There's many ways to skin a cat and there would hence be many ways to invest in an attempt to break free of the 'rat race'. Personally I don't look at books as strict guides on how to invest, but rather they provide readers with options and the pros and cons of each. It is ultimately up to the reader to decide what they intend to achieve by…[Read more]

xdrew wrote:
I know these statistics arent meant to be perfect, but to include these new luxury apartments in the equation skews the figures badly for maybe a quarter or two.

These 'inaccurate' statistics could be a self-fulfilling prophecy however. With luxury housing in the area and cashed-up owner-occupiers or investors buying in, the…[Read more]

karlm63 wrote:
Thanks everyone for the replies,I better start and put some sort of list together and start buying property.I still have not a clue about this list yet but 1 thing i do know is positive cashflow is the go !!!!!!!Thanks again karlmTO BE CONTINUED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations. The best part about…[Read more]

In addition to Jamie's websites and what's been mentioned above, you could look at sqmresearch.com.au to look for vacancy rates and myrp.com.au for other details.Now the rest of this might be akin to teaching you to how to suck eggs, however I find Google (in particular, GoogleMaps) and the Melways to be extremely useful. It allows me to see…[Read more]

Due diligence = researchThat is, studying your potential purchase to know exactly what you're buying into, or whether you should be buying it or not.

fredo_4305 wrote:
I got a property report done off RPData and it had it a little higher than the price it is being sold for.  I have also had Residex done on my other properties before and it was fairly accurate.

While I can't say much about the accuracy of these price estimates, it is possible that the difference in price between that in the…[Read more]

With the strength of the Aussie dollar I would think that the number of students coming here would be much reduced. If this is the case then you may have trouble renting out your property.

Based on the other articles on the same site predicting price falls in property over the same period, it's a wash between the conflicting arguments. Perhaps this is not unexpected in a flat market. Price pressures in either direction balance out, leaving you with a flat period with slow or no growth.

emailtosimon wrote:
3. put condition to finance and building inspection and decision within 48hrs. (?can I put all 3?)

Hi Simon, have you made the offer yet? If so, how did it go?All 3 clauses should be ok to include. An offer that is not subject to finance would technically be a stronger offer. Also, you could do a building and pest inspection…[Read more]

DWolfe wrote:
Seems like gen y may throw a spanner in the works by staying at home and trying to pay off a big hit of the mortgage. Then they can buy where they want to.The new dinks – lahdinks- living at home double income no kids.D

Nicely said. Gen Y's sometimes get a bad rap not saving enough, not working hard enough and then spending too…[Read more]

Depends, I guess. It is conceivable that a well-heeled investor (or even a couple) may buy the house with the intention to move in eventually (ie. buying a 'dream house' early to 'lock in' at the price they can still afford), but rent it out initially to get the loan repayments down to a manageable level before moving in.

Just my two cents, although I'm no expert and hence may stand corrected in the presence of more well-informed advise, however this would be my personal opinion:

emailtosimon wrote:
1. How much should I offer? (duh!) The agent has stated that there are many interested parties (i guess they always say that) and hence unless I can provide a good…[Read more]

chestnut32 wrote:
Hi, thank you so much for the responses.  Three years ago I bought a property at Campbellfield with house on 609 mt.  I have been successful in now having subdivided it.  I now have a block of land to sell for $160k and a house to sell for $330.000k.  I am looking to do the same again.  I have spoken to Hume Council who advi…[Read more]

On the topic of Croydon, one of my colleagues (let's call her Ann) had some opinions about where to buy. The area around Main Street would be justifiably popular given proximity to shops and the station, but Ann tells me to avoid this area. The area she recommends is actually north of Maroondah Highway.In essence, you're looking for that little…[Read more]

Scott No Mates wrote:
no probs fword, I could send you in the right direction for Sydney but can't do much for Melbourne.

That's alright. Thanks for offering to help.

Scott No Mates wrote:
Which state & city fword?

Thanks Scott. I'd be looking for quality inspectors in Metropolitan Melbourne and to a lesser extent Geelong.

When it comes to the quality of a building or pest inspection, a lot of it depends on who is doing the inspection. After the most recent purchase I've lost a lot of faith in these inspections. They are getting more expensive and the ones who do a proper job seem to be a dying breed. My Dad used to know one architect that would go check the…[Read more]

Jamie M wrote:
I know where you're coming from. We self manage the ones that are close by and outsource the management on those that aren't.This is where it's extremely important to have a good property manager on board. I usually seek advice for good PMs via forums like this, from investors I know that are within, or have investments, wit…[Read more]

Haha, I was reading through the first page of this thread and thinking to myself, 'What if the tenant saw all of this and decided to respond?' Lo and behold it's exactly what we got.Goes to show that sometimes, when you ask for advice, you'll get more than what you bargained for, including advice from your own tenant. Be careful with what you put…[Read more]

On the topic of regional property (but off the initial topic), how to people actually manage their regional properties? While it's possible to get an agent to manage it (as with all other properties), there would surely be occasions when repairs need to be made and tradies called in. After this happens it necessitates going down in person to…[Read more]