It depends on your income – whether you can service loan repayments on an additional property.Where are you located?A really great resource is the back pages of the "Australian Property Investor" magazine… where you can see the capital growth, rental yield, median price and vacancy rates by suburb.     Be careful of towns that have only one ind…[Read more]

Get over the notion that you have to have property within 10km of the CBD.  It is not the only place property values go up… and in fact isn't necessarily the area that will provide the best rental yield.  Perhaps consider that you want a balance between capital growth, rental yield, manageable pricepoint, low risk, and rentability (ie low v…[Read more]

sounds to me like someone advised you to put all your eggs in one basket.  that's never a good idea.  better to spread your property cash amount a couple of properties i'd say.  if anything went wrong with your ONE property 10km from the cbd, your whole portfolio would be shot.  some examples:- suburb suddenly becomes undesirable. hard to rent out…[Read more]

littleaussie: who are you insured with?

Just as a side note, this is an example of why it is a good idea to keep finishes pretty basic in rental properties.  If you have an expensive finish, and the bond is insufficient to cover the damage, and the tentant won't pay the difference, and the insurance won't pay up because it is "normal wear and tear" and not "malicious damage", then you…[Read more]

It is not your problem whether the tenant moved their furniture themselves, or whether they hired a removalist to do so.  If there is damage to your property, withold some or all of the bond to cover it.  The tenant can then choose to try and recover the funds from the removalist.  But this has nothing to do with you.  You did not hire the removalist.

If the company goes bust, the "guarantee" is worth squat.Be careful of these rent guarantees.  Often the rent money is already built into the purchase price.What sort of property is it?  A regular residential?  Or one of those serviced apartments?

What????  It's your house.  Not the tenant's house!

The definition of "unit" seems to vary somewhat.  If it is a dwelling with no dwelling under or above it, great.  If it is a flat (with others above or below it), not great.

You can order a Register Search Statement for about $16 here;  https://www.landata.vic.gov.auI have done this before.  It shows the name and address of the owner(s).  Then you can just find their phone numbers on http://www.whitepages.com.au …. if the phone number is listed, that is.  It also shows any encumberances, caveats and notices (eg if the…[Read more]

Getting finance on a studio, or on a property that is under a certain size, can be challenging.  Start chatting to the bank about this to understand the parameters you have to work in.  Additionally if finance is offered, you might find it won't be as high as 90% LVR (ie 90% of the purchase price).In terms of capital growth, it'd be better to g…[Read more]

Depends what the demand in the area is.  If it is elderly folk, probably a unit.  Stairs would be highly undesirable for this market.  Personally, I am not a fan of the whole body corporate idea, so I'd probably say "whichever one is on its own title" !!

http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.asp?doc=/content/00208572.htm&page=2&H2"Purchases under contract, such as land, houses, business, shares, one-tonne utilities and boats, don't always result in the date of contract and the date of possession being the same . In these instances, your acquisition date is the time you enter into the contract…[Read more]

It is amazing how many people I know, clever, innovative people, who are perfectly capable of being great in a role, but cannot GET the role because they don't have the bit of paper.  Doesn't matter why, apparently that is the entry ticket.  So get the bit of paper.  Go to uni.

I'd also ring council and ask about whether you'd be eligible for a second set of bins.

The reason you will have to charge a rent that is "all in" (which will cover the electricity, gas and water) is because the two "units" do not have their own meters.  Therefore, it cannot be established who uses what.You could of course get in touch with the relevant electricity etc providers to understand what the cost would be of getting…[Read more]

That $150k of savings in the bank you spoke about – please tell me that is in an offset account holding off interest against your home?

Property earns capital growth as well as rental yield

Hi Eddie,Is it an option for you to live in it for a while in order to qualify for the First Home Owner Grant?  I believe you'd also get stamp duty exemption which would be a help.The rental returns and low vacancy rates in the Mount Druitt / St Marys area seem to be good, and the buy-in price is achievable.  Perhaps a house in that area….?

These sorts of investments have been referred to in threads on this forum under "serviced apartment".  Search under that and you'll find plenty to read.  The general idea feeling is, they don't seem to have sufficient capital growth.