We thought that too – it was the agent who suggested $100 deposit. Maybe we looked like we didn't have more & he assumed we were borrowing pretty much all of the purchase price??
 I was ready to write a chq for $1000 but wasn't going to put up more if not neccessary straight up. Our sweetener was a 30 day contract so one may have offset the other?
In my previous purchases I has always negotiated a deposit & never had a contract knocked back yet (except for one we pulled out of).

Cheers

Stella

I agree – we just bought a $270k property with a $100 deposit. Keep of much of your $ as you can – for as long as you can….

Cheers

Stella

Ours in the Ipswich area charges as follows;

Management fee 8% + GST = 8.8%
Letting fee – 1 weeks rent
Postage & Petties $5.50
Tribunal fees (subject to approval of owner) $55.00
Advertising – at cost

Cheers
Stella

When we brought our IP the agent said something like " I guesss you'll be borrowing most of this?" & I replied with 'yeah pretty much' & was about to write a chq for 10% (or try to negotiate $500 initial deposit with the balance of 5% on approval) when the agent throws in 'well how about $100 deposit?" & the balance at settlement? He didn't even try to get anymore $ out of us when unconditional (finance approved etc).

We nearly fell over but happily kept the balance of what should have been the deposit in our a/c for the next 30 days – a win for our bank a/c without even trying!

Cheers

Hi Malleeboy
Not that we are experts but this is what we did – bit the bullet, paid the LMI & now have 2 proeprties – PPOR & IP increasing more in value than we could have saved. The LMI was around $4k & is tax deductable but we are confident growth will more than cover this is no time.

Cheers
Stella

Hi Alistair
 Sorry – didnt mention – all loans are IO to maximise our cashflow.
Will look into whether the split counts as being offset – I dont think it is though. The funds just sit there waiting to have the repayments come out & but it makes sense for it to offset against the LOC.

Thanks – I will check with the broker who set us up.

Stella

Hi Amanda,
You did a great job on the reno – we actually looked at this house (saw your post in another forum & recognised the house – oooh almost sounds like stalking!!)

Anyway, we were impressed with the update – well done.

Cheers
Stella

I initially said we wanted a 6mth lease to the agent but they suggested going with the 12 mths (what the tenant requested) as the tenants had a good rental history.
Next time I think I will insist on a 6mth lease to start with – I thought I was being too pedantic & followed what the pm suggested.

She also got the amount of rent wrong initially – we had said $270pw on 6 mth lease – when she called me she told me she had an application for $275pw for 12mths – that is partly why we went with the 12mths.  When I found out the tenant had paid a holding deposit of $270 the pm told me I'd heard wrong.

Glad at least I insisted on shortening the management agreement cancellation period to 30 days from 90 days because she is not off to a good start so far.

Cheers
Stella

I too am new to this & took the advice of my Property Mgr – puchased for $270k – did nothing really apeart from clean carpets, had locks rekeyed (there were 9 keys in each set!!) and tenants moved in 4 days after settlement at $270pw on a 12mth lease.

Going by the comments above, we maybe should have put them on a 6mth lease & readjusted the rent every 6 mths? Our thought was get someone in, give them & us some stability & see what happens in 12mths – is this also not a reasonable way to go?

Cheers
Stella