I swapped to mac last month, I bought the 17" Mac Book Pro with glossy hi res screen. I also bought a 1 Tb Time Capsule to keep the MBP backed up.  I still need access to some windows programs, including some games. I've used bootcamp, set up vista 64 sp1, and then in the OS X partition I've got VM Ware Fusion so that I can access vista programs that don't need 3d acceleration. For the games like Oblivion and halflife 2.2 etc, I boot into Vista.  This is one pretty computer!

Thought I would provide an update.  We did manage to save up a deposit. We didnt need much because of the first home owners grant and stamp duty concession . Ended up only needing about 6k I think to secure a villa unit costing 180k. We bought that early 2006. Then we started saving again… Then my girlfriend wanted to become my wife. So we ended up using the savings on the wedding. I've been paying down the consumer debt. The motorbike loan is down to 3k and will be paid by March. a 1.7k of credit card and 2k of overdraft to pay and I'm out of debt except for the house. The house is going to be a rental though when we purchase our next property. We hope to have the deposit for that ready by the end of 2008 or first quarter of 2009. Our unit is now worth 200-210k based on a similar unit that was sold recently. At some stage I would like to get some savings in an income focussed manged fund (like Navra) with the income meeting the holding costs of negative geared IP's. In the future I want to have a neutral cash flow (initially) portfolio of funds and IPs. As we gain equity and rents go up, the portfolio should start becoming postive cashflow. Thats the plan anyhow.
Cheers
Simon

Polce, if its a noise issue.

My hours change around a lot, sometimes I'm working 9-5:30 other times 11:30am-8pm  and other times 8pm-7am.
if you do have a guest speaker, would you be able to have a copy of there notes to post up to this thread? (just in case I miss the get together because of the shift I'm working?)

My preference would be to have a guest speaker. Preference would be for weekend meet I guess (though I do work weekends as well sometimes)

Cheers
Simon

I would consider putting some of the equity into a managed fund that distributes good quarterly income (eg Navra Australian retail fund) . The income from the fund can offset the holding costs of negative geared property, as well as offsetting LOC interest and margin loan interest.

A mix of cash flow negative and cash flow positive investments would let you forge ahead I think. For positive cashflow investments I would consider managed funds that distribute regular (say quarterly) income. Its a matter of getting the balance right so that the return from the funds can meet the rental shortfalls from your properties.  For serviceability a lender would need to take into account the income from the funds. One of the brokers on this site should be able to assist more with this approach.

http://www.carpoint.com.au/used-car/LAMBORGHINI/ESPADA/New%20South%20Wales/csn856797.aspx

is the Lamborghini I'm talking about

1 ppor value 200,000 owe 167,000

will turn this into a rental and buy a new ppor 2008/2009

I think I'll buy a cabin cruiser, and go fishing lots.

in order to avoid spam, (some spammers use programs to grab email address from web pages, in much the same way that search engines, index the internet) its best to pm (private message) people to give them your email address.

Cheers
Simon