Back to the maggot topic, we had some in our rental house on the floor and sofas! It was really freaky and confounding until we realised they were dropping from the light fixtures. Someone had put a box of Ratsak poison in the roof, so when a rat ate it, it crawled under some insulation batts and died so we couldn’t locate it. AFter a week, the…[Read more]

Hi Ravi,

I’ve been thinking of this too. For the initial purchase from the bank I would get a rental evaluation from an agent to satisfy the bank requirement.

For further property purchases, it would be difficult to prove income from the 1st property, so you may want to guarantor it in a Company name and then you can show company earnings over…[Read more]

all good thanks Wilko… my stupid conveyancer had lost the cheque among paperwork and only found it 2 months after settlement. They have since posted it to the council. Phew! Will never use them again.

Hi Oscar, late to this post, but looks amazing. Great achievement!
With the profit do you start funding your next project yourself or is it still better to get bank loans and pay the interest?
Cheers,
Matt

it came back at only $145k rather than the $200k it came back at in early 2013.

Hi Dark Knight,

That’s a really interesting story about BInvested. I always wondered how their clients achieved so many rapid property purchases.
On the whole though, are the properties still cashflow positive? I imagine it will only be an issue for you if you…[Read more]

Looks like it’s pretty high at 2.97%
http://www.realestateinvestar.com.au/Property/st+marys
There is a rental population of 43.91% though, so a lot of renters out there it seems.

No…in the end I flew up there a few times, got to know good/bad areas and bought a house in the centre which ended up going to a sealed bid.
At the time I thought I had paid too much but agents have told me it would have risen in value by now.

A buyers agent probably could have got me a better deal but I have some trust issues that I always…[Read more]

As a side note, I have a unit in St Marys, near the station, and it is coming up for rent renewal. I just spoke to my property manager who said that rents have gone up but demand for the suburb as a whole (both units and houses) is quite soft at the moment so it’s unpredictable. If it doesn’t get anybody through the door after 1 week on the rental…[Read more]

It depends on what you want to do with the properties.
If you are looking to improve value and get capital gains, I guess you could do that more easily with a house with potential to build granny flats, renovate, develop etc.

If you are looking to just buy and hold I always find units are easiest because of very low maintenance. Some would argue…[Read more]

It depends on what you want to do with the properties.
If you are looking to improve value and get capital gains, I guess you could do that more easily with a house with potential to build granny flats, renovate, develop etc.

If you are looking to just buy and hold I always find units are easiest because of very low maintenance. Some would argue…[Read more]

It depends on what you want to do with the properties.
If you are looking to improve value and get capital gains, I guess you could do that more easily with a house with potential to build granny flats, renovate, develop etc.

If you are looking to just buy and hold I always find units are easiest because of very low maintenance. Some would…[Read more]

I don’t know about normal,… numbers are misleading (they may be being snapped up within 1 day of being advertised, or they may be languishing on the rental market).
I look at Vacancy Rate figures:
http://www.realestateinvestar.com.au/Property/nsw/penrith#rentalStats-tab

Penrith as a region currently has a vacancy rate of 1.34%.
I consider…[Read more]

I have investments (both a house and a unit) in both and I have to say they are currently performing pretty evenly.
Campbelltown has the widening extended highway program underway, whereas Penrith area is undergoing quite a lot of gentrification and investment itself. Being part of Sydney I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble renting out in…[Read more]

Thanks all for your responses…. all of them rung true with me.
In the end I bought a 5 year old property in Waterford, a southern suburb of Brisbane. The market is sluggish there but it has strong pop growth and good infrastructure investment with one of the highest funded councils in Qld (Logan). Yield is about 6% so not too fantastic, but I…[Read more]

Hi Ryan,

Definitely try and get CF+ if you can. I always aim for at least 1% higher than the mortgage rate you are likely to be paying to cover any costs such as rental management, insurance, rates etc. And for added security you may want to fix while rates are at their historic low (but that's your call).

The reason to try and avoid negative…[Read more]

Hi Ryan,

Definitely try and get CF+ if you can. I always aim for at least 1% higher than the mortgage rate you are likely to be paying to cover any costs such as rental management, insurance, rates etc. And for added security you may want to fix while rates are at their historic low (but that's your call).

The reason to try and avoid negative…[Read more]