Well they reckon they do, but they sell property as well.

I recently attended a custodian seminar (Fitzgerald was not the speaker).  I was pretty happy with the seminar, but not the sit-down with the speaker afterwards….he spend the entire time telling me that I don't have enough money to live and my marriage must be suffering (neither is true)…..

They are REAs, you say you're interested and they find a block of land in their chosen city (atm it's Brissie).  They line you up with everything; builder, mortgage broker, everything.  By the time the house is build you've got a tenant…..I can't see any down side?

Richard, we've only been told his since the gfc (before that we were pre-approved to buy, but chose not to).  It is good to know other lenders may still be interested in loaning us money as we're hoping to buy again next year.

I've got similar problems.  I can't see a solution in sight, even as the rent received increases as the bank sayes too much of our income is reliant on rent (which is not reliable).  To buy our last house (which was going to cost a whole $100/mnth after rent rec'd) I had to play hardball and threaten to move all of our mortgages.  Some of the th…[Read more]

The problem with Moranbah is the rent can drop dramatically and suddenly.  The house I am currently living in was rented for $1200/week last, now my hubby's employer pays $600/week because we moved in during the gfc.Its important to understand why the rent is so high-it's not because (as the opening statement said) families can pay $1000/week,…[Read more]

I can't help but notice there are a lot of people who believe only a fool would attend a property seminar, and these same people seem to know a lot about what is talked about in a seminar.  I have never been to one, so I don't know if they are all useless.  How can you tell if you've never been either?  I guess you're a lot smarter tha…

If your offer is rejected, make sure you call in a few weeks and see how they feel about it.  Like Dwolfe said, if the property has been listed a while they'll start getting desperate.  A desperate seller is just the type you're after.

When you buy a property you have 2 options (cannot remember their names), the more common one is (I think joint owners) is a 50/50 split.  There is also (I htink owners in common) one which allows you to allocate a % to each owner.  Nothing changes at the bank (they still treat it exactly the same), but for tax reasons, the loss/profit is split a…[Read more]

just excel and annuity formulas

Not up here Beau, but every region is different.  I know I wouldn't rent a  house in Darwin without a pool.  I wouldn't rent a house in a mining town without a shed.  I wouldn't rent a house in nth qld without ac.

here are some figures to think about(I have assumed the following: interest rates @ 7%, you continue to add $45k pa to your mortgage, you bought 12mnths ago, initial mortgage $260k, 25yr mortgage, min payment 1838/mnth)Scenario 1-pay of your home ASAP and save your moneyYou pay it off in 4.5yrs (from12mnths ago).  You save $247k compared to min…[Read more]

Personally, I hate renting.  I hate not being able to treat the house as your own, and worrying about inpsections etc.  However, currently we are renting and have an IP just a few streets away.We were living in 'our' house (5kids, 3bdrms), but my hubby got a new job which came with the option of the company paying the majority of the rental for u…[Read more]

For scenario 1:  From the rent rec'd for the entire year, subtract all of your expenses including; interest, insurances, rates, water, REA fees, maintenance.  What ever is left over you pay tax on.  This is called positive gearing.  If the expenses are greater than the rent you claim this loss at tax time.  Your taxable income for the year is redu…[Read more]

Not sure about stamp duty in Vic, but in Qld if you live in the property first you get a discounted rate.  Plus, when you can rent your unit out for upto 6yrs then sell it without paying CGT.  The way to go is to buy a place, live in it, then rent it out.

Okay, have made a spreadsheet comparing the different rates of land tax in each state.  Turns out Qld is a great state to invest in, as is NT (no land tax at all over there).  WA is very cheap, while Tas and ACT are very expensive.  Thanks again Sonya for alerting me to this

Excuse my ignorance Sonya, but where is Gunnedah?

Thanks for your thoughts.  Duckster, I have had a bit of a look at the DHA website and realised the properties were quite expensive.  Not sure if we'd have to sell one of our properties for the bank to agree to another loan.  We were recently knocked back on a house ($450k) because the bank said we were too reliant on the rent rec'd inorder to ma…[Read more]

Thanks Duckster, I see I left a lot of crucial info out of the question.Yes, there is an overlap.  We moved from the first house in Jan04 and rented till Jun05.  This is when we bought the land (5 acres).  We then sold the land in Apr 06, didn't pay CGT because PPOR.  In Feb 06 we bought the 2nd house and have lived in it since.We will be ren…[Read more]

So, for a negatively geared, long term investment it would be a good thing?  Just not a short term, money-maker?