You can add Macquarie to that list. Westpac do it for some brokers and CBA do it at a reduced fee of $99. 

Regards

Shahin

First and foremost be extremely careful renovating fibro homes as many are full asbestos. Here is what I would do with a $10k budget:

1. Bathroom – $3,000

2. Kitchen – $5,000

3. Painting – $500 (if you know a builder you can get trade prices rather than retail)

4. Replace all internal and Front Doors (if needed) – $500

5. Upgrade light fittings (if needed) – $800

5. Take wife out for Dinner – $200

The above figures are for average room sizes.

Regards

Shahin

I have plenty of clients that rent in the city (due to close proximity to work and/or lifestyle) and purchase properties in areas which lets just say they wouldn't live in. This allows then to live in the area that they want whilst purchasing property that is earning them CG (hopefully) and can claim negative gearing. 

I would try looking at houses instead of units.

Regards

Shahin

Have a proper long term IP strategy in place. Do the cashflow analysis and see what the numbers look like. Do plenty of homework on each type of property type – i.e. Serviced Apartments, Studios, Metro vs Regional, subdivision, etc. 

Let's start with Service Apartment – they have excellent net cashflow however I feel (not based on personal experience but based on the experience of my clients who have previous invested in serviced apartments) that the cons outweigh the pros. Here is a list on cons associated with serviced apartments:

1. Hard to finance – you are looking a lower LVR's than 'normal' property. Usually a lenders restriction on finance shows you the actual risk associated with the security

2. Valuation – if there is a fire sale within the block then you are toast when it comes to drawing equity to refinancing

3. Capital Growth – this one is a bit arguable but CG is much harder to achieve on these types of properties when compared to other properties.

4 units on one titled is again has finance restrictions to an extend however I do like them. 

Also don't be careful about using the entire $300k upfront. It may make more sense either diversifying to saving some funds for future purchases. Again this will come back to the longer term strategy.

Regards

Shahin

Bamboo is great too – I have installed them in another IP. Is the IP a unit or house?

Regards

Shahin

It doesn't sound like you have a firm long term strategy. Have you done a cashflow analysis on the potential purchases such as the one in Gold Coast? What do the yields look like? What do they look like against the potential for CG? 

Also you can easily find decent houses in Sydney around the $350k mark that also give you good yields. I had one investor purchase a house in Marayong for $280k under their SMSF and the rental is $370 per week plus there is scope to subdivide the land in the back (its a corner block). 

Regards

Shahin

Which city/state are you in?

Regards

Shahin

It may be a good idea to align yourself with someone who is actively involved in the market and has the runs on the board.

Regards

Shahin

I had a client use Mr Attic and she had good feedback but a little pricey. Having said that you want quality when doing extensions – I have seen my share of really poor jobs.

Regards

Shahin