Hi Carolyn.May I suggest you contact one of our senior contributors to this forum which is Jamie at Pass Go Home Loans – he lives and works in Canberra and I can personally recommend him to look after you and your aspirations to help your son . I hope the moderator will allow this link to stay so you can contact Jamie. If not his username on this…[Read more]

YES, you can invest in the USA and you can still invest in Australia as an overseas investor (with some restrictions). We specialise in helping international investors do both!

PS Empty VThere are no simple answers to trusts. Whether a trust, and the type of trust, is suitable to you depends on you, where you are, and what you want to achieve. Lots of things like tax minimisation and spreading of assets to consider as well as your current portfolio, are you PAYG/self employed, married, have children,…[Read more]

Thanks EmptyVessel!I hope some of the following helps.Structure If you are serious to be a long-term investor get a structure in place to protect yourself and your assets.If you are going to use any statistics for housing growth ensure you use 10 year growth figures. 1-year figures are deceptive and do not indicate possible…[Read more]

Only a Quantity Surveyor can complete a depreciation schedule that will be acceptable to the ATO. Companies like BMT provide calculators that will get you into the 'ballpark'. Further info on depreciation and its applications are as follows:Depreciation can be applied at different stages in a building's life cycle. These include: Marketing of…[Read more]

Welcome to our forum dfish.If you still require a great property manager in Gladstone drop me a line – ours is awesome (not one of the big branded real estate agents) and manage's the properties for all our clients' properties as well as our Santos client properties.

Good advice from Jamie and I concur. Finish the reno and then assess your situation.

We seem to be in a right pickle! With the little information you have provided publicly in this forum it would appear there may be possible negligence and failure to disclose from more than one party/professional. You must have these matters addressed BEFORE settlement is effected (and you probably already knew this). If you hyave no luck having…[Read more]

Welcome David.Richard and Jamie have 'nailed it'. By utilising Depreciation on your property in conjunction with Tax Variation (221d) your out-of-pocket costs could be reduced so much that you could end up with a neutrally or even positively geared property. Doing your 'due diligence' is a critical factor as well and you should avail yourself to…[Read more]

Have a read of Jan Somers book 'More Wealth from Residential Property'. At 21 with that level of savings you have the property investing world at your feet. Listen and learn from professionals and there are many good one's on this forum – Michael and Jamie above being just two of them. Knowledge will give you the courage to believe in yourself and…[Read more]

A Domestic Partnership and its legal paramenters are set out differently from state to state. For example, in South Australia it is the Domestic Partnership Agreement Act 1996. In some states a relationship is considered de facto sooner if you simply get a joint bank account or a utilities bill in joint names -i.e. Victoria. Due to the fact that…[Read more]

In the fifties we said the price of property could never go up because we’d lost half the male population due to World War II and a recession, yet prices doubled. In the sixties they said property prices would never rise again because of affordability and wages couldn’t keep up, but prices doubled. In the seventies they said prices cou…[Read more]

Asbestos only becomes dangerous when it has deteriorated or been damaged. A little sanding of the surface paint, provided the wall is fundamentally sound, shouldn't prove to be an issue.

PS You must have your FULL deposit returned as the contract for sale 'conditions' have not been met.

Hi Bedford.Tell the Vendor to go and do something anatomically impossible – way too keen to offload his property onto you which is supporting the concerns you have projected in this forum. Anyway, the Vendor is not a qualified building inspector and your inspector has indicated a clear FAIL on the inspection. I believe in a simple credo: "If in…[Read more]

Hi PPR, and welcome to our Forum.You can swap and you can reverse your current PPR with your IP. But, with regards to the tax implications however, if you are using a 221d variation then that shouldn't change if your leverage remains the same but your claimable depreciation allowances will change if your current PPR is older than your current…[Read more]

I believe Gladstone is going to be an incredible performer with Santos and the billions of resources money going into Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) and coal but never forget the basics provided to you below.BASICS FOR THE BEGINNER PROPERTY INVESTOR Take a look at a map of the region you are considering, identify the local CBD and draw a circle 15 kms…[Read more]

Hi TTony.Big deal! It was always a small loophole in the trust legislation and the wealthy were the ones who usually took advantage of it. If you're in a position to even have a Family Unit Trust and pay your kids $3333 you're usually doing ok. Most ordinary Aussies have no idea about how to improve their own financial position let alone the…[Read more]

Hi Zenetti.Hmmmmn…….very shrewd of the developer looking to buy the rights to the space above your place. There would be no shortage of solicitors on the Gold and Sunshine Coast who could probably help you with this. You see, if a developer can sell high rise apartments and guarantee their views can never be impeded, the developer can ask alot…[Read more]

Hi Bell.Good advice from Paul with regards to the option and he's the person to speak to for more info.