A business is essentially worthless to a bank. There is no security of any value. What they may lend on is the real property part of it.

What would the value of the house and land? It would probably be a low LVR too because of the size and the business being located on it.

You can only count CGT exemption for one period. So one of the properties would be subject to CGT. The good thing is that it may be possible to chose which property.

See a quantity surveyor for a depreciation schedule.

Changing names on title is not a simple thing. I would result in stamp duty in nsw, but if your property is in VIC you may be in luck. You will need to see a solicitor to do the conveyancing, you will have to buy out your spouse and borrow to do so the loan on this should be deductible interest. This will free up cash and increase your deductible debt. You can take the opportunity to redo your loans to be more effective too.

Based on your figures the property is likely to be returning positive income before taking into account depreciation and other non cash expenses. These are depreciation of building, depreciation of fittings, borrowing costs, travel etc.

I would suggest you get a depreciation schedule done.

Income – Expenses

Rent = $18,460

Expenses
Interest = $20,365
Other (say 20% rent) = $3720
Total Cash expenses = $24,085

Cashflow = income – cash expenses = -$5625 pa before tax.

Taxable Income includes non cash expenses
So expenses + Depreciation + borrowing expenses too.
= $24,085 + 7,847 = $31,932

Taxable income = Rent – Deductions = $18,460 – $31,932 = $13,472 Loss

This loss will come off your other income.

If you were on the 37% marginal tax rate then you may get back 37% or nearly $5k.

Tax savings can be used to work out total cashflow.

Cashflow above was – $5625.
So after tax is taken into account it would be slightly negative.

But this is estimating expenses such as insurance, rates, repairs etc and guessing your tax rate.

I am a solicitor and mortgage broker and could give you some tips.

hi Lee

Sorry to hear about your parents.

I think your next move should be to consider legal and taxation advice regarding the estate. There could be significant tax issues there.

Then you need to consider asset protection.

After that consider investment strategies.

What state are you in?

You can't expect an answer to this over the net. Its like saying I have a pain in the chest, what sort of medicine should i use?

Its extremely complicated. But if you get it wrong it could be costly – although no life threatening.

One of my friends is losing money right now on ATMs. Doesn't sound like a good investment to me.

Good point about backing up.

I use google for email and the google docs cloud where you can upload or even start documents which are held on the google server somewhere. So where ever you go you can access them without the need to have your files on your computer.