For those interested in the US, I thought you might like to know that Nigel Kibel, a regualar contributor to this forum, has been contracted by a large real estate business in Texas to assist them in setting up both a property management and investment division. For those who haven’t had much to do with the US, most realestate businesses over…[Read more]

A bank guarantee basically requires you to place money in a term deposit, you then fill out forms which basically prevents you from withdrawing the money without their consent. You don’t have to give it to the landlord. As the amount is relatively small, why not speak to your bank about lending the money unsecured, as the interest charge won’t be…[Read more]

Hi DLPP,

The guy wasn’t a property investor, he owns a trading firm, although he did own a few supermarkets through which he sold his products. Baby food was his biggest seller, appprently they don’t have it over there.

There is definately a book coming out about the couple who were kidnapped. Some people may remember the incident, it made front…[Read more]

Hi Bronwyn,

I have a lot of relatives up your way, so I know the area well. It would be a great place to live. The Pacific Hwy was upgraded not that long ago, what more are they doing to it?

I don’t think you have done the wrong thing by paying all you money into the loan on your farm by the way. But back to your question. This is a very…[Read more]

Hi Zoe,

With regard to the body corporate fees, i have a friend who runs the industry association for body corporates in Victoria. Send me an email and I’ll email you back his email address, he should be able to help you.

A cheap source of campartitive sales is http://www.homepriceguide.com.au

Regards
Alistair

Hi Lee,

I’m glad you found a broker you are happy with. Please don’t take my post as accusatory, you are under no obligation to use anyone here. Having said this, the brokers on here put themsleves on the line every time they give advice, so it is pretty clear if you read a few posts whether they know what they are talking about or not. This is a…[Read more]

Great post Damian. This is a cause that everyone should consider supporting. We (Australia as a nation) have shown how generous we are with the support we have given our neighbours when they have been in trouble, we should, at very least, show the same support for our fellow Australians.

Regards
Alistair

To both Nik’s and Leebee,

Quite frankly you are doing yourselves a great diservice if you don’t use one of the great brokers who post on this site.

With regard to mortgagechoice, xinc and any other of those groups, there is a reason why they need the backing of a franchise system to drive business for them. Indepependent brokers make…[Read more]

Hi Matt,

It is importantr when you get started that you keep in mind that therte are two things you need to be able to keep moving forward, in terms of investing, those being equity and income. You already have a reasonable income, but little equity, so you first step should be to remedy this. You are unlikely to make great gains in equity by…[Read more]

Hi Anita,

It sounds like you have been approached to provide Mezzanine finance. The return on this sort of investment should be 20%+ because it is high risk, as many investors in Westpoint have found out. Be careful.

Regards
Alistair Perry

You can get up to 95% on student accomodation in some circumstances eg the building must be less than 10 stories.

Regards
Alistair Perry

Sam,

I’m sorry if you have had bad experiences with consultants before, but the quote below is far from accurate, in the vast majority of cases. Any consultant who is not focused on getting the result their client wants will not be in business for long.

Town Planners, architects (or designers) and engineers are costly and they are more focused…[Read more]

You can buy software like PIA and POSH that will take tax effects into account and give you an after tax cashflow, as well as other info. You’d be better off spending money on something like this.

I’m more than happy to email you a sample report from one of these if you’re interested.;

Regards
Alistair Perry

Landbanking, on a large scale, can be incredibly profitable if you know what you are doing, eg buying rural land that you have a pretty good idea can be rezoned into a residential zone down the track. In my town planning business I have seen many people make very large amounts of money out of this tactic, but I have also seen people push…[Read more]

Bruce,

I have to disagree with you. Speaking to the a council town planner before you have a design is an utter waist of time, it all sounds very sensible but in reality you will either get nothing from them or what they tell you will mean nothing anyway.

The first point of call should be an architect or draftsperson. Once you have a concept…[Read more]

Hi,

To subdivide your generally need a planning permit first. You first point of call should be to find an architect/draftsperson who is experienced in this area. This is not an area where you should skimp, a good designer may be relatively expensive, but not compared to the value they can add.

Regards
Alistair Perry

Hi lsaver,

Look up basic community profiles in the census section of the ABS site, these will have the info you are after. If you are having trouble locating them pm or email me the suburbs you want info on, I have quite a lot of demographic info on my computer at work and may have something useful I can send you.

Regards
Alistair Perry

Hi Doog,

To sell the land seperately you still need to get a town planning permit. What you can do with the block will be strongly dependent on the skill of your designer, I would suggest you find yourself an architect or draftsperson who is experienced in mediaum density housing and get them to give you some advice. It is a waste of time to…[Read more]

I would think that Frankston will be the biggest winner from the new freeway. It has already started to grow and has the beach as a major attraction.

Regards
Alistair Perry

Hi Nadia,

I don’t do it myself full time, but I also have plenty of experience in this area, as I own a town planning consultancy and work full time for people who do this. Unless you are doing a fairly large number of lots or havfe a lot of resources already, it would be difficult to do full time, because of the lead time on projects. The people…[Read more]