Sam,

I’m hoping for some advice on whether to use the $23,000 I have saved to buy a place to live in or buy an investment property

I wouldn’t like to see your question get lost in here, as I reckon it means a lot to you. Can I suggest you retype this as a “New topic” so that the good people here can address your question on its merits?

Re…[Read more]

As “Debtdogg” said That being said, if you do not have another income against which you can claim deductions then surely if income (rent) less expenses (rates, interest etc) gives you a negative figure you have negative gearing.

Probably the most important thing to understand is this:-

If you are positive geared, then a positive cashflow is a…[Read more]

She is wondering should she rent out her unit for $220/w and move in with her family thereby paying $210/w in rent herself. But by doing this she will receive an extra $70/w from Centrelink

This sounds like she’s immediately $10 per week up – then Centrelink kicks back another $70 per week. And then, because she’s renting an investment…[Read more]

To me, it doesn’t matter what you call it (but it can lead to confusion, especially in forums) and it seems different people call it different things. The important thing is to understand what your situation means to you, rather than what it’s called.

FWIW, my take on things is that “negative geared” is when the investment returns a loss BEFORE…[Read more]

GavinH,

Try these – they work on post codes, rather than suburbs – but could be worthwhile for you.

I like Aussievaluer as it includes a bit more than most, but they do limit the number of inquiries you can make per month.

http://www.homepriceguide.com.au
http://www.commbank.com.au/propertyvalueguide/
http://www.eaussie.com.au/aussie_valuer.htm

Happy hunting

Benny

Hi,

I’d like to add my support to WAPrincess’s comment about Bruce Davis

Have you read “How to Build Riches” by Bruce Davis?
Don’t be put off by the cheesy title it really is a good book

I would second that in an instant. For those who might be wanting a well-rounded view of everything in investment, Bruce Davis (Sydney) is a hard act to…[Read more]

Hi Grant,

I was 52 when I realised I hadn’t been doing the best I could (this was 1999) – so, congratulations for starting off so young. Even at MY age though, I spent 9 months just reading, talking to people, going to seminars, etc. to start to understand just HOW to start out with property investing. I’d suggest you do something similar -…[Read more]

For those using AussieValuer for the first time, let me add that the “current data” (AFAIK) probably relates to 30 Sep 04. The next update won’t be until mid Feb 05 (which should then be Dec 04) – but I’M GUESSING here.

And, if you haven’t found out yet, they only allow 5 requests per month to the site “to protect their data”. It helps to…[Read more]

Hi persistence,

You could try the link I provided in THIS thread:-
https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forum/topic/14183.html

The AussieValuer does give yields – and they seem to change every 3 months – but please don’t ask me any more about it. The data appears to be useful, but Aussie don’t even date it, or indicate HOW they arrived at the…[Read more]

Hi Micasa,

Sorry – a bad choice of words with “imbibing” -all I meant was “are you using Depreciations” – as I know Steve is not one to utilise them necessarily. I don’t know how many other +ve gearers might follow his lead and NOT claim them.

To me, by using the Tax advantage of claiming Dep’s it allows us to have extra money now – even…[Read more]

Hi all,

Since I’ve had a few requests to provide a link (it’s NOT intuitively easy to find – but Google came thru) – here it is.

http://www.eaussie.com.au/aussie_valuer.htm

Would those that emailed please accept this as my response to them (saves a lot of typing [biggrin]

Benny

Hi Michael,

“The main benefit, however, is that your serviceability improves and you can then borrow even more funds.”

This sounds like Steve’s “Multiplication by Division” strategy. Must say, I tend to like this idea – on the surface at least. And if being able to buy more (better value) properties by selling one, it has to have merit. But…[Read more]

Hi myoung,

You’re not my long-lost flatmate, are you? His name was Maurice – is that you? [biggrin]

Anyway since that is unlikely, I just wanted to add these – homepriceguide.com.au (no rents, but medians and averages on a month to month basis.

Then, there’s the “Aussie” website which has an Aussie Valuer section. This give 5 years worth of…[Read more]

Hi Micasa,

A few back of the envelope calcs, and I think I’m seeing that IP 1 and 2 are not too -ve. So, if you were to change these to IO, you’d save around $150 per week, and push them a lot closer to neutral or +ve geared.

With Int rates as low as they are, the Principle repayment becomes a larger portion of the monthly repayment. Only…[Read more]

Hi Pepper,

If your finance is in place, and you can offer a clean contract (not too many conditions – or none), you can be quite successful with an outrageous price. At times like this, the vendors want to know “it’s sold” and will be more amenable to accept $310k (no conds. 14 day settle) rather than $330k, subject to everything, and 60 day…[Read more]

Hi Bennido,

Not many numbers posted, but I thought it’s worth looking at what can be done. For example:-

Bennido says “I did some quick calcs and I would need to pump about $100K into the investment loan before the apmt becomes +ve geared !”

From that, I assume you are negative around $7k per year (or $140 per week – close enough?) I figure,…[Read more]

One I loved was the “Intrepretations of Murphy’s Law” – it broke down that famous law into MANY “sub-laws”.

The only one I remembered from it was:-
“Any measurement is likely to be presented in the least usable measure – e.g. furlongs per fortnight”

Benny

Watch this space! SE QLD has a lot going for it – a rush hour that lasts 30 mins, lower taxes, room to grow, warmer weather, cheaper homes, etc.

And it plays second fiddle to Sydney and Melbourne in the property stakes, but hey – if you want to make money QUICKLY, keep SE QLD in mind in the next boom.

SEQ seems to languish while Syd and Mel…[Read more]

Hi Luckyone,

“I would like to make sure that before I put these extra costs into our existing mortgage, that they will all be tax deductable.”

Something that always confused me were the words “deductability of interest depends on the original purpose of the loan” (or words to that effect). It had me thinking that if you ever rented out your…[Read more]

Richard did say this – “The profit would enable us to almost eliminate any debt left on out PPOR (which is now rented out)”

That last phrase tells me that his PPOR debt IS deductible! So is it really useful to pay down that debt? No more than paying down any other IP?
Who can tell me? It’s an interesting question

Re the unit, I would…[Read more]