[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

September 19, 2005 - 12:37 pm

Singer,

I have a slightly more balanced view than G7, but those pitfalls are all worth taking careful note of.

Assuming all goes according to plan and the railway arrives in 10 years’ time etc., there may be some growth. However, right now the prices are certainly high.

Bellbird Park may be quite interesting (I just bought in there). There’s a mob (Investa) building 1600 houses in the bush along Jones Rd (From Augusta Parkway) in a Springfield-style estate (check out the new sales office on the corner of those roads).

Thing is, I paid $215k for a new 4br house on 760m2 – the Investa land alone will be $160k for a smaller block.

I reckon my $215k house can only increase (it has amazing views of the bush behind Springfield/Brookwater) but some of these $320k+ houses on tiny blocks may come unstuck soon.

There’s just a bit of a ceiling that a project home on a 450m2 block will fetch. There may be some possibilities but I suspect the best strategy is to get into one of the fringe areas around there that is soon to be developed.

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

March 21, 2005 - 6:53 am

No scam; definitely low risk for a first buy, but these days the returns seem pretty low.

All the details are at http://invest.dha.gov.au

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

March 11, 2005 - 3:23 am

Definitely less risky to use as much of your own money as possible!

I’d suggest you take a trip or 2 to Brisbane, perhaps on a long weekend or something. Get yourself a Bris street directory, work out where some of the suburbs are along the train lines etc., and drive around them and speak to some agents.

Dunno about buyer’s agents, except that you’re paying someone else a fee that you could keep if you did the legwork yourself.

It’s really worth seeing the suburbs for yourself though, before you start to focus on a specific area. You can quickly get a “feel” for a place – the vibe…

Cheers, Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

March 9, 2005 - 7:44 am

Hi Tass,

I agree with Nobleone – looks like an OK area, plenty of acreage around, but don’t have first-hand experience of crime rates etc.

I do however have first-hand experience of another acreage area – Karalee/Barellan Point. We love it there; 20km (as the crow flies) from the city, but feels like the country, very low crime etc., great primary school. We love our 2.5 acres! Check it out

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

March 3, 2005 - 3:27 am

Christy,

The best cheap data I know of is the API magazine. They regularly publish some basic stats; but if you need more detailed historical data you most likely need to pay for it.

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

March 2, 2005 - 5:57 am

I agree with crj; the CGT implications are the big reason to keep it. It’s not costing you anything in interest, and any capital gains will be untaxed. But only you can weigh that up against your strata dramas!

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

March 2, 2005 - 5:52 am

Hi Norma,

Selling the unit doesn’t really give you more equity, because you’ll pay Cap Gains Tax and agents’ fees. But what it does allow you to do is to access the cash and pay out some of the PPOR loan.

Doing that reduces your non-deductible debt (“bad debt”), then you can borrow against it for another IP (“good debt”).

But since the equity in the IP isn’t really substantial enough, better approach may be to borrow more against the IP to purchase something else (either now or when you think the market may be rising…). Eventually you should end up with SUBSTANTIAL equity which would make it worthwhile selling IP’s and paying off PPOR completely.

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 22, 2005 - 12:46 am

zen,

My place is on the beach side of the main road, but I guess still a reasonable way from the beach. I’ve only been to Waikiki once, so my memory of it all is a bit vague

First 2 years it didn’t really go up; last 2 years it has gone up a lot, but the rents haven’t followed yet.

It will be interesting to see how things go in the coming years, but I’d think it has to be at least OK. Neg cashflow could be a problem if you were buying now though.

Cheers, Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 21, 2005 - 2:18 am

I’m one of the ones who has a DHA property and am quite happy. If you have any specific questions I would gladly answer them.

Cheers,

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 21, 2005 - 2:09 am

Hi j,

I bought an IP in Waikiki a few years back for all the reasons you listed, so I’m hoping other people think “what a great place” too

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 15, 2005 - 5:46 am

mychelle,

Be very cautious of a product that can supposedly reduce your loan term. It has generally been shown that these kinds of products generally cannot do that, unless you make extra repayments. Banks were forced to take calculators off their websites recently because they deceptively showed this – but in fact relied on increased repayments.

Generally the lowest true interest rate will give you the shortest loan term; other features however may be worthwhile, such as lines of credit to make it easier to purchase other properties.

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 11, 2005 - 6:43 am

Brizza,

Depends a bit on what state you’re in. Usually in NSW you put down the deposit, then get inspections done (at some risk), then exchange contracts.

In QLD you pay the deposit with the contract, and the contract has a standard condition on inspections by a certain date.

Not too sure about other states – but the systems definitely vary.

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 11, 2005 - 6:36 am

To reply to 4. yes, in general brokers are good – although I guess you could get good ones and bad ones. I recently went through one from this forum (brahms, in Brisbane) and my brother went through aussie in Sydney – both were excellent.

I would always use a broker since they should have a wide range of lenders to draw on and you don’t pay any extra. I’ve had too many bad experiences with banks to deal directly.

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 11, 2005 - 12:38 am

Hi,

I’m reasonably local to there (Ipswich region), and a few friends have recently bought in Laidley, Minden, etc.

The prices have definitely been moving upward in the region; big new estates going up in all those places. Rental returns look around 6% from memory.

But to count on such a profit from building like that sounds a little risky to me.

Cheers,
Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 10, 2005 - 7:12 am

Unfortunately, your plan has no benefit; the tax deductability of the loan is not determined by the property it is secured against, but rather the property for which the funds were used to finance. So drawing against one to pay off another does not help you in this instance. You are just shifting the same loan between security properties.

Cheers,
Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 7, 2005 - 1:10 am

Hi Jemm,

Collingwood Park has new estates within an area that has been lower socio-econimic, but it’s definitely changing. For your budget, I reckon it’s a good idea.

As far as being a long way out; I personally disagree, but in Brisbane many people think that more than 10 or 15km out is a long way. But Collingwood Park is near both the train line and the highway. The coming years will see more and more development in there. I can’t tell you anything about the schools there though.

Given your budget, I think it would be a good decision. Hope this helps,

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 4, 2005 - 12:48 am

Why don’t you ride in on Friday to see a broker?

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 3, 2005 - 8:40 am

Hungry,

Nobody on here can tell you what to do – depends on your priorities.

250k opens you up to tons of options in QLD, but I reckon you need to at least decide between houses, units, etc.

Personally, I like to be a low-maintenance investor, so I like new houses on small blocks, returning 5 or 6% and good tax deductions. But my mates put in lots more work on older places and get better returns.

If you look at units, just factor in the body corporate when you do your calculations – $2k per annum is equal to $40/week less rent…

The market has slowed heaps, so don’t be in too much of a rush.

Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

February 2, 2005 - 5:44 am

emmjay,

Ipswich council have a great flood map on their site, which shows 1 in 20 and 1 in 100 year flood zones, in case you have concerns about that:

http://www.ipswich.qld.gov.au/planning_development/pdfs/OV05.pdf

Note that in Brisbane there are many “stump” houses, but they’re not getnerally on brick stumps – used be timber, now usually galv steel. Such a house would now be built with lightweight materials (e.g. hardiplank) with a “queenslander” look, and an iron roof as opposed to brick and tile on slab. The look of such an estate would eb very different.

Cheers,
Mick

[alfamickParticipant@alfamickJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 41]

January 31, 2005 - 5:47 am

Just don’t do what this guy did – he now owes CBA $165,000 over it!

http://moneymanager.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/10/1078594395323.html

Cheers,
Mick