What will give me the best return?

Hi Tara,

My name is Mariana. Why not buy a property you can call your own? I recently bought a property with the help of a mentor.

My entire process of buying , from start to finish, was done with just my Mentor/Realtor. I never thought I’d have to make such an important decision on my own, so I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have found someone so great to work with. I also think for first-time home buyers, having an amazing Realtor is absolutely key in the buying process. He went above and beyond, and I really credit him with making sure I was comfortable every step of the way. I felt like he understood where I was coming from, and he made what could have been an overwhelming process, into something fun and exciting. I trusted his opinions and negotiation tactics, but most importantly, I never felt pressured.

When it was all said and done – I feel like we got the best price possible we could have gotten for the townhouse. And, the biggest bonus to this entire transaction is that I will be able to move in before the end of the month. Which makes everything just about a million times easier for me logistically, and will save me a lot of time and money.

Should you be interested, I am happy give you you my mentor’s contact details.

I hope to hear from you soon!

Renting whilst investing can in many cases be more cost effective, though there are a few markets where it is still more affordable to buy than rent of course.

There is the personal/emotional factor of course, whether you like owning the four walls around you, or are happy to rent whilst investing the difference.

Renting the duplex in it’s entirety would of course provide significant depreciation benefits early on too.

I would probably rent out both, not just for the reasons above but because:

– It’s an arms length transaction. I don’t really want to be living next door to my tenants. This might work well though if you want to self manage, however, I like to let the property manager handle this.
– If you knock down and build you’ll need to move anyway, and probably rent a place. So you’d only move once…
– The quality, size, build of the house that I want to live in, is not the same type of house I would build for a rental.
– Depreciation would be pretty good, so if you have a high’ish salary you’d receive those benefits upfront, which is probably a good idea if you plan on holding on to the property for a while.

Very interesting post as I would never have considered renting out my PPOR and renting somewhere cheaper but It does make some sense. For example my wife is keen to move back closer to her family which would be about $150 less to rent than what I could get for my place so that extra money could then pay off the mortgage plus then get the tax benefits.
Is this what people are referring to or am I a bit off the mark? Are there other considerations?