Forum Replies Created
Hi Julie …..those Kelly boys sure can drive that’s for sure! The book of Margaret Lomas I read this in was the newest one, called ‘The Truth About Positive Cashflow property.’ (Where she has a go at all the seminar spruikers etc etc. I found it was a good book to help me ‘balance’ things a bit, particularly that ‘unless you take plenty of risk and own at least a dozen properties you are a nobody…. viewpoint that seems to come accross with so many other books of late – and I did particularly find her thoughts on trust structures interesting, as it can seem almost ‘non fashionable’ if you don’t have one sometimes. Based on your excellent posts, and where you are up to I think you will really enjoy this book. (I am no relation to Margaret.) That being said, If Richard Taylor (the real one, not the bogus one that appears on the forum from time ti time -[angry2] ) knows enough detail about your circumstances to suggest you look at a trust there must be a very valid reason. Don’t think there would be many around with his level of real world experience that offer practical suggestions on a forum at no cost witht the motive of trying to help. (unlike some of the people alluded to in the book in question) .
And, back to the important stuff, was’nt it a great year for Craig Lowndes in 2006 ! [thumbsupanim]Hi Julie. HDT pretty much came to an end in 1988, when HSV took over Holdens’ ‘performance’ division after disagreements with the late Mr. Peter Brock. Having ditched my long love of Holdens around the VT Commondore era, I am more interested in Tickford, and of course their ‘evolution; into Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) now…oh wait – ahhh wrong forum, this is real estate not cars! Sorry. HDT ? I’m thinking Holden Dealer Team, not Hybrid Disc. Trust ! [confused2]Seriously though, it can be a bit daunting (even confusing) with what appears to be the majority of investors using one of a variety of different trust types. If it works for you as they say, but I found what Margaret Lomas had to say on trusts in her very latest book made me take a more realistic approach. That said, I can certainly appreciate why many people feel more comfortable using a trust of some sort. All the best with your journey Julie.
Perhaps to clarify, and of course as a generalisation, with Mortgage insurance (LMI) the borrower pays this if the loan is more than 80% (yes, there is the very odd exception) and if not, we all assume that there is none. What actually happens though, and is usually the case with some ‘non banks’ or originators, is that there is actually still LMI for loans that have borrowings of less than 80%, but they pay it instead of us – so we assume there is none – but there still is. It does pay to check if you are planning on borrowing from a variety of lenders and signing up for lo-docs left right and centre. Of course, a handful of properties should not cause any real drama. Depends on what you are trying to achieve. And of course the mortgage originator or manager does not tell you this in most cases. Why would they need to for ‘Joe Average’ ? [strum]
Hi, and welcome to the forum. Good on you for having more than half of your own home paid off and some excellent equity! [exhappy]Just one thing I must mention that is more important than a hoard of IP’s on their own, is to consider two things. 1) Is that what you want, or would you prefer to keep your home and buy a cheaper IP using the equity you have built up? 2) Especially with family, how would you Really feel if you no longer owned a home. Would you be happy? Would you stay where you are? If you can do it, and be happy, looking a bit long term, great, but there are also your emotional needs and feeling of ‘security and ownership’ that you may greatly miss. Big difference….. Have a think about it. With your equity, there is more than one way to skin a cat! Have a good read of point number 3 in QLDS007 ‘s posting above. all the best with what you decide. Run with it! [strum]
Hi Johann, and welcome to the forum. Good on you for getting an early start. re your loan, I’ll bet you’re glad you fixed the interest eh? ING have an excellent fixed interest loan at present, and if yours is like the current one (check first) you can pay up to $10,000 per year EXTRA of your fixed interest loan without penalty or charges! Not very ‘bankish’ that’s for sure. You sound to be in a good spot. With your balance as opposed to your rental income, that is around a 6% yield, so if your property is a good one with potential for capital growth, you can look at leaving it as is, and of course putting any extra money into a new property, or alternatively if you are a bit hesitant and have nothing better to do with spare cash you can indeed pay extra off this one – depends on your short and long term goals. It will be three .25 percent rate decreases before there are any loans much better than yours, so whether you pay extra off your current loan, or leave as is and save for another deposit it sounds like a win win situation for you. All the best. [strum]
Hi Nadia. A Griffith girl perhaps? Yenda? Good on you for getting into it again. Should have a little equity I imagine. (Used to live in Leeton, thus I recognise your number from one of your other posts) Nothing wrong with aiming high, but depending on what you have in mind, there are plenty of options. Queensland, SA, and Tassy are all popular at the moment, especially if you are in it for the long term, as it sounds like you are. Locally, Leeton, (maybe even Yanco if you buy in the right street….NOT ‘Progress St.’ !!) , and probably more so Narrandera are all areas that may have better growth potential than Griffith or Wagga. Personal opinion of course…. all the best. Can I suggest buying (or better still subscribing to ) Aust. Property Investor magazine. Take everything you read with a grain of salt, but if you want a bit of motorvation and direction that is a great place to start. [strum]
Hi. If he owned the property or was a joint owner (ie had a share or interest in the property, by being on the title) it is a no no. It is a first home owner grant, which he would then not be. [strum]
Hi. Other than the fact that it is overseas, which can make management difficult I think ‘Unzud’ makes great sense. No stamp duty is how it should be here too! Of course you need to research or ‘know’ an area if you want to minimise problems and maximise growth, but you have to do that here to. Have not got any over there, but goal is for one more in Oz this year, and look over in NZ next year all going well. One of the forums regular contributors (DLPP) seems up on all the guff over there, and I would use someone like them when I am in a position to ‘make the move’. Then I’ll celebrate with a suxpeck of Speights ! All the best.[strum]
Hi Bez. As Simon said (should say Simon mentioned really, but ‘Simon said’ sounds better [biggrin] ) you will find juggling the deposit amount really does affect the LMI amount you pay. If you can get your LVR less than 95% , which requires a deposit of anything over 5% it will drop your LMI down a bit. Unless you are a first home buyer with the $7k towards costs, LMI really hits though. If you can make the repayments comfortably and don’t want to borrow any or much from your folks, and like to have a bit left over in the bank, a 100% loan is not all that bad especially if you bargain hard for the property price in the first place. In 6 or 12 months time you might have yourself some nice equity. All the best with whatever you decide.[strum]
I’m sure there will be plenty of lenders /brokers who will only be too happy to help you with a lo doc of that size. Obviously you will get much better rates and support than with your current arrangement.
You would be surprised how competitive someone like Bluestone Mortgages is on Lo-doc loans with <80% LVR. …better than a few of the ‘big boys’. Try and keep your clear title land just that – clear title. Anyone that wants to roll all your property into one loan (collatorised, or more commonly called cross -secured) run a mile. You should have no trouble getting a competitive loan by the sounds of what you have said, if your ABN is more than 2 years old. If not, you will still do OK, albeit less choice and or lower LVR. All the best. …and congrats on the nice equity you have built up with this project! [strum]Give Email (the brand, not the method of communication) a wide berth too. Fujitsu and Mitsubishi seem to have a good rep. All the best [strum]
You will indeed notice that the demand for financial planners, particularly in a banking environment seems very high, with renumeration excellent too. The real question is can you make a difference, or will you just be one of the 98% of planners that runs you through your ‘generic type’ risk analysis (with a choice of about five outcomes) tells you how much super and life insurance you need because you will be the first to die in your family (and of course enjoy the filthy commission (up to 4% entry with one of the countries ‘well known’ super funds, which of course is in small print and ‘breezed over’ until you sign the paperwork) ) and then recommend you purchase units in a managed fund that pays him/her the most commission, because as they say ‘most of them are much the same’. (yeah right) OR will you be one of the 2 % that will be genuinely helpful, explain and justify your costs, (preferably an hourly rate with minor or no commissions) and really make a difference in the lives of someone who is paying for your expert advice and experience, making you an extremely valuable asset and partner in planning their future? [confused2] Remember a great many ‘financial planners’ have little or no property experience, and are often still up to their eyeballs in their personal debt even after being in the ‘industry’ for several years. Then again, get a good one and they are priceless. Big responsibility eh? Should I lighten up? [headphone]Just something to think about……Seriously, all the best. [strum]
Hi Da man. The largest percentage of people ever seem to be ‘fixing ‘ all or some of their loans at the moment, but it all comes down to personal preferences, attitude to risk of the unknown Vs. security of knowing what you are paying each week/fortnight etc etc. In all fairness, if you compare the repayments on a 20-30 year loan, with a current ‘budget type’ variable rate, compared to the average fixed rate, there is not a lot of difference in the scheme of things. I guess the fact that fixed rates are currently well below the ‘standard’ variable rates in general indicates the way lenders feel about the next few years – ie if ‘they’ felt rates were going to go up again significantly they would likely jack the fixed rates up too – as happened a few weeks ago before the last RBA rate review, and as is happening now, they are gradually creeping back down. If you had a competitive bank or non bank basic variable loan, one 25 point interest rate decrease will drop the variable rate below the current fixed, but one upwards and……you get the idea. I’m all for loan splitting, as you obviously have done, and some non bank lenders will not charge a cent for this for the life of the loan. Win win (The ‘big 4’ don’t charge either – if you pay them an annual fee for the privelidge of them letting you pay them tons of interest each year……) . You can fix a portion, and leave some as variable, which of course you can ‘chip away at’.
Just one point though based on what you said, you will find yourself up for a lot of money in so called ‘break costs’ if you change your fixed loan before it’s term has finished. With your loan only 6 mths old, I imagine you have at least another 2 1/2 -3 years on the fixed interest loan term, so you may be better leaving your fixed interest part until the term is over or close to over, and instead put the money you save towards the deposit for your new (or next) investment property. All the best with your journey.[strum]Well done for making it happen Glenn. ….[strum]
Hi Bruham. All the best with your project. Re the loan, if it is a lo doc loan, that rate is what you would expect for that style of loan – however if it is a fully verified loan, and supposed to be at residential mortgage rates, even though better than the ‘banks’ 8.07% type loan, there are better rates around that’s for sure. Then again, if there are special circumstances or service you received I am not aware of it’s hard to say what is good value or not. As they say, if it gets you what you want…….hope it all works out well.[strum]
Welcome to the forum stumped….sorry it was not a happier posting for you.[guilty] Reminds me of a lovely little place we had once, until some ‘sharp pointy object’ neighbors moved in as tennants over the back fence. Absolute cleptomaniac dross. Anyway, the solution can be to sell, but you should’nt have to. maybe the develpoer/s may give you a good price down the track, or the value of your home increase perhaps? Anyway, hope it works out longterm. An extra bit on the fence or a big vine looks in order. Chin up.[strum]
Don;t mean to set a cat among the pidgeons, and yes the title is enough to put a lot of people off, but if you want to read something that is not plum in mouth like Kiosaki or written in a semi fictional manner like a few others , check out ‘Get Real-Get Rich’ by Paul O’Connor. Puts a different slant on things, but is a warts ‘n all book. Like ALL the stuff around, take it on board with a grain of salt, picking up the postive points from others who have been there and done that…… but enjoy the journery. Happy learning. [strum]
Hi Cherry pro. – I think LA Aussie made an interesting comment, in that you have not made a loss till you sell. Same with shares, and managed funds. It’s all ‘on paper’. Some investments are long term, and if you can afford the neg gearing, and view it as that way, it may be quite a lot better than flushing all your time, effort and money by selling. Something many here will disagree with me on however is the opposite – you have also not locked in a profit until you sell – the opposite is true too, as it is all on paper, unless you tap into the equity beforehand, and then of course there is nothing to say you would not end up in exactly the same position…..but renovators such as Sam Venutini and investors like Steve Mcknight and Peter Spann also agree- never be afraid to sell a property at a profit to ‘lock it in’ if it helps you achieve what you want, either short or long term goals. Boy that nice Cabernet Savignon tends to get me on my soapbox…… The only other thought is this- I have heard of many an investor that has ‘cut their losses’ in your position, and from that day on never taken any risks again, however educated, and never invested in anything again. Is that what you want? Like Mark said, if you can handle viewing this as a comination of ‘forced savings’ and a partial tax deduction, without causing you /your family major depravation meanwhile, that sounds like the way to go. All the best anyway…..[strum]
Hi Andy. Unless your IP is in the middle of nowhere and there are no other real estate agents/property managers, you will find there will be others who are happy to ‘take over’ for you. They will contact the current one for you and organise to continue the lease etc. BUT you MUST make sure you have not signed an agreement with the useless one that says you must give them a long notice period etc to terminate their management agreement or you could be up for some money. You will need to give them notice in writing of course, and the sooner the better. Last thing you need in a property manager you are paying to do the job…..All the best hey…[strum]
Hi Cathy. We recently had a bathroom in a property repainted with ‘mould resistant’ paint. However the thing you really need in a bathroom is some type of exhaust fan, otherwise it won’t last long. I’m guessing you cannot put one in the ceiling? Although if you can put a vent in, I would think you could stick a fan in – this is the best option. If not one in the window should help a lot more than just an open window, even if it means you lose the abilitiy to actually open the window. Hope that helps you. [strum]
