I’m due to have my first baby in November and am going to go private, as I prefer to have the continuity of care provided by seeing the one obstetrician throughout the pregnancy.

One thing you should be aware of – PI will cover you for most of your hospital costs, but as I have recently discovered, it rarely covers the fees for your…[Read more]

Some people will be winners in all this.

If you are trying to buy a first-time PPOR in Sydney, the abolishment of stamp duty may help a bit, but the reality is that with a median house price of over $475 000, most (all?) decent houses will be above the cut off limit anyway.

However, for young families/first time buyers who live in regional…[Read more]

Although I agree you do seem to have to get insurance immediately after signing the contract if you want to be fully covered, I just want to comment that I think this rule stinks. How is it fair that while waiting for settlement, the current owner can continue to collect rent from existing tenants and yet, if the tenants damage anything in…[Read more]

My partner has a 2 bed, 2 bath unit at Teneriffe that was valued at $320 000 last October. It’s 3 yrs old and a/c but has no views. If you have water views, and the place is a decent size and in good condition 300K sounds pretty good. We recently put the rent up from $260 to $270, but I think you have to be a bit careful with this…[Read more]

Alf – great – that’s exactly what I wanted to hear!

James – I think I agree with you – if the tax rule gives an example of 70/30 and doesn’t specify any limits, I don’t see how they can have a problem with 99/1. Shall quiz my accountant on this one more time though, just to make sure.

Ciao,
Anastasia

PS Elves -…[Read more]

If the tce is in Ok condition and has either a carpark or 3+ bedrooms, OR is a 2-bed in top notch condition I would say $800K is an OK price for the area, but you wouldn’t want to pay much more unless it is in an outstanding position. I think you are always going to pay more in Paddington in the short to median term (equivalent…[Read more]

Anastasia

If you go to realestate.com.au there is a section where you can order an online property report on a particular property. It costs $49.50 and the report arrives within seconds of ordering it. I have found this to very useful when you’re serious about a property – it lists the entire sale history of the property for the past few years,…[Read more]

Anastasia

I understand that they are busy people, but so are we as well, and if they don’t intend to take the time to read/answer email queries, they should at least take the email boxes off their property web sites. What do they expect people are going to do if they advertise statements like “email the agent” ?!!

Anastasia

My beef with auctions is that the property price range quoted by real estate agents never seems to be accurate. Obviously they can’t foretell the future and predict demand on the day of sale, but my experiences over the last few months have indicated that generally, they predict extremely conservative ranges, which can make you think you’re…[Read more]

Have just come home from an auction – I think I want to take back my earlier comments – at least temporarily… An unrenovated but livable-as-is-for-a-while terrace I liked that should have gone for around 530-550K in today’s market but didn’t. (reasoning for predicted price: needed about 100-120K work, similar house next door sold for…[Read more]

Thanks for your replies – very reassuring. Silly me – I should have thought of looking on this site first for a broker before I made an appointment to see one. (I got a promotional letter in the mail just at the time I was considering how to proceed with my loan – see Bill – sometimes advertising does work on me!!). However, if that…[Read more]

I think it helps to keep in mind the type of prospective tenants you are likely to get in the area your property is in. Eg retirees/elderly, young families, professionals, students, “trendies” or others – these groups will often have different wants/needs. This can give you an idea re what renovations to undertake.

In general…[Read more]

Scientist. About to start a part-time postgrad degree as well – not sure how much time that leaves for property investment, but shall attempt it anyway.

Ciao,
Anastasia

When relying on students as tenants, my first thought would be how do you get the rent paid during Nov – Feb when they all take off for some home cooking or head to the beach???

However on this same issue, my tax acc. recently told me about one of his other clients – this guy bought heavily around Wollongong Uni (NSW) a…[Read more]

Sometimes it’s simply about lifestyle. My partner and I currently rent inner city Sydney with harbour views from every window – we calculate our rent to be about 35-40% of a mortgage in a similar location. This allows us to live the way we want to (most of the time) and still have money left over for other investments (when possible,…[Read more]

Just to clarify something – your last response seemed to indicate you want to use the FHOG as part of your deposit for an IP??? You can’t do this UNLESS you are planning to live in it within 12 months of buying the property (can rent it out until then if you want). Also, as Elysium has already said, you may be able to claim it…[Read more]

I haven’t put this to the test and therefore could be wrong, but my understanding of the FHOG is that if you purchase a residential property as an investment from July 2000 onwards and don’t live in it, you are still eligible for the grant when you buy your PPOR (assuming you didn’t buy any other property before July 2000). Check out…[Read more]