The big concern I see is; let's say you buy this place, and it appreciates far slower than other properties.  Then you have a situation change in your life – perhaps you'll get married and want to have a family and as such will require larger accommodation.  You could in theory refinance the flat, to pull some money out of it to sink into a h…[Read more]

I agree.  Remember the rule – you want the value to double every 10 years.  The value you quoted is relevant to 2002 and it will be 2010 next year.  So that's say 8 years passed already.  So you should expect the property to be worth around $531k by now by the following calculation 295 + ($295 * 8 / 10) = 531.  You mentioned it has only appr…[Read more]

Hi EmmaWhat are the legal requirements for such a residence?  For instance, in the UK, there is a requirement to install fire doors.

Here is another granny flat company http://www.bondhomes.net.au/brochure

Maybe it might be an option for your mum to take out a loan against the equity of a small portion of her home – enough to build a granny flat in her backyard?  She could live in the granny flat and could rent the main residence out, and use the rental return as income.  This site gives a bit of an idea of the price of putting a small residence i…[Read more]

Further to my previous post, perhaps we can all suggest our best ideas for your mother's scenario if we understand the need.  Why is she thinking about selling the house?  Is she worried that without doing so, she won't be able to afford bills and groceries?  (in other words, in her retiremetn, will she have another income stream such as a bit of…[Read more]

If it was my mum I wouldn't want her to do this either.  Just look at what is going on with the global markets right now.  It would be bad enough if that was your grocery money getting slaughtered… another thing altogether if you'd disposed of your house to buy into such a predicament, and then couldn't afford your rent money either.  So…[Read more]

Hi ScottThat's awesome news It would be fantastic to hear how things progress – I would really appreciate that!

Quite.  Well said DWolfe.  You are not obliged to do these people a favour and take their house off their hands.  I urge you to remember that one of the big strains on relationships these days is financial woes.  Don't introduce financial strain to your marriage by buying badly.  Forget about the needs of the vendor and think about your needs.

I've been to seminars in the UK where this strategy was discussed.  It is apparently often an attractive option to elderly vendors – whereby you pay a substantial amount of the sale value to them, and "loan the remainder" from them.  You pay them a flat interest rate that is better than what the bank could offer them – and they sort of live o…[Read more]

Looks like these properties are in the middle of nowhere anyway.  Not very useful as investment properties to me…

Ultimately, the pest inspector, the agent, all such individuals involved, will not be in a position to look you in the eye and tell you whether you should buy the place or not.  I think if you re-read your original post, you will see that you already had big doubts before we even put our 10c worth in.  I imagine that as a first home buyer, you w…[Read more]

Indeed.  Remember this is just my opinion.  There will be many other opinions out there.  I just think getting all excited about the presence of the pool when there are major concerns about the house itself is a strange ordering of priorities

I would think you could use that income to initiate negative gearing.  Refer to the section on vacant land on page 1 of this document ; http://www.loganaccountants.com/ISSUES%20IN%20NEGATIVE%20GEARING.pdfBasically it says this:"You cannot negative gear a vacant block of land.  This is because in order to get the tax benefit from your salary job, y…[Read more]

Personally, I would not consider the presence of a pool to be more important than the structural integrity of the actual main residence.  Have you thought about getting a house that doesn't have termite problems and doesn't have a pool, but has space to install one?  Here is a rough guide of pool installation costs http://www.improvemyhome.com.au/a…[Read more]

Can't say that I would even consider a house that had termite history.  You can get insurance for it apparently (http://www.jlta.com.au/files/PestWisePressrelease050508_F.pdf) , but I note there is only coverage to $100k, which appears to cover repair and replacement costs, but no mention of temporary accommodation costs while the said repair is…[Read more]

This is worth a read http://www.realinvestmentproperty.com.au/renting-by-the-roomLooks like to understand fire regulations etc, you need to search for requirements for boarding houses

http://www.housesharevic.com.au appear to offer such accommodation, but it is their own houses.  Gives you an idea of rents you can command, though.  They don't rent rooms in your house for you.  Perhaps a realestate agent could offer the service??

I have previously seen ads for what looks very much like rooms in such properties advertised on http://www.domain.com.au in the Brunswick area.  I'm really keen to be kept in the loop on this one if possible – climbingjac@yahoo.com.au

one visits a site such as Angel Investors or Venture Capital.  One expects to pay a tidy interest rate to the said investor…