Hi, do you know any good buyers agents in the US who work with clients in AUS?

Also, do you have any other syndication projects planned?

Thanks for all your input. Great that you decided to give back to the community here. This thread was a very interesting read.

Thanks for all your responses, guys!

@pascoe: Agree, I probably overcomplicated it and in the end we’re probably discussing about max a few $100 difference anyway. But also wanted to get feedback if my thinking is correct. And I don’t think the interest on a savings account is that much lower. I get 3.15% at RAMS right now and the loan was 3.69%…[Read more]

Hi Colin,

thanks for your quick reply. I think my last post was maybe not that clear, so now using some numbers as an example. So, assuming the following:
Rental income per year: $10k
Interest paid on the loan plus other cost: $8k
–> Profit from property $2k, so tax has to be paid on $2k income from the property

Now, we also have savings that…[Read more]

Thanks Colin. But isn’t the saved interest in an offset account not also technically taxed? If your property is positively geared, you pay tax on the surplus, if it’s negatively geared you reduce your taxable income by the amount of the loss. So, if you pay less interest on your loan due to savings, your property gets more positive or less…[Read more]

Thanks Colin. But isn’t the saved interest in an offset account not also technically taxed? If your property is positively geared, you pay tax on the surplus, if it’s negatively geared you reduce your taxable income by the amount of the loss. So, if you pay less interest on your loan due to savings, your property gets more positive or less…[Read more]

Hi Terry, I’ve posted about this here:
https://www.propertyinvesting.com/topic/5028580-is-an-offset-account-worth-it/

If the variable is indeed lower than fixed, then my whole calculation doesn’t make sense anymore. But our mortgage broker suggested Newcastle Permanent and their variable is 4.17% and 2-year-fixed is 3.74%

Thanks guys, will definitely have a look at the book. Talking about offset accounts, brings me to another question, but maybe it’s better to post this in a separate thread since it’s a different topic. I am just about to buy my first property and decided to fix the whole loan, i.e. not having any part of it on a variable rate with an offset…[Read more]

Yes, I wouldn’t plan to finance the deposit using this approach. We got our loan approval with our genuine savings already. I was just thinking of using these savings to put into the offset account instead in order to reduce the interest payment rather than for the down payment. So when there are issues with that approach you can still use that…[Read more]

Thanks, storybuilder. Makes sense. So you can’t do that forever, but maybe once or twice? Would still save a lot of money.

Thanks Richard, but it would be possible to pay using normal transfer / bpay from the credit card account. Then it is like a cash advance and the regular, huge credit card interest rate applies. But that can be avoided by transferring the balance to another credit card on the same day and have this money interest free for the 0% balance transfer…[Read more]

Definitely not an expert myself, so just thinking out loud ;-) But wouldn’t it still make sense to spend the $10k assuming you can find something that really adds value? After all, it’s not like you pay the $10k and don’t get anything back, the property will be higher in value (ideally even more than $10k higher) and – as a bonus – you will also…[Read more]

Definitely not an expert myself, but wouldn’t it still make sense to spend the $10k assuming you can find something that really adds value? After all, it’s not like you pay the $10k and don’t get anything back, the property will be higher in value (ideally even more than $10k higher) and – as a bonus – you will also have something to depreciate.…[Read more]

Thanks guys!

Terry, their fee structure is a bit “different”. They ask you to become a member and if you are you have access to their deals and you can do as many as you want. Not sure exactly about the fees anymore, but I think it was 3k for one year, 5k for 3 years or 7k for 5 years. I didn’t ask for the exact commission they get, was enough…[Read more]

Haven’t heard from anybody else, but I decided not to go ahead with them. First, I heard from so many sides that you shouldn’t invest in new developments and they solely propose new developments. Second, I asked them if, on top of the fee that I would pay them, they get commission from the developers and they do, so I didn’t like that they are not…[Read more]

Thanks Benny

Just wondering about this. Since I’ve started to look into properties I have probably read this or similar comments hundreds of times, but I never really understood it. If you find a property that gives you a nice cash flow or one with a high probability to increase in value, what kind of people would that not work for? Sure, some people might…[Read more]

Thanks for your answers guys.

What would you say are the risks with OTP compared to established? Is it mainly the risk whether it will be a popular place to live in since no one has lived there before? On the other hand you would expect to have less cost for repairs with OTP, I think.