Hi,
Mandurah has nothing to offer? WTF? Have you been there lately? I was skeptical too but visted last year in november (yes mediocre november here in Melbourne) and it was beautiful! 27 degree days, sunshine, blue sky, fresh air (no Mandurah stink like some claim), cheap lobsters. Wow, I had a blast it was one of the most beautiful places…[Read more]

Hi,
I’ve been in a couple of partnerships and found the best way forward is the following process:
1. Recognise there is a disagreement that apparently offers no immediate resolution (ie one says black the other says white).
2. STOP. Don’t argue, don’t judge or be critical. Step back and take a breather before things get passionate.
3. Set a…[Read more]

Hi,
As a passionate motorbike rider I have to say it is a dreadful tragedy when a bike rider is lost. There is a great need in the community for increased driver and rider education. The government always errs on the side of more fines for fairly arbitrary threshold points and has no motivation to provide greater safety training. So when a…[Read more]

Hi hmackay,
I did a quick skim over the site and this is what I saw:
1. Lots of people on the forum asking where their money was, but for some reason content not to get it.
2. Pips is in Malaysia (or Philipines)
3. All investments made by Pips appear to be in SE Asia.
4. High returns = high risk.
5. It could be a ponzi scam, but more likely…[Read more]

Hi,
The simple answer to this is: No it isn’t legal. It would fall under the same heading as getting money through deception aka fraud. Especially if you fiddle the numbers so you aren’t paying extra tax on the rent earned (even though you are giving a kick back). Stick to market rent and disclose that the current tenents are your family and…[Read more]

I wouldn’t have thought of it as “charging mum rent” so much as having my mum as a flat mate and sharing the bills as family members who are supportive of each other do.

Living costs money and as a family it is advantagous to share those costs however may seem appropriate. Once I was working and living at home I paid rent, before then I helped…[Read more]

Unfortunately you can’t really go off what the real estate agent says because they are not duty bound to know the exact measurements of the place. If you were asking a surveyor who was looking after the house and they gave you a certificate of inspection that said the frontage was 15m you could do something.

Part of due dilligence is to do a…[Read more]

I agree with Ian in principle. My parents bought a house at the beginning of the 90’s. They sold in 95-96 for the same price they bought it. That’s 0% gain in 5 years (shouldn’t it be up 50%? if it doubles every 10 years) BUT that same house went up for sale in 2000 at about 80% growth. So in 10 years the house almost doubled in value (it…[Read more]

I would think:
The equity in the house is your parent’s. As such it is important they are educated on what that means (like you said it is resource they could be applying to improve their lives). Also if it is a business you want to buy your parents would become a business partner and should be paid a share of the income.

You will need to…[Read more]

Hi awfish,
Thanks for that reply. I’m very much swayed by it.

You are absolutely correct about the project built houses. They are built “well enough” and designed to be “appealing enough” for basic consumption. I’ve certainly had a look through several project houses and not once was I moved to thinking they would be suitable for me to live in…[Read more]

If they were my parents (and they aren’t) I would recommend they go to Canada as part of the SKI club (Spend the Kids Inheritance).

Let’s face it, at that age they’ve only got probably another 10 years left in them, maybe 20 if they are good and healthy. Sitting on the property for equity gains doesn’t help them in the slightest if they don’t…[Read more]

I think Mortgage Hunter is correct in that shares can generally only be used as security for a margin loan.

Margin loans carry a higher interest rate and then there’s the margin calls…

If I was going to take a margin loan on the shares I’d use the proceeds to buy more shares (high yield) just for the sake of diversifying my portfolio and…[Read more]

Make sure you have insurance and burn the place down (with no one in it of course). They can’t live there if it isn’t habitable. As a bonus you get a demolished and leveled block all ready for re-development.

You could just wait outside until they leave and smash a bottle over their head every day until they move out.

You could also ring up…[Read more]

I should add that I’m not a professional accountant or tax lawyer so I’m only offering advice based on my personal knowledge. You should always seek a primary source of information (the ATO for example) to back up what people on the net tell you.

Hi,
You can borrow for any purpose a bank will agree to. A bank will pretty much always agree to lend you money to improve your PPOR so long as you have sufficient income to service the debt.

Tax implications: Interest paid on money for income earning (even future income) assets is tax deductible (in general). It is the purpose to which the…[Read more]

Yeah 5% is pretty generous. In Mandurah WA gross yields are about the 3.5% – 4.5%.

Still 5% is a nice place to start if you are looking for a place to start.

At this point I’d go ahead and fix the fence. I’d inform the neighbour that I’m going to fix the fence in 28 days. The letter would tell them who is doing it, when they are doing it and what materials etc they are using. If they want to vary any of the details please contact me ASAP to discuss.

Then I’d just go ahead and get the fence fixed.…[Read more]

When another company brings up IFHL (as will certainly happen) I will, like everyone else, eagerly go to their web site and try to find out what the real deal is. To do that they’d have to at least provide some info on how it works.

Pretty diagrams with colours are good[biggrin].

All in all it sounds like a hard sell. Using a “something for…[Read more]

I’d imagine also that consumer spending would increase in general as more people (ie current land owners) found themselves with accessible equity. They could consolidate car loans, buy farm improvements, fund businesses etc…

Essentially I think by adopting a mortgage system an economy is creating wealth through increased ability to leverage…[Read more]

I think you are absolutely correct.

I mean in general I would expect rents to be lower than repayments, but in the long run not by as much as they are.

What this means to me is rents will either have to increase or house prices will have to fall. As more people realise it is much cheaper to rent and use the extra money on other investments or…[Read more]