[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

May 3, 2012 - 5:31 am

BankWest have dropped their standard variable to 6.98%

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

March 28, 2012 - 12:48 am

You're on the right track – keep asking questions and read, read, read everything you can! There's several investment property magazines out every month which have dozens of investor profiles, strategies, Q&As etc which can be a good starting point as well as all the post on this forum and others.

Good luck!

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

March 14, 2012 - 9:23 am

Found the weblink from SA
http://www.sa.gov.au/upload/franchise/Housing,%20property%20and%20land/OCBA/lease_agreement_terms_inconsistent_with_the_Residential_Tenancies_Act_1995.pdf

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

March 14, 2012 - 9:21 am

Be careful when requiring you tenants to have anything steam cleaned professionally or otherwise as part of the lease agreement – you could land yourself in some hot water (no pun intended) with the state tenancy authority.

I'm not sure about every state but I know in SA the tenancies branch has advised that this is not an enforceable clause in a lease with regards to general cleaning – check with your state authority to be certain.

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

February 7, 2012 - 11:16 pm

I'm actually looking into a similar idea – buying a vacant block of land in a beach suburb with a view to have a transportable home on the land in a 1 to 2 year time-frame.

I'm guessing from an investment /financial perspective it's not really a smart decision but from a lifestyle point of view I don't think you can go wrong!

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

January 15, 2012 - 3:28 am

I’m with Michael above, why wouldn’t your friend just expand their portfolio, use the surplus cash-flow from the first property to help with the repayments on the negatively geared property? Negative gearing has it’s place in an investment strategy, but it’s pointless to buy a property solely for tax deduction purposes.

Ideally you want your negatively geared property to become positive over time, or to realise good capital gains and sell for profit down the track.

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

December 30, 2011 - 5:02 am

Hey Dark Star

I think you've got the right idea to clear your personal debt ASAP, there's not much point saving money when you're also paying off personal loans.

I think most of the experienced investors in the forum would say to pay down the personal (non-deductible!) loans first, then focus on continuing to build up your savings for a deposit. While doing this hit the real estate section in the paper, look at a wide variety of properties hard, scour the internet, talk to local agents/property managers and read all the magazine articles you can about how to get started. Speak to a few investment-oriented mortgage brokers, there's a few regular posters here!

I don't know much about the Melbourne market but I'm guessng there's quite a few guys on here that do so hopefully they can chip in their two cents as well

Good luck

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

December 16, 2011 - 6:14 am

I've used Solver paints with no issues and have always heard good things about them.

But if you can get something at trade price that a painter recommends then you can't really go past that.

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

December 16, 2011 - 2:47 am

Every poster seems to be a new forum user…

It seems like everyone with 1 post either has a vendetta  against or a sales pitch for this company…

I would personally be wary of any company trying to sell investment properties to you – as mentioned above you can suaulyl find a better property for cheaper doing your own research and leg work. Buying from a company doesn't really teach you much about investing in property.

Do the hard yards, read up all the posts here, read all the property magazines and books you can get your hands on and look at every website. You'll find a strategy that appeals to you and know the type of property you're after

Cheers

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

November 23, 2011 - 7:03 am

I appreciate all the insight guys, I've got a better picture of how to approach the situation in the future now.

Thanks very much!

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

November 23, 2011 - 12:41 am

Thanks for the responses guys – I'm thinking its definitely something to put to the accountant but I'm thinking it might not work as a strategy somehow.

The only other thing I could think of would be – if you were to redraw funds to rennovate/refurbish the property and then used as an IP down the track would the redrawn portion be tax deductible?

Cheers

[david4000Member@david4000Join Date: 2011Post Count: 21]

October 20, 2011 - 6:44 am

Am I a bit cynical or does this post and the reply look like a bit of a set-up?

standard and poor wrote:

Hi all, My wife and I recently attended a Park Trent seminar in Melbourne. It sounded good initially and like many other (mostly newbie) investors or people who are yet to invest we signed up for a home consultation. A nice gentleman came over to our house and by the end of the night we had signed up for 2 properties because they may be gone if we didn't act fast. Yay. Ummm, no not really, although we did pay $110 (yes it has gone up..I blame the price of fish as sushi will be provided for lunch) for a tour of Melbourne's hottest(my words not theirs) investment opportunities. So far the general knowledge of the both of us has increased thanks to Park Trent. For instance – I never knew of NRAS or that bank loans decrease as your Credit Card limits go up – even if you havent used any of the credit. So far so good. We already have investment properties which we accumulated slowly over time. We have researched quite alot yet are still in the early stages of deciding our next two investments. This was when we heard of PT. To be clear – we will not be making a decision on any property without going home and doing our own research. PT mentioned one apartment in Melb that looked too good to be true. Usually it always is So I looked into one that was of interest. http://littlecollinshotel.com/ which is also http://buchan.com.au/projects/sheraton-hotel-melbourne/. I called the agents on both websites and neither had heard of PT being involved in these developments. Why? I also found the going rate which was the same as what PT offered. This may be a fluke although its a good start. I also went to my bank and was suprised when I met with a positive response to PT's victorian business. So some things that I have found out about PT that others have stated the opposite on::: -PT has asked and analysed our financial situation to see if we are good candidates for any of their offerings -PT Answered my direct questions about how they make money via the scenario's they were proposing. The answer was that they work with the developers(in the case of apartments off the plan) and take a 2.5% cut from the pie(they said from the developers pie in return for offloading quickly). -PT offered a analysis of their offerings – they said some were good with fast capital growth but no long term rental projections as the area gets flooded with apartments. -PT recommended we research ourselves. We did and still are. -PT sent a followup email stating they need the standard financial details to assess if we can invest or not without being strained -PT said they can offer us all broker services, accountants, conveyencers, real estate agents as part of their service package but that we are free to use whomever we wish on some(but not all – for instance the real estate agents) I am looking forward to meeting them soon and will remain sceptical yet open. Cheers, Standard and Poor