brookelea wrote:
hi smj, am interested in reading the book but feel that it might just confuse me and really cement my relative poverty..does the book have any advice on purchasing property when you have debts??

The best book I have ever seen for general money management skills and practices is:"Money Secrets of the Rich" by John Burley.Also…[Read more]

shane mickey jay wrote:
Thanks for the welcome Marc. At the moment i'm just under half way through the book.Chapter 11 "The positive Cashflow Model For Property Success" (I'm excited to read this part, hence why i left it for when i'm fresh and can suck in all the information from this chapter.)So far i have been very impressed with all that i…[Read more]

Keep the 3 bedrooms; most people want more bedrooms, not less.Don't rent out the 3rd room while you are renovating unless you want to upset your tenant and they will move out.First clue; painting and carpet/floorboards are last things to be done on the inside. Do the landscaping absolutely last; especially if there are tradies stomping around…[Read more]

Hi Shane,welcome,what are your thoughts on the book?

Selling the IP and using the profit to pay down the PPoR loan is not a failure.If the cashflow is tight and the lifestyle sucks, there is no shame in bailing out for a while until the situation gets better.The profit on the IP will give you automatic equity in the PPoR which can be used again later for another investment.If you can hold off until…[Read more]

Caution; some measurements are done by the roof lines. Can be a significant difference if the eaves are wide, or there are verandahs around a few sides.

We rent out our PPoR at the moment.We use an agent, the fees are tax deductible at your marginal tax rate. Money well spent, unless you are living closeby and have loads of time to deal with all the issues. Make sure you take out Landlord's Insurance as well, and $20 mill public liability.

Pooling your money will be helpful when it comes to obtaining finance.The more income you have, the better your loan servicability will be, so you will be able to borrow more.I am no legal eagle, but I would think that even if you were to buy in individual names ; say a property each, if things went sour and you were to split up (I'm assuming you…[Read more]

Everyone seems to say: "there's plenty of time; I'm still young; I'll start investing when I've got some money later" blah, blah, blah. maybe they will. History shows that most don't.Also, the average 19 year old is only thinking about 2 days into the future, and whether they can get a bigger car/plasma/new girlfriend etc.Do the opposite to both…[Read more]

Doc Spock,That's a great result!As Simon said; paying the smallest loan off first, while paying the monthly minimum on the others is the way to go., and cut up the credit cards. Then, when that first debt is cleared, you use the freed up cash to pay off the next smallest loan along with its minimum monthly payment. You continue to keep paying the…[Read more]

With regards to the rent, it is my experience that many people who earn high incomes tend to fit their SPENDING to their income. This is not very financially smart.I'm guessing your income is well above $50k?, but let's assume your income was $50k per year  and you had to pay income tax as you earned it (approx the national average I'm told).…[Read more]

$2200 is too much to pay in rent if you are serious about property investing. $500 a week? Are you kidding? That's ridiculous. You can rent 2 bed apartments, actually; no – units with courtyards, for around $800 per month in every cap city.  You sound as though you are on your own? Get a 1 bed; even less.  Sorry if these words seem harsh, but h…[Read more]

As the lawyer says; don't buy unless the caveat is removed.The caveat can be for a number of reasons. Mostly from someone that the property owner owes money to.

pirate wrote:
HI L.A Aussie.i have the same problem as others ie. i can mainly find ip's that provide only 4-5% rental yield. This 'own backyard' mentality is an interesting concept. Can i ask then, if this mentality suggests a person buys only within their state? eg i live in NSW and therefore only buy in NSW>

Yes, that's what it means.For new…[Read more]

Scott No Mates wrote:
The problem with getting a loan in AUD for a US loan is currency fluctuations – as farmers saw in the 1980s, many loans were financed offshore without the disclosure of the effect a weakening of the dollar. It sent many people broke. Borrowing in the us for a us loan will reduce the currency risk as you are paying &…[Read more]

Nigel Kibel wrote:
If you want to invest off shore I would suggest the United States is a good place to go. Even with the Sub prime you can still get loans. There are a lot of places in the US where you can get positive cashflow but you do need to be careful where you buy and who you buy through.

How can you get a loan for a US property from a…[Read more]

They are not that hard to find.The problem is, a lot of people have an "own backyard' mentality.The market has changed dramatically in the last few years. You have to look further a-field.There are about another million places to look other than Brisbane, or is this site full of only banana benders?sheesh!

The effect of compounding will allow you to accelerate the wealth much faster if you have multiple properties.Say it took you 15 years to pay off 1 property completely.Now, you keep buying properties from year 1, for 10 years, 1 property every 2 years (5 properties in all), and pay interest only on the loans.By year 15, the cap growth over the…[Read more]

Jon, you beat me to it!Time to move banks I think.Currently doing the same. Feels good to give an unco-operative crowd the ar$e.

I could care less what a newspaper says about the property market.They are usually only interested in over-dramatising anything that they can which will sell more papers.As a general rule, rents have gone up, but in typical fashion, the papers will focus on a few suburbs, which are in very high demand, as the yard stick for the whole country.I…[Read more]