“If you do what you’ve always done, you will get what you’ve always gotten”

This is a good reminder for when people keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.

Yes and on Moura, the Belvedere mine that has just been approved will need to employ 500 staff (so the feasability study says). At the moment there are only 34 homes available to rent!. So there will be a fight over the rentals and that will shoot the rent up.However it is very quiet there at the moment, you may be able to get some great deals on…[Read more]

Hey kelleyhutcho,I too have a property in Moura – bought it last year, and also have it Managed with Amanda from Moura Real Estate. Not as happy as you are with the service though…errors on the managers part has lead me to no tenant for the past 4 mths! Our tenant (corporate) was accidently sent out a 6 mths lease renewal instead of 12 mths,…[Read more]

in my opinion, and generally speaking bank valuers UNDERestimate and RE Agents OVER estimate.BUT, the value of a property has many factors – the main factor being – what will someone be willing to pay for it at the time it is sold? Also, sometimes an area can become HOT just after a news article or development approvals for shopping centres…[Read more]

Yes it is definately illegal to live in your own unit while claiming someone else is renting it from you!! But I like your thinking, hmmmm – how to get away with it???? I think you could get away with it if you are smart – the only thing is if you happen to get audited and the ATO finds out, then they would do more than just disallow deductions. I…[Read more]

In Vic – the tenant pays the water usage only – the water company will send them a separate bill for it. You pay the service fee and any other annual service fee.

Hi there,Your special levy will be tax deductable as maintenance and repairs. It sounds like  a lot of work – but split between 15 units, it may not work out to be too much.As far as your withholding variation goes – firstly you need to have a depreciation schedule done – go to http://www.bmtqs.com.au to find out more. They can do a schedule for the…[Read more]

Call the Real estate institute in the state you are buying the property. i think there may be differences in each state?

Hi Martin,If you go through Margarets books again you will find that her strategy is buy and hold, to provide you an income in the future. She doesnt really recommend selling unless neccessary.Tracy

Hi Lisa,I changed my agent over to Ray White in DBay about 6 mths ago. I couldnt be happier as the previous agent was terrible. As soon as i changed I got new tenants with a rent increase of $50 per week. The previous agents were not pro active and had seriously undervalued the rent! Ray White have been very helpful.Good luck with it Tracy

There are no stupid questions!You can get an idea when a suburb has a huge spike in value and then stagnates for a while ( sales drop off and houses sit on the market longer, meaning the buyers think it has become over priced). Keep in mind that this doesnt give you any idea how long prices will sit flat , because there can be many factors that…[Read more]

As the vendors own the property until settlement date, they can say yes or no to allowing you to show potential tenants through.  They are only obliged to let you through to have your final inspection just before settlement.Most vendors though are happy to let potential tenants through? There must be a reason why they are not willing to let you…[Read more]

sorry, yes it is income because the tenants dissapeared and have not been found for over 6 mths so the money has been returned to me. I will call the ATO anyway, thanks for your help

We bought in Dbay in Feb 2006. 3 bedder highset, dumpy looking place, 600 metres from beach for $180k.I looked at the developement in the area, large franchises going up, roadworks and also rental vacancies were 0%.Just had the place valued last month at $299k! But more importantly, Dbay was known as a dodgy area and we had dodgy tenants that came…[Read more]

Thanks for that , yes I thought as much.  I do my own tax, so will probably call the ATO still , but it makes so much sense to put in as rental income. yes I have the cleaning costs to offset it.cheers

Thinkruss,NO, i dont believe so, there is a massive shortage of housing in Australia. The next few years will present some excellent buying opportunities with rents rising due to shortage of rentals available.Some areas will 'soften" but I dont believe there will be any sort of Crash as per USA.cheers

Low Capital growth.Also the bank wont usually lend more than about %70 towards these properties

Hi Matt, Congratulations to you and your friend for making the purchase! Good luck with it, I believe the gold coast will be a good investment – hang on to it for the long term. I only wish i had made more than just a home purchase at your age!! As far as plants go – speak to the council for the area. They will be able to provide you with a list…[Read more]

One of the bigger companies claim you would get back what you paid for your schedule in the first year. I think it might be depreciator.com? Anyway, as Terry suggested, give them a call and have all of the details ready, what building its made of, any recent improvements etc… It will also make a big difference if it is wither a 4 bed house…[Read more]

I dont see the problem, I am a long term investor. My rents are higher than they have ever been and are starting to create some cash flow, why sell? the rents wont be going down.Only if you have bought in an area that is turning undesirable, population dropping etc..would I be taking the extreme measure of saying the prices will drop dramatically…[Read more]