Hi Bob,I have several houses in Collinsville which desperately need some work. (mostly cosmetic) but as we own a business find it hard to get a couple of weeks to spend doing the work. Would you be interested in looking at them for us. We would go there to me4et you / your foreman or  whowever to discuss it also can I perhaps contact you by phone…[Read more]

Hi steve,With such high repayments and low rent you should be able to receive fairly high tax rebates for the cost of the house. See your accountant and make sure that this is all in place. Make sure they know what a quantity surveyor is and how they can be used. You can also apply to receive your tax refund weekly not anually. Again talk to your…[Read more]

Hi Beaniemonster,I would not recommend managing your own properties unless you are very well organised, are able to be tough and at times ruthless (not swayed by sob stories) and actully live in the same town as your IPs. I have 13 IPs and find that my agents are much better than me at all the above. They also provide excellent records for tax at…[Read more]

Hi,My husband and I moved to a qld mining town in 1995 to get ahead. We were about 2.5 hrs from mackay and therefore did not feel so isolated. It took us 8 years and 4 kids to set ourselves up with 13 ips. in the end it was really worth it. We found it hard at first as my husband was doing masses of overtime and the kids were small, we also f…[Read more]

Hi,
long time since I answered a post but thought I needed to add my 2 cents worth.
We bought a queenslander about 2 yrs ago which had many different coloured walls (including some texta) We went to an interior designer, cost of $250, She did colours for inside and out and they were brilliant. Inside coco creme and Keepsake Dulux and white…[Read more]

Hi Veronica,
I have 3 properties in a small sapphire mining town which I gather may be similar to Coober Pedy. Very little capital outlay ( less than 75000) and recieve 200 pw rent) I also have 5 rental properties in a central qld coal mining town. With yeild of 20%. WLith the coal mining town I went there and spent time choosing the houses I…[Read more]

Hi,
Check out Property Investing Mag. Has an article on Aust cheapest suburbs, incl Ipswich. Seems OK but I would do my due dil. if I was considering investing there. If I was to invest in an area with a low socio-economics I would make sure that I had landlord insurance. See other posts in this forum. Good luck
theresa[biggrin]

Hi Fatboy,
We live in the Mackay area and I agree that the market here has gone up in value heaps in the last 12mths.In the previous 6-8 years there was very little growth in value of residential properties. In some years the growth was -ve. There has been lot of growth here recently with new mines opening which brings a great deal of money to the…[Read more]

Hi all,
I just finished a conversation with my RE agent about insurance. Her opinion was that Barclays was mainly a debt collector and would cover the cost of getting rent from tennants who default. We chose to go with CGU who we insure all our IPs with. The cost is $80 ayear for loss of rent in case of fire etc and then the cost of default,…[Read more]

Hi all,
Its been great to learn what all these people giving me advice do. I am a school teacher but as I have 4 children i only work casual, My husband is a coal miner. We are in the older age bracket of people on this forum (Ian is 48 and I am 39) and it is great to see so many people who are prepared, at an early age, to do something about the…[Read more]

Hi all,
Very interested to read everyones opinion about b/bs. My husband is a b/b and I am not far behind. We have 11 ips and are intending to fund our own retirement. I agree that many bbs are not prepared for the future and therefore a thought is that there may be a market for duplexes etc. in which they can retire to after selling there own…[Read more]

Hi Darth,
We bought a serviced apartment about five years ago in Melb.(Williamstown). We bought off the plan for 190K. We have had no problems with it, but at this time a 10yr with 3x5yr option lease was already in place. We get rental increase of 4% each year and have just had the apartment valued at 320K. The only problem we have found is that…[Read more]