THE RULES
Do not spend money you do not have.
Buy steves latest book it has a chapter on this sort of problem and the type of repayment plan you need to take to pay down this debt.
Borrow money only for stuff that goes up in value over time
This is called good debt
Do not borrow money for stuff that goes down in value over time
When you pay off…[Read more]

if you are on austudy a negative geared loss will be deemed as income and affect your austudy. If it is positive income it will be deemed income and affect austudy. If you realise a capital gain it will affect Austudy as income.
Centrelink will make it harder to invest in property.

Comments are of a general nature and may not be relevant to your…[Read more]

my father has replaced fibro cement sheeting (asbestos) with vinyl cladding but he selected a vinyl cladding that has the color throughout the whole plastic as cheaper stuff shows up scratches on the vinyl if the surface paint or coat is scratched. I have also seen a house cladded in red ceddar cladding. Not sure on costs though.

Comments are of…[Read more]

my interest is charged at the end of the month on my loan but the actual interest is calculated daily on the daily balance. I know this as I asked the bank how they calculated the interest payment at the end of the month. The Formula is basically interest per annum / 365 * balance on day. it could be interest per annum/ 360 this is the american…[Read more]

If you signed a sales contract with the agent it probably stipulates the commission and you will not be able to do anything about it.
A more productive way of working out commission is to have a two tier on the commission.
eg if real estate rep quotes say $400,000 as the price you pay a commission of 2% on price below or at $3600,000
Then you put…[Read more]

If a line of credit is taken out for the scheme/ purpose of avoiding tax usually through adding the interest to the loan rather than paying it off it will be caught by the tax office as an avoidance
scheme.
If the line of credit is for private purposes it will not be deductible.
It must be used to purchase property/asset that is income producing…[Read more]

How far from the sea is a consideration. Will some greenie come along and have the property rezoned in the next 20 years so it cannot be built on unless you own the property next to it. I have seen this occur at Rosebud Victoria so it does happen and is a risk. Will the property be under water in twenty years time?
Portland is a long way from…[Read more]

This is an Australian web site .
Have you thought of checking out what Donald Trump has to offer
http://www.trumptactics.com/?linkid=200516&s_kwcid=property%20investment|572343924
check…[Read more]

February Australian Property Investor Magazine page 45 has a approximation of the costs involved plus an article on what to expect when moving a house. I don’t want to type out the costs in this forum as it would be a breach of API copyright. The article would be of great help to you in this endeavour.

Comments are of a general nature and may…[Read more]

Peter, I have been 3 years out of university without successful employment. Yes $40,000 isn’t much but in a couple of years you will not be still on $40,000. I’ve given up on being employed as a graduate.
You should start off small buy a small unit to start with and work at paying it off. Then once your wage increases and your equity you will be…[Read more]

this article might explain the concept of discounting rate on property
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3681/is_199608/ai_n8740834

It looks like it is the time value of money invested in property
however this 7% figure is a long term averaged growth in money of property averaged over 10 or more years. As property doesn’t grow at 7%…[Read more]

As published in the Australain Property Investment magazine

The Tax department cross checks with their Austrack computer system what self employed people declare as their taxable income with what they state to their low doc loan provider is their actual real income.
If it is different you could get an Audit request to explain to the ATO why there…[Read more]

Split on the loan may be know as a Line of credit against equity in first house or maybe known as portfolio loan. Enquire with loans manager of CBA what your options are…

Comments are of a general nature and may not be relevant to your individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should…[Read more]

have you considered this scenario. You have the investment property negative geared and centrelink then deem the net rental loss as income and you lose some or all of your Austudy payment. Or you make a positive rental income and centrelink then deem the net rental income as income and you lose some or all of your Austudy payment.
Do not assume…[Read more]

!!!!!!!!!! YOU WILL MISS OUT !!!!!!!

if you wait till mid year as employers pick the worst time for students to do their recruitment .
I know as I have completed University and am signing up to be a mortgage broker after 3 years of trying to gain a graduate position .
You will need a lot of time to go to employers graduation induction days in…[Read more]

It is proned to Cyclones (Flooding) and watch out for termite damage in houses there. That is why Banannas have been so expensive for the last 8 months. The weather is hot also .

Comments are of a general nature and may not be relevant to your individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should…[Read more]

try to get a line of credit on first property to come up with minimum of 20% deposit for next loan. Do not cross co lateralise first property with second property. If you have a high income you should be able to borrow the money. It is calculated on your income and equity you have.
In regards to paying off the first loan that is really up to your…[Read more]

I live in the next suburb from
Mitcham. It has good public transport with a train station and buses.
It has two major shopping centres near by Forest Hill Chase and Eastland in Ringwood and further away The Glen and BOX HILL and Chadstone shopping centres.
Also the new east link toll road will open in 2008 and should bring down the traffic in the…[Read more]

Make sure to get landlords insurance (approx $600) that covers loss of rent, tentants trashing house, public liability, ect. .. You will need to cover stamp duty costs (depends on price of property ) also., solicitor ($500 -$800) , pest inspection ($500) (optional), Building inspection ($500)(optional) and Loan establishment fees ($600) and maybe…[Read more]

As Neil Jenman states DONT SIGN ANYTHING get independent valuation and independant solicitor not the ones refered to you by the promoter.

Comments are of a general nature and may not be relevant to your individual circumstances. If you intend making any investment, financial or taxation decision you should consult a professional adviser.