[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

February 18, 2008 - 1:26 am

I put the click together stuff down all through the kitchen in an apartment. I had been told it would swell up if I got it wet, so I left an offcut in a sink full of water for 24 hours with no apparent effect. I had the accoustic foam down but still had complaints from below, so I have since had to put some rugs down as well.

The body corporate doesn't like it, but plenty of owners in the block have put down the same floors. I did mine 4 years ago and it still looks fantastic.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

November 22, 2007 - 2:14 am

This is interesting. I hope we get some more posts on this.

My view would be that if you were already an investor, making taxable income from buying and selling property, then a business trip purely to look at potential property, backed up with evidence in the form of appointments with agents etc would be deductable.

If however you were just thinking of maybe buying your first property, and all you came back with was a panda tan from the ski trip, then I would say no.

I would love to hear if others shared my view.

Happy Holidays….

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

November 12, 2007 - 2:41 am

I would hang on if at all possible. The underlying economy in Perth is still strong and Vic Park is a great spot. I sold a unit in West Perth a year ago as it had gone from making me $50 a month to casting me $50 a month. I could have sold it now for $60,000 more but gave it up for $600.

Such is life and these experiences all go towards making achieving ones goals that much more rewarding.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

October 26, 2007 - 1:47 am

Try Caz Van Der Put at Centrepoint Realty in East Perth. She looks after some properties for me and has been excellent.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

September 14, 2007 - 1:02 am

Oh and try renting a car without a credit card…..

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

September 14, 2007 - 1:00 am

It's true that the poor work for their money, and the rich have their money work for them. Credit cards are great if used wisely. Mine has a 17% interest, but a great frequent flyer program.

Wait until the day a bill is due then pay on a credit card. Wait until the day the credit card is due then pay it off in full. The difference is amazing, but it takes the right mindset. Me and the wife went to the UK business class on the points.

If you cannot pay off a credit card in full every month, then you really shouln't have one. There are cheaper ways to borrow money.

Credit cards are useful in emergencies, and if everybody oaid them off in full each month Visa and Mastercard would be out of business, so as long as there are plenty of people out there abusing there plastic, the rest of us can take advantage of it.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

September 7, 2007 - 1:11 am

It depends how involved in property investing you want to be. I had one for a few years as I was away a lot. As the capital growth depends on any increase in rental, I sold it when I had more time and I wanted property that I could affect the income yeild and capital growth of, by improvements, etc

I sold it and made a profit, but mainly because the market was accepting a lower yield.

These are not for everybody. Do lots of research.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 29, 2007 - 8:41 am

With 65% of pollies owning negatively geared investment property, I can't see them all voting to remove the tax breaks. The last time they tried it was a disaster and took years to recover.

The above post is correct – remove the tax breaks, the investors get out of the market, resulting in far more people looking to the government to house them. They would be nuts to go down that road again, but who knows, the Kev and Julia show may be about to hit town…..

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 29, 2007 - 8:26 am

Three years ago I got Granite Transformations to do the bench tops in a unit of mine. The cost was double that of new laminate and half that of proper granite. It still looks like new and was well worth it. It has been a rental for the last two years and being able to put hot pans on it and cut on it makes it a sensible option. For not much extra they did the kickboards in the same stuff which was a nice touch.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 19, 2007 - 1:09 am

Mainly for asset protection. It depends how much you are worth and whether you are in an occupation where you have a high risk of being sued for your personal assets. It's a huge subject, but if you buy the Australian Property Investor magazine, there is a section at the back where all sorts of books on the subject are available.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 15, 2007 - 8:51 am

It all depends on how you spend your dollars. You can spend $5k or $25K on a kitchen or bathroom and not see much difference between the two results. If you buy tiles and taps from the auctions, get the cookware from a seconds shop, (still with warranty, maybe just a damaged box) and do a lot of the work yourself, you will be surprised how much you can save.

From memory the Reno Kings like to spend $1 to get $4 back as a rule. Never under estimate the power of paint, often tiles can be painted instead of being replaced and think how much that saves.

There's lots of books out there on this subject. Have fun.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 10, 2007 - 1:40 am

I went to an interesting talk by Brad Sugars , whose strategy was to buy a few low growth, positive cash flow properties and then use the income on these to fund the loss on a negativly geared, high growth property. Set the whole thing up through a trust structure to be self supporting, then go and start again.

Personally, I have a mixture of both positive and negative cashflow properties, and it has worked for me, but each to their own.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 8, 2007 - 1:44 am

I didn't mean it is good if you are in the same situation, I meant to say I feel better that I am not the only one.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 8, 2007 - 1:42 am

Up until I married three years ago I was buying two properties a year. Since then I have bought none. I have a shelf full of books on property investing and wealth management and I tried to get my wife to tead "Rich Dad Poor Dad" but she wasn't interested.

To her our best investment has been the $35000 4WD that she just had to have. At the moment it will take 30 years to pay off for a total of $80000.

I am now under pressure to sell my investment properties as her car is now 4 years old and she can't see why we should not live for the moment.

It's good to hear that there are others who are in the same situation.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 8, 2007 - 1:25 am

Just go and read a couple of books which go down  the negative gearing route rather than positive gearing route to even things up and then make up your mind. Jan Somers is good has written some good ones.  Whilst you are getting such good growth and if you have a high tax bill I have to agree that you don't have much to be too unhappy about.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

August 1, 2007 - 1:18 am

Personally I read every book on property investing I can get my hands on, whenever it was written. Another I would recommend is "Building Wealth Storey by Storey" by Jan Somers. She collected a range of stories from all sorts of people and also a couple of horror stories. It's good to see just how many different ways there are to go about creating wealth through property.

If you just read one author it can give you a false impression, and what may work for some may not work for others. The Reno Kings are into value adding through renovation, which may turn a cash negative property into a cash positive one.

Just remember if it was that easy everybody would be doing it, but with the right motivation, a bit of passion, knowledge and research, a lot of money can be made from property.

Oh dear, I'd better stop now before I get the urge to start running seminars.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

July 30, 2007 - 3:04 am

This has been a great topic. How about a post from Steve McKnight?

Me

PPOR Bought $465 Value $900
IP Bought $110 Value $400
IP Bought $103 Value $280
IP Bought $310 Value $600

Pretty much cash positive now..

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

July 30, 2007 - 2:41 am

I went back and read Steve's books again and they are very much of their time, and the market Steve was talking about in "0-130 properties in 3.5 years" is very different to the market today. Also the market in a small mining town would be completely different to say Perth, where a cash positive property would be very hard to find off the shelf, and more creative techniques would be needed.

I wish I had been in the market when those sort of properties were available, but those who can adapt and think a little differently will constantly beat the market.

Good Luck to you.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

July 30, 2007 - 2:32 am

Like anything in life, everything is up for negotiation. You would have to try and find out how motivated the vendor was. It might be that you are buying the first 10 in a big development and the developer needs the sales in order to get the finance. On the other hand the developer may be getting so many cash offers for his properties he would not be interested in offering any discount. Why would he if he didn't need to?

Talk to as many people as possible and take the time to really listen to their answers. It's amazing how much agents reveal when you just say nothing.

My own experience was a samall development of 9 units going for $330K each. On the first day of selling I offered $600K for two and the agent and the developer nearly bit my arm off, as it would be a good selling ploy and less work to sell. As it was I didn't go through with it, but it taught me a lot and I probably should have started lower.

[attrillParticipant@attrillJoin Date: 2004Post Count: 54]

July 10, 2007 - 2:47 am

The reality is that if you want to buy a property in WA you will be borrowing over $500k. There are a lot who say the resourse boom is over, but if you work in the north west you will already know from the ammount of projects planned up there that there are years left in it.

Karratha is still a good place to have property. Just try to get a hotel room there. The largest temporary acconmodation village was recently bought by Woodside for $25million, just to ensure worker's accomodation for the expansion to the LNG plant.

Perth property is taking a breather, as to get the median price past Sydney is a huge psycological hurdle, but there is still a lot of confidence in the market.