Thoughts on the Government home saving accountIt restricts access to your savings for four years.and the funds are only released if you meet the first home owner elligibility.I do not like any savings scheme that restricts access to my money that's right my money same with non compulsory super contributions its my money I should be able to access…[Read more]

Hi, I myself am not doing this and also I do not like the idea of living off equity. You borrow money to live on and it is not tax deductible as it is not an expense incurred for the purpose of producing income. However if you had no other income but had say a 2 million dollar portfolio and borrowed say $40,000 a year to live on then this is 2%…[Read more]

Vendor finance is another way.

You know about claiming building write off depreciation to increase your cash flow while reducing your cost base and increasing future capital gains tax. Not sure on capital growth in the area you mentioned.

If they have over painted say a light fitting you could get an electrician to remove it and you could take it to the paint shop and get a colour match.

There is an article written about this in this Feb 09 Australian Property Investor magazine comparing the two options.

You could surf the internet for newpapers.seehttp://www.propertyfinda.com.au/buy/residential/results/?category_id=1&ChangeSearch=1&state=QLD&SearchButton=Search&TrackSearch=Search&&andhttp://www.newspapers.com.au/townsville.htmlandhttp://www.domain.com.au/Public/ChooseRegions.aspx?mode=buy&state=QLDI am sure the floods will recede soon and your…[Read more]

Elliequinn, You need to start off with a small investment price wise so that you can pay off the loan and build up equity and passive income. The more passive income the less reliance on employment. It is hard to start and you will need a good deposit with a second tier lender. So the LVR is 70% or 80% you have to check with the lender and allow…[Read more]

In Australia it must be different to the USA and is probably prohibited due to the privacy act.

Usually it is a good idea to prepare before going to an auction. By having previously approached a lender to find out what is the maximum amount is they can borrow from a lender. This way they know what is the maximum they can bid  and what the maximum the deposit will be. I know I am stating the absolute obvious but you do not want to risk…[Read more]

I have heard of some lenders that allow you to transfer the security on the loan from one property to another property.So this allows you to buy another property and sell your old property without breaking the loan. .

Press CTRL – ALT – DEL and select restart all will be solved !

I have been reading an interesting book calledWhat I Didn't Learn At School But Wish I Hadby Jamie McIntyre 

Narelle,Mortgage insurance is done by a third party to the banks and there are two major insurers .It is based on the LVR loan to value ratio as to how much LMI you will need to pay. Unless you go to a non-bank provider who may self insure but usually the interest rate is higher.When comparing interest rates you have to look at the real cost of…[Read more]

Get a re-valuation done on the house by the bank (costs approximately $400) .You owe parents 300k plus 200k of reno loan. So 500k/700 (expected value) equals 71% LVR.If you can afford a 500 k loan. May need to get a boarder in to help you pay off mortgage.Check with Parents . Do they need to have $300,000 up front from you?May be Parents would be…[Read more]

If I could travel back in time 7 years I would have never gone to University and done a degree in Commerce. This resulted in me not being able to Participate fully in the last property growth due to low income and not being able to purchase in growth areas.However having done economics at University I could detect the next downturn that was…[Read more]

What you need to consider is how much the property is costing you to hold it each year.Say your rent is  17940 a year and the interest costs are about $26,000 (guess) then you have to find about $11,000 a year assuming $3000 a year for extra expenses.4 years * $11,000 = $44,000Say another 4 years without growth = $44,000say 30% marginal tax rate…[Read more]

If I was you I would make enquiries with a mortgage broker  see for some examples of possible banks that lend commercial…[Read more]

I have a bank account that the rent goes into and then I just log into the internet banking and schedule the repayment to the amount required for the mortgage repayment. I can even do payments into other third party bank accounts.

Knowing the tenants makes it hard if they stop paying the rent and you have to evict them.Property managers also handle dealing with the tenants tribunal when eviction is required.