Hi there

If you have plenty of money to throw around, are limited on time and don’t want to be much involved in the property investing process then I would recommend using a buyer agent.

If that is not the case then I would do a bit of research of potential areas (preferable within 10km of Brisbane CBD). Contact some of the local agents and get on their list or use realestate.com.au.

Once you find a potential property, research the area they are located in. Look at rents, vacancies, population, etc
I developed this tool to make this process fast and easy: property-analyser.com.au.

Once you have a list of properties you would consider purchasing, buy a flight ticket and visit Brisbane (much cheaper than the $10k you would be paying for a buyer agent) and inspect the properties.

You might not like any of the properties and might not purchase any but during this process you will learn a lot and it will only cost you a bit of time and a few $100.

If you want to become a property investor then education and experience is key, so stay away from buyer agents.

If you have money and don’t know what to do with it and don’t care much about property investing, then you know what to do.

AM2778 wrote:

btw – whats the difference between a Buyers Agent and a Buyers Advocate ?

They are the same.

Cheers

Andrew

Hi there

sperrinla wrote:

I currently have a about $60-80k in savings and have no loans. I am after some opinions on which is the best option? Do I buy to rent or buy my own home first as I currently rent.

Financially it’s usually better to buy to rent. But there are other factors like your family situation that can influence your decision.

There are 4 different options that you should consider:

1. Buy investment property and live in a rental for now and buy PPOR in the future.
2. Buy PPOR now and buy investment property in the future.
3. Buy PPOR now, convert to investment property and buy new PPOR.
4. Buy investment property, convert to PPOR and buy new investment property.

No matter which option you choose, you need to make sure you structure your loans correctly from the beginning.

Cheers

Andrew

Did you have a look at this?
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/DetailsPage/6416.0Jun%202014?OpenDocument

Cheers

Andrew

Most Banks will propose a P+I loan. Make sure you take out an IO loan + an offset account.

Cheers
Andrew

bns wrote:

How does one transfer that existing 400k loan for the unit into the PPOR equity loan?

I think you are mixing things up here. You can only use the equity in your IP for your PPOR. However I would advise against that.

bns wrote:

Obviously we want to maximise the claimable tax from the rental by offsetting against the bigger loan.

Given that you want to purchase a 500k unit first as a PPOR and then later convert it to an IP and purchase a 1m house as your PPOR, I would do the following:

1. Take out an IO loan + offset account for the unit. Borrow 100% and place your savings etc in the offset account. As long as the unit is not an IP the interest won’t be deductible.
2. When it’s time to purchase the house. Use the savings in the offset account for the deposit and take out a new loan for the house.
3. Your goal is now to reduce the interest on your PPOR loan. Place all your savings, etc in the offset account of your PPOR. The loan on your unit/IP will be tax deductible now but your PPOR loan won’t be.

This strategy will allow you to maximise your interest deduction by maximising your IP loan and keeping your PPOR loan as low as possible.

Instead of having IP loan 80% and PPOR 80%, it is better to have IP 100% and PPOR 70%.

You would need to run the numbers to make sure this strategy is suited for your income level, savings, current loans, etc

Cheers

Andrew

OP signed up 50min ago and posted their first comment.

Thompson wrote:

We have just purchased a new home with Property Planet and was wondering if anyone has recently built with them

Hatice Martin signs up 10min later and posts:

Hatice Martin wrote:

Yes we have purchases and built with them in 2008 and again in 2012. I was very happy with the price of the 1st home and we were very satisfied with the quality and finish. We went back to them for a second time and they provided a discount and we have just leased this home again with no fuss. We will be using them whenever we want to build again. Good luck with things.

Hmmmm….

Then there is the 10 year rental guarantee…

Developers who usually provide rental guarantees add this cost to the price. So pretty much the owner is paying their own guaranteed return and at the same time is buying an over priced property.

Other times when there is an over supply of properties they will make their properties look better by offering a 6% guaranteed return for 2 years, when in fact these properties barely yield 4%. This will cost them less than the loss they would incur by lowering the price of their properties to reflect their market value.

This also inflates median prices since the price these properties sell for is not their market value. Some developers even offer you a car with the property….

Maybe Property Planet can give some more information about their 10 year rental guarantee. There is not much on their website.

Cheers

Andrew

About 77 percent of investors with at least $1 million in assets own real estate, according to a survey released today by the New York-based investment bank’s wealth-management unit.

Does this include their home?

Cheers

Andrew

Same with http://www.cashflowcapital.com.au

The few properties that they are listing on their website are also new properties or off-the plan, so they could be receiving commission from developers for these properties.

When hiring any consultant/adviser, it is important to know how they get paid and who pays them because that person will benefit from the transaction.

I don’t have any experience with their mentoring program but why pay so much money when there are so many free resources.

I wrote this article a while back that can help beginning investors to get started in property investing:
http://positivecashflowproperty.net.au/property-questions-answers/how-to-get-into-property-investing-and-do-i-need-a-mentor/

Cheers

Andrew