As you have owned the property for 2 years you would be required to pay CGT on the taxable gain. Reinvesting the money in another property will not help (perhaps the RE agent should stick to selling property!).

Consider the opportunity cost of selling. Consider:

1. What is the likely rental yield?
2. What is the future capital growth going to be like (long and short term)?
3. Is it worth having to pay for selling costs and CGT?
4. Have you considered using the equity in the property to invest in more property? The bank will lend against valuation so you could get access to a lot of money.

You need to establish your investing goals. What do you want to achieve?

For what its worth I would probably hang onto it and use the equity to purchase more investment properties. Probably something with a higher yield to balance your portfolio (because I’m guessing that the yield on the apartment is around 5%).

Anyway, that’s my 2 cents.

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

There is an excellent article in the current issue of Australian Property Investor magazine. I suggest you have a read. I have a copy if you can’t get your hands on one. If you email me ([email protected]) I will scan it and email it to you.

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

Wow hwdoo7. This is a 2+ hour accounting lecture (and debate). There are heaps of Tax Rulings and Case Law on this one. I suggest you have a search around on the ATO website (and speak with a knowledgeable professional).

I must admit that it’s something I studied over 3 years ago so I am only just familiar with the general principals.

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

This is covered in my next “Unlimited Finance” article.

Yes, providing a guarantee does affect your borrowing capacity and is recorded on your credit file. Extract from article:

quote:

---

Some people are under the misconception that providing a guarantee does not affect your borrowing capacity. By providing a guarantee you are essentially promising that you will meet all mortgage obligations should the borrowing entity (i.e. the Trust or Company) not fulfil these requirements. When assessing the strength of a guarantee, the lender will consider the strength of a guarantor including credit worthiness and financial position. This financial position assessment will include an assessment of actual and contingent (such as other guarantees) financial commitments. A lender needs to satisfy itself that should the applicant/s not fulfil its obligations, the guarantor has the financial capacity to fulfil all mortgage obligations on behalf of the applicant. The lender therefore, will complete the same detailed credit assessment for guarantors as they do for the applicants themselves. This disabuses the notion that providing a guarantee does not affect your personal borrowing capacity.

Therefore, there is no advantage to an investor from borrowing through a trust or company structure from a finance perspective (where a guarantee is provided).

---

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

If I was you I would give Revenue SA a call. See http://www.revenuesa.sa.gov.au/enquiries.html. They don’t seem to have much info in their site.

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

Hi Dave

You may also want to look out for an article I wrote on commercial finance in the next issue of API. There are some significant differences between commercial and residential that you should be aware of.

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

Do not pay.

1. Not all accountants are licensed to give investment advice (they need an Australian Financial Services “AFS” Licence). If they don’t have one then how can they charge you for something that they are not entitled to give!

2. Accountants normally get you to sign an engagement letter (which, amongst other things, sets out fees and charges). If you haven’t signed one then they are not in a good position to make you pay.

If they still insist then tell them that you will refer the matter to the Australian Certified Practicing Accountants (www.cpaaustralia.com.au) or Australian Institute of Chartered Accounts (www.icaa.org.au) (whichever they are a member of – the way they are behaving it sound like they are CPA’s [] []). That should shut them up.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

Hi Del

It would be great if you could summarise any key points that they make for those of us that return from work after ACA. Is this asking too much? []

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

With that association (HK & PCG) I would be inclined to stay away.

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au

No. It is added to the ‘cost base’ of the asset when calculating the taxable capital gain/loss.

Cheers

Stu

Property & Finance News
at http://www.prosolution.com.au