Hi and welcome to the forum.

There are many finance experts on the community, and I hope one can help you.

I do not have the appropriate qualifications to comment specifically, but as a general comment I would have thought:

1. An unpaid default is going to be a significant red flag to a lender. Even paid off it is going to take some explaining.
2. It would be sensible to approach the developer to ask if they have a relationship with a lender they could recommend.
3. You should also contact a mortgage broker in your local area to see if they can assist

I find it odd that a financier cannot assist because completion is >90 days. I would have thought that provided the contract is signed and enforceable then you should be able to see finance pending the completion of the building and certificate of occupancy.

– Steve

Hi,

Some replies:

1. Self rating

Agreed. You should not be allowed to rate your own posts. We’ll get on that.

2. Links

Currently when posting a link the poster can nominate that the link open in a new window (or not). We are changing that to be hard-coded always open in a new window.

3. Signatures

I made a post about signatures in this same forum.

No, we are not losing signatures, but we are reformatting the way they are displayed to prevent abuse and to tidy up the way they look. You can see what I have done below under the new formats.

We dumped the old signatures from the old forum as a placeholder, but now have introduced a new system that you can set up and modify through your ‘My Profile’ area (in the blue bar that the very top of the page).

Check it out and have a play around.

– Steve

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by  Administrator.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by  Steve McKnight.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by  Steve McKnight.

Nissan Dualis. I needed something easy to get in and out of, and it has great boot space with the fold down seats.

My wife drives a Toyota Avensis, but we are thinking about upgrading.

We drove a Mazda CX9 around in the US a few years back and loved it, but it did drink the juice like a thirsty sailor.

– Steve

Hi again Colin,

Thanks for the heads up on the signature. We are on that one too and will soon be implementing a new system for it.

You see, when we ported over the data from the old forum, we just did it as ‘text’. As a temporary hack, we kept the signature block as it was, and made a wish list to upgrade it.

So, within the next 14 days, you will see a new system that will provide the opportunity to list:

1. Name / Username / Business Name
2. Web address (link)
3. Email (mailto) / Phone (mouse over)
4. One line of text to describe your business / famous quote, etc.

(The signature feature will be accessed through the member’s profile section.)

This will hopefully cut down on the amount of editing moderators have to do on overzealous signatures, and at the same time allow posters to promote themselves in an appropriate way.

– Steve

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by  Steve McKnight.

Hey Ollie,

Here’s the problem… back when I started investing in 1999 you could acquire positive cash flow properties with a small capital base.

For instance, buying $40k to $50k houses in Ballarat / La Trobe Valley meant that with $500k of capital and 80% financing, you could pick up 8 to 10 positive cash flow properties and pocket net cash flow of about $8k to $10k per month.

As you know though, prices have increased substantially, and in excess of rent increases.

For a while it was very hard to buy positive cash flow at all (when interest rates were >7%), but as interest rates have fallen (and with them interest costs), positive cash flow property opportunities have re-emerged, but at a higher price point.

So, unless you have significant capital (now $1m+), buying incremental positive cash flow residential property can take a long time.

That’s why I recommend a new approach, which as I explained in ‘From 0 To Financial Freedom’, broadly follows this path:

1. In the first instance, concentrate on value add residential property to build your capital base
2. Supplement your income with an income accelerator
3. Once you hit your required capital base, migrate out of residential into commercial property where there are higher yields.

If you’d like to know more then pick up a copy of the book from the store. From memory it is less than $20.

– Steve

Hi Ollie,

I think a common goal of all investors is to make money, but few ever really stop to think ‘how’, ‘when’, and ‘why’.

So let me ask some questions, with your answers then providing guidance on what direction is best for you in respect to the property and strategy to adopt:

1. What profit do you want: income or growth (pick one)?
2. How will this profit be made (market or investor driven)?
3. How active do you want to be with your investing? Specifically, how many hours a week can you allocate?
4. How would you rate your risk tolerance: low, medium or high?
5. What time frame do you expect your profit to be made in?

Have a go at answering those points and I will reply back with further thoughts, time permitting.

– Steve

Hi Richard,

Why not make the post here so we can all learn and just change the names and address details?

Sadly, posts like this that direct people to PM aren’t helpful to promote discussion.

– Steve

Thanks for your posts here.

We are reading your suggestions, and we are making good progress with many changes you’ve requested.

For instance, this week we will be providing the viewing options for latest posts, fixing bugs with the thumbs up / thumbs down ( bug with the plug in source code which we have fixed for them). We are also inching closer to the home page we want as opposed to what you see at the moment (which is largely placeholder text).

So…. hang in there, and keep letting us know your ideas for improvements.

– Steve

Hey there.

The problem you’re going to have is that in the current market, just about every valuer would value the property based on what you paid, as opposed to a higher value.

The exceptions are if you can find a lender to lend on an ‘as if complete’ basis – namely what the property might be worth once the renos were done.

This used to be possible pre GFC, but I don’t know anymore. Might be a struggle.

Other options could be:

1. Use a money / JV partner who can stump up the cash;
2. Get the vendor to carry back part of the loan, and use the ‘carry back’ to finance the reno;
3. Organize a lowish deposit with early access and complete the renos before you close.

Hope these suggestions help.

– Steve