[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

February 4, 2008 - 11:02 pm

Had a quick look at Gabriel's website at gnfinance, and have to admit that it did not inspire any confidence whatsoever into trying to find out more about his claims .

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

February 2, 2008 - 5:57 am

Thanks for the advice Terry, it will be one of the things we will ask the Accountant to help us set up for the future.

Gabriel, the search for a suitable accountant is well underway, but very interested in how do we go about "purchasing a fully financed government project in reneawable resources"

Astrawan

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

February 1, 2008 - 2:04 am

Thank you for your responses.

Linar, I know I know – I did not agree with selling the property but had to go along for other reasons. However, I asked that before he put it on the market, to find out exactly what the tax liabilities are and how to minismise it before the sale. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and it came as much of a shock to him as it was to his accountants (who were too busy to answer his enquiring emails in the months leading up to the sale).

Terry, I hear you and that is where I am at… trying to see the best way to salvage the situation after the horse has bolted! We do not have another investment property and are in the process of vetting accountants who can help us work out the best solution.

I was having a chat to a friend the other day and even though it is too late for this matter right now, a way forward in the future could be setting up a trust where the tax rate is set at only 30%, and somehow factoring in superannuation payments for the beneficiaries that will further minimise the tax… ??

Now I am all for setting up the right vehicle as after this wallop, I sure am keen to learn to do things properly next time.

Astrawan

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

January 31, 2008 - 3:20 am

Hi Marc

Thanks for your reply and yes the property has been owned for fourteen years and was sold for just over three times the purchase price.

The Accountants when they did the tax return for the history of ownership resulted in over payment of taxes every single year because they were incompetent and did not bother to find out the rightful facts that applied in this case. We did not know any better until someone else came along and alerted us to the problem.

I have been reading up on recommended financial planners and accountants and have sent off an email to Specialised Business Solutions to see if anything can be salvaged from the situation. Plus we need a competent Financial Planner and Accountant to go forward with.

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

January 30, 2008 - 12:49 pm

Sorry but the lawyer sounds like a dill and is hanging out for a fat fee packet! The Financier was identified, and a letter has been forwarded from the Financier declining finance, the contract was subject to finance approval and in this case, it was not- what more does the Vendor want?

The time factor would be a more serious issue in my opinion as your friend was tardy with the time – a contract is a contract and one cannot be 45 minutes late or 4-5 days late. Late is still late!

Sounds like a real sorry fiasco all round. ( I find it interesting when lawyers start scaring the living daylights out of you by outlining their fees and then adding on the bit about, 'oh it is also possible that you would be up for the other party's fees as well..' and you start to feel like you're sinking in quicksand!

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

December 18, 2007 - 8:34 am

This topic is sooo interesting! We are proud of owners of three, yes three (3) cars! and they are all great, really cheap to run and all older than 20 years old. We inherited MIL's toyota starlet, I think it is a 1984, and FIL's one tone suzuki truck (1976?), and my husband's pride and joy that he bought nearly 20 years ago and fully restored over 10 years ago, in perfect condition Datsun 240Z 1973. The starlet and the truck fulfil our daily requirements of getting from A to B, but the Datsun is now apparently quite valuable and can command a real decent price if he wanted to sell it.

We have talked about buying a new car but we just don't seem motivated enough as they all still work very well and are real cheap to run.

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

November 19, 2007 - 12:16 pm

Thank you diclem for your input – and I suppose now we'll just have to go through with it. We nominated someone to have power of attorney who has signed it on our behalf so expect that it is all signed, sealed and will be delivered at settlement. 

Suppose there is no possibility of the purchaser defaulting on something and allowing the contract to fall through though would there? mm but then why would he as he can turn around put it back on the market the following day and make another 100 k on top  .

An extremely painful lesson which I will definitely not forget in a hurry – never trust the Real Estate agent!

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

November 19, 2007 - 3:55 am

We were the seller and gave the ok for a sale at less than reserve price over the phone whilst the auction was happening. Settlement is two months away.. is there any way to get out of it now?

Pretty silly, but after making enquiries we are dead sure that the property was under-sold – btw, there was only the one bidder and  we weren't there as we're overseas.

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

November 19, 2007 - 3:28 am

This question comes from from the other shoe so to speak – if you put an IP up for auction and it got sold on Auction day but then you have second thoughts… what if any are cooling off periods, do they apply to auction and how long to they last for in VIC?

Thanks for your help

Astra

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

November 18, 2007 - 11:34 am

Great advice there Paul – certainly help to expand my blinkered vision of investments.. btw, any advice on commercial property thrown into the mix here anyone?
<br /:-)” title=”>:-)” class=”bbcode_smiley” />
Astra

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

September 5, 2007 - 8:41 am

Well done – great reno work and hope the market comes to the party and gives you a better than expected return scenario. Now if I can only convince my other half at how easy this reno stuff is .

Can't wait for the big sale

Astra

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

September 1, 2007 - 4:04 pm

Canvas the real estate agents in your area of interest – if you like you can give them a good description of what you're looking for how much money you're planning to spend and any other pertinent information you think might help. We were just asking the Real Estate in the area of our IP for a rough valuation and within a week one of them had got back to us with a 30 day settlement offer with a price. They had people on their database who were sitting on the sidelines waiting to get a jump on any property that fits their criterias hopefully before it gets out into the market proper.

Astra

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

August 31, 2007 - 9:55 am

Thanks for your answer LA, and you're very right it would be to nice to hold and hold and hold

The subject of Richmond has come up again, and mostly due to the crazy prices houses are going for over there at the moment. We got a builder friend to have a look at the property and his advice was basically it is a pull down job. The land is 330sqms roughly and the location very central.

Now our option is to just put on the market and let it go to the highest bidder without doing anything or pull down and rebuild. I am sentimental and would like to still have something in the Richmond market, but I think if we sell it and once it's gone there is no way we can afford to buy in again.

Your thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Astra

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

April 10, 2007 - 2:45 am

Entered my email addy to subscribe but still no joy – waited for the last half hour for the confirmation email to arrive and still 'nope'.. is there a bar or hold on the site at the moment?

cheers
astra

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

March 23, 2007 - 10:37 pm

Is it just me? I have just tried to access the website link provided by happy client for ozinvest and came up with a totally blank page..

Reloaded my browser several times so I am sure it’s not me.. well I can post this right? the domain and address is there but absolutely nada on the page..

astra

“per ardua ad astra”

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

March 21, 2007 - 11:32 am

Hi guys

thanks for your posts, just arrived in Brisbane and checking mail from a cafe. I will post more tomorrow, but been here a couple of hours and already having my antennae out and heard some good bargains in Wynnum.. go figure.. talk about exciting stuff.[thumbsup2]

more tomorrow
Astra

“per ardua ad astra”

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

March 20, 2007 - 3:45 am

Thanks Kelly, lack of tradesmen and maintenance people has already been flagged as one of the possible ‘challenges’ of investing in the area. And this trip is to try and combat that as much as possible by physically looking over properties to gage the amount of repairs/maintenance that it may need.

We were thinking of buying ‘sight unseen’ but, as the price has climbed a fair bit in certain towns over the last two and half years, we believe that bargains can be had but just need close and diligent investigative work.

We don’t live in Australia as such and travel a lot so some of the people I will also be talking to will be RE agents (of course) and especially property managers who would be able to look after any IP that we end up buying – find out from their own views the pros/cons etc of managing IP properties in their respective areas.

If we do buy in Collinsville I will be sure to pm you and find out your dad’s details so the Property Manager can have him on file to call for repairs [smiling] [hoping NOT!]

Astra

“per ardua ad astra”

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

March 19, 2007 - 4:07 am

Hey Zima, how is the deliberation going? Did you sell your property in Moranbah? or have you rented it out since? Kindly let me know as I am driving up there next week to have a good close look at the area with purchasing an IP in mind.

Cheers
Astra

“per ardua ad astra”

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

March 19, 2007 - 3:01 am

If you are at all interested in investing in the mining towns in the Bowen Basin, I am driving up from Brisbane on Saturday 24th to actually check out the towns and the area looking to buy an IP for ourselves. If you are interested or have any questions about the area you can pm me.

Cheers
Astra

“per ardua ad astra”

[AstrawanParticipant@astrawanJoin Date: 2007Post Count: 27]

March 17, 2007 - 5:44 am

I have taken some interest in the Bowen Basin because we have done our research on the area and are reasonably confident that investing on the right properties will result in a very positive outcome, The median prices are increasing as confirmed by the recent historical sales. The population growth is set to increase with the increased production quotas and expectations in mining activity as well as the new mining developments that are in the pipeline. The average rent yield is already quite high in a lot of areas and set to increase in others with high possiblity of capital gain in the short to medium term.

Well after watching the resources boom of WA fly on by, and not having had the time nor the courage to dabble or put our toe in, I have finally been given the ‘nod’ [grad] by ‘himself’ to put our money where our mouth is.

I have ten days spare from the end of next week so I will be driving up to the area to look around and talk to real estate agents. We are in a position to invest in one or maybe two properties depending on the price, but we think that it is a good safe bet to look at building a sizable portfolio in the area.

From just trawling through realestate.com.au, it is clear that there is a lot of activity in the area with plenty of CF++ properties. I imagine that there will also be a fair amount available that one can see from just driving through the towns themselves and talking to people.

The following article is from the Couriermail from last October – given the news story is six months old, the problems with housing is still ongoing and will still take a lot longer to be dealt with. In the meantime, we believe that despite most people thinking that they have peaked, there are still plenty of opportunities so I am going up to do DD and ‘eyeball’ the actual properties and who knows, maybe strike some that haven’t even made it on to realestate.com

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,,20654535-5003416,00.html

Astra

“per ardua ad astra”