnets paid by my tenant up until the date of settlement and then these payments were made to me. I LOVE my property manager, this is the second time that she has had a tenant lined up and ready to go into my houses before or on the day of settlement. I have not had either property vacant since purchased. !! YAY!!
cheers
Sonya
Where have you been looking to purchase?
Yes, they have, not by much intially as I locked myself into an interest rate over 8%, however, they are even more positive now that I have refinanced.
Matt, be aware that some banks and loans charge a fee every time you redraw from it. i know the original loan that I ahd with ANZ charged $25.00 every time you wanted to redraw money, three times as much as the $8.oo per month of this offset account.
cheers
Sonya
