Del, is there any reason why you'd sell rather than refinance? Unless a property is a fundamentally bad investment – in which case I assume you wouldn't have bought it anyway – then you're almost always better off holding and refinancing than selling. (And I agree with hleung about seeing a good broker, who should still be able to get you a m…[Read more]
blay, I think you've been incredibly fortunate with the guarantor. Given that you have no lease and no landlords insurance, things could be a LOT worse!Don't, however, take the guarantor's advice and tell the tenants that they have to be gone by Saturday if the law says that you have to give them more notice – they could then appeal and you'd be…[Read more]
Merry Christmas, blay! (Just reading the forum whilst waiting for the kids to wake up.)Good on you for helping Dad try to retrieve the situation. I'm not familiar with NSW law but I think my advice would be influenced by some stuff I heard Steve say about difficult tenants. I hope you at least have a bond! Let's assume that you have $1K in bond,…[Read more]
I look for a broker who:* understands the importance of finding the right lender for MY circumstances, not just the one with the lowest interest rate. (Brokers – probably reflecting the general population – seem to be obsessed with interest rate, when it's just not that important to me.)* understands structures and how that impacts on the way…[Read more]
Thanks, Tammy, for your kind words and I'm glad that you've learnt something useful. And yes, I remain the eternal optimist – whatever doesn't bankrupt you is just a "learning experience" … (And even bankruptcy is a learning experience, but I'm happy to have not-quite-so-drastic learning experiences )And yes, that's why everybody isn't do…[Read more]
Terryw is right about the $15K for the reno. It depends how it was done, ie who owns the IP and who incurred the expenses.If the IP is in a Trust and renovations were paid from its cash reserves, or if the IP is owned in an individual's name and that individual paid cash for the renovations, you're out of luck.But if the IP is in a Trust, and you…[Read more]
Gene, if they're auditing you personally their scope is limited to your personal financial affairs. And they couldn't care less how you got finance – that's between you and the lender. As long as you're claiming legitimate deductions, they won't go beyond the very limited scope specified in the notification of audit. In fact, they usually aren't…[Read more]
I'm also ex-military and I'd have to agree with tysonboss's assessment of virgininvestor's comment, though perhaps not the tone in which it was delivered. The military take excellent care of their housing, are exceedingly strict with tenants (much more than any other property manager I've ever dealt with), and being the employer as well as…[Read more]
You have no obligation to provide permission. If you do, I would certainly expect to be compensated for the upheaval and perhaps costs to relandscape etc. You also want to ensure that they're responsible for any damage to your trees or any other infrastructure (electricity, gas etc), possible damage to your foundations etc.Definitely get legal…[Read more]
Hi Hilly! There's only one document/contract, which is the contract of sale which includes conditions, eg subject to finance within 21 days, subject to building and pest inspection to buyer's satisfaction within 14 days, etc. The contract doesn't become binding on you – the buyer – to complete it until these conditions are fulfilled. You can put…[Read more]
I'm not sure why you would want to wait until after inspections and valuations before signing – why not sign a contract subject to inspections and valuation? If you're concerned that a "subject to" offer won't be as attractive to the vendors, you can always let them know that you're conditionally approved for finance up to $250K and just covering…[Read more]
Hi, Robyn! I'm not sure if this is a moot point now, but I'd rethink. Certainly you should be able to purchase more property without having to sell anything; you have heaps of equity. So unless you think the property in New Farm is a fundamentally bad investment, I wouldn't sell it. You're better off to be an investor than a trader; let time work…[Read more]
I think if the tree could legally be removed by any other purchaser anyway, you have no way of ensuring the tree is "saved", so I say take the cash and remove the tree. If you feel badly about removing the tree, donate the extra (ie $5K less what it costs to remove that tree) to a tree planting charity, and save a lot more trees! Though I c…[Read more]
You can borrow up to 106% LVR, so you don't necessarily need a deposit, or to rely on vendor finance (which in my experience is very difficult to get in the open market).You will pay more fees and interest, eg you may pay 10% interest, but if you're very bullish about growth in the area that you're looking at, you may consider it worthwhile to…[Read more]
Mark, it is discouraging when you feel "stuck", but I do encourage you not to sell rashly. I've done this a few times in the past ; ) and it has always been the "sub-optimal" decision. I say it that way because I don't dwell on the past but instead look at my "mistakes" as valuable learning experiences. I'm just saying that if you can learn from…[Read more]
Scott No Mates wrote:
Tracey, it is a much more likely scenario that you would be getting your 12% on your commercial property based on a 4% growth/8% rental yield with CPI/4% growth
The way that I consider these things, it really doesn't matter. I usually fund any negative cashflow from equity, so which dollars are capital growth and which a…[Read more]
Hi Darren Bear! Firstly, I'm sorry that some previous posters have used such a hostile tone. For some reason, many people forget their manners on forums and say things in a manner which, if they'd thought about it or if they were face-to-face, I don't think they would never say. I wish that everybody responding would assume that the poster raising…[Read more]
Good morning, Scott. Yes, it depends entirely on your strategy. I intend to always be leveraged as highly as possible, and only ever take interest-only loans, so for me return on my investment is far more important than the ROI of the overall asset.For example, let's assume that I have $50K, and I'm looking at a commercial asset whose overall ROI…[Read more]
I have a 2000 Daewoo Matiz – a tiny Korean car that I thought was very cute when new, but isn't quite so cute now it's showing it's age….You've struck a nerve here! I had a "motivational speaker" publicly label me a "loser" in a seminar some years ago for not aspiring to own a prestige car. He said "but surely you want a better car", and I s…[Read more]