Perhaps we should all sell all of our properties (I'm not sure who to – since if there is a crash then there won't be a single person in the country buying property) and kick the tenants out and have them live in the street looking at the said empty properties.  Yes, that's the way forward.  Everyone in the country should live on the street, an…[Read more]

People require accommodation, crash or no crash.  End of story. 

You might be able to turn a non-regional place that is cf negative into cf positive with a bit of creativity.  For example you could:- Look at blocks of flats, strata title them and sell a couple off and keep the rest- Look at houses with backyards sufficiently large to subdivide the yard and sell it- Look at houses with backyards sufficiently…[Read more]

On a similar note… let's say I have a PPOR that I am sick of living in and want to move.  Let's say that PPOR is on a P&I loan with ANZ at the moment.  What is the best way to convert this PPOR into an IP that has deductible interest, and suck as much money out as possible to put into a new PPOR?  (Or perhaps I shouldn't buy another PPOR to li…[Read more]

Depends where it is.  I believe duplexes are listed as units in the stats in API magazine.  Perhaps take a look at what the stats say for units in that  township…

How long were you absent from the property you are proposing to sell?  If less than 6 years, might be worth kicking the tenants out, and moving back in for a short while so that when you sell, the profits are exempt from CGT (capital gains tax)….

Seriously – would it kill you to get a job that pays an income for a few months, if only for the purpose of securing a loan?  The bank is of course not going to loan you money if you can't demonstrate that you can make the loan repayments…

Yep it is a must.  A tenant can do damage to your property to the value of far more than the measly deposit bond you hold.  Be sure to get landlord insurance with tenant protection (that covers malicious damage).  I've claimed under AAMI and they were absolutely fantastic.

You can totally get a 4br house for that price.  It is simply that the land value is lower.  To build a brand new 4br house costs under $200k last time I looked…

The other thing you might want to keep in mind is this:If you buy a house outright, then the rental return is going to exceed the costs of the property (council rates, insurance etc).  So it'd be making a profit.  And what happens to profit?  It gets taxed.  Income tax.Whereas if you buy two houses with a bit of a loan on them such that ove…[Read more]

What is your question?

PS yes, if you are going with an apartment, positioning it near the train station and shops is a must.  This is because apartment dwellers are more likely to have lower incomes and thus no car.  I'm not convinced an apartment needs to be near a school, but a house does.  Think about what you'd want if you lived in a place.  You would not want…[Read more]

Get an offset account, and rather than make "extra" repayments when you have spare cash, put the money in there.  The result will be the same – it will save you interest.  The difference is that later on when you want to pull that money out again for use in buying another place, it's a simple withdrawl.  Whereas if you'd paid it onto the loan its…[Read more]

I suppose you could send it registered post .. the one that requires id upon receipt.  The trail of progress of delivery might show the township the person lives in.  Could narrow down the white pages search….

James2118 wrote:
As for capital gains regarding buying off the plan, seeing as you do not settle on the property until the project is complete, unless the completion date gets pushed back, I would assume that you do not hold the asset so the 12 month concession period would not start until the settlement date, which most of the time is the…[Read more]

Odd. I ordered some title docs and they definitely showed the ower address

Why don't you have the address? It should be on the title.  Have they since moved house?Get your mortgage broker to search sales history of the property on http://www.rpdata.com .  At the very least, it should show you the real estate agency that sold the property.  Worst come to worst, you could approach the agency and ask them to go through their re…[Read more]

I agree.  A big part of the problem is stamp duty. 

Capital Growth – both historical and forecastedVacancy RatesRental YieldCondition of propertyScarcity factor (is there something special about the dwelling eg nice architectural features, near the beach etc)Proximity to transport, shopping centres, schools, employmentForthcoming infrastructure (eg new road/rail line…)Potential to add value to…[Read more]

What state are you in? If VIC you can order a copy of the title here: http://www.vic.gov.au/inlink/links/search_results.html?keywords=Land%20titles&env=adm-Have you tried asking the neighbours?