Maybe not improve the value too much, but certainly the appeal factor in most cases.Without trying to be sexist; most women love baths, and the chances of a woman living in your property at some point are good. But as Diclem says; who is the target market?Personally; I would always have one in the property. Without them the bathroom looks empty if…[Read more]

Talk to any of the Mortgage Brokers on this site for a PROPER deal.Boys and Girls; where are you? Help this person out.

pete7 wrote:
i am selling cos i was going to use the profit in another property  probably in south east qld area for the long term  – conveyancing and selling costs considered still !!cheers – thanks for response marc

Why not use the equity in your current property for the deposits and purchase costs on the next one, then you have 2 p…[Read more]

Don't buy at auctions. Simple.

Why are you going to sell? You will pay tax on 50% of the cap gain at your marginal tax rate if you sell it after holding it for 12 months.What will you do with the profit?If the property is cashflow positive, or even slightly neg cashflow, and you've made a decent cap gain, I would be holding it. The resource boom has a way to go most people…[Read more]

Yes, because it is essentially a line of credit, you are only required to make sure the balances of your LOC are under the limits.So, you can basically just keep paying only the interest and any fees indefinitely.In my opinion, you should go hammer and tong on the part of the loan that is for the PPoR as this is not tax deductible, and keep…[Read more]

I have this loan product currently.You can set up for automatic funds transfers from the Primary Account to all the sub-accounts separately, and they automatically pay the correct mount of interest each month.It sounds as though only one sub-account transfer is currently set up. It would be adviseable to do a manual transfer for the other 2…[Read more]

1. get finances in order, get tax returns done.2. talk to a good Mortgage broker to find out what you can borrow.3. get the friend's properties valued by a Bank Valuer, cost about $300 per property, or use the real estate sites to get some recently sold/still for sale comparables, and then make them an offer.

If it a PPoR this is unfortunate. Emotions are high with those.Make offers with a time-frame attached if you are worried; such as "until close of business today's date" etc.If it is an IP, I simply move on to the next one. No emotion. It's a business and we only play my way.

My 2c worth;With 3 kids it is probably not a good idea to go aggressive on the first IP.You have a house worth $350k, and a loan of $270k. In normal circumstances, banks will allow you to use 80%  of your property's value, less any existing loans.80% of $350k = $280k.  You only have $10k of useable equity.As 888 said; you can borrow more and pay L…[Read more]

brookelea wrote:
thanks la aussie.. i drink at least 4-5 lattes a day.. could be greatly beneficial in both cost and health

Oh, my god!Assuming the lattes are the same as Starbucks over here; $3.75 each (there are more expensive ones), and you have 4 of them,that's $14.80 per day,$5,402 per year,$108,040 over 20 years!And that's just one…[Read more]

Personally, I think it's gambling, and would never do it, unless I had a very low LVR and fell on hard times. Our LVR is currently 58%; quite low, and I wouldn't even consider it.Some investors are very aggressive, and see no problem with this strategy, but my guess is they haven't seen a property market slump yet.You are letting the interest on…[Read more]

You may need to shift your thinking towards CASHFLOW POSITIVE AFTER TAX.This is still very do-able even now.One of the criteria is that the property must be built after 1987 so it is eligible for the "special building write-off". Basically, this means that you can depreciate the entire building, fixtures and fittings against your personal income…[Read more]

There are companies that specialise in just bathroom renos.

Don't know any names; just remember seeig an ad somewhere a while ago.

Google "bathroom renovations" will get you there.

There are companies that specialise in just bathroom renos. Don't know any names; just remember seeig an ad somewhere a while ago. Google "bathroom renovations" will get you there.

Quote:The question is, at what point do you access equity to go again? And at that time, do you sell or refinance?You can access 80% of your property's value for the purposes of more investing normally. You can actually go higher (to 95% LVR) these days, but in my opinion it is a very risky practice.The 80% must include any existing loans.For…[Read more]

What the agent says is true.Sometimes the money spent on renos doesn't equate to an increase in the house's value, other than the cost of the improvement.This is one of those things that will definitely give the house more appeal, and may mean a passionate buyer will pay more, and you may sell it quicker.$9,000 seems like a lot to me; I'd be…[Read more]

brookelea wrote:
thanks everyone for the responses..i'm a shocking consumer..  hell even my sister in law just bought her 3rd property and i make almost three times what she makes and have pretty much nothing to show for it.. the more i read the posts here, the more i realise that it's not about the income but about financial awareness and a…[Read more]

1. Look carefully at the size of the apartments. Most lenders are reluctant to lend on anything under 50 sq/m.2. Your income will be factored into the servicability of the loan/s. You said you wanted to "sell one or two (based on how many the bank allows me to obtain) in 6 to 12 months time and use capital gains to feed into the others". How many…[Read more]

Thats the thing with stats.Everyone has a different measuring stick. Some list all sales, some don't have access to all the results, it depends on the "window" of time they use etc etc.I don't pay much attention to them. Makes no difference to a successful investment.Use them as a rough guide, and do your own research to find out more.I look at…[Read more]