Had my grandparents here for lunch (they are down from QLD or 2 weeks) on Saturday.

Sunday was raining here, so we hired videos (“The Italian Job” & “American Pie-The Wedding”) and generally veged. Don’t usually get to do this, so it was great!

Lisa

The gap will always be too large…[Read more]

I have lived in Sydney & Adelaide & now Newcastle. Have to say that I LOVE Adelaide, and after coming back to Sydney I couldn’t wait to get away again.

I was fortunate enough to buy my house in Sydney 5.5 years ago and am now renting it out.

Newcastle is fantastic! Close enough to Sydney to visit my rellies, but far enough away that…[Read more]

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not at all criticising the present Government and its achievements.

My criticism was simply of those who are quick to jump to conclusions and sprout off about things they really haven’t researched.

Lisa

The gap will always be too large if you don’t at least try to make the jump.

God help Australia if Labor get in! I don’t believe he will do half of what he says and if he does it will be Paul Keating all over again, country goes into huge deficet then it will take…[Read more]

Not at all!! You have been a tremendous help. I just didn’t want to keep bothering you with endless questions. I thought I might have been becoming a pain!

Lisa

The gap will always be too large if you don’t at least try to make the jump.

I have already found this site to be a GREAT HELP. It is really good to bounce your ideas of a diverse range of people.

Lisa:-)

The gap will always be too large if you don’t at least try to make the jump.

I too have tried to work out how many of these I would need to earn approx that figure and I too get a headache.

Don’t get me wrong, I am still keen on getting into the market and am hopefull that we will be able to find decent cf+ properties, but I am not going to jump in unless I am a little more positive about the outcome.

We…[Read more]

The way I see it there are a few ways to look at this. It depends on what you are looking for from your investments.

1. If you are looking for strictly capital gains and growth of your investment, looking for something to give you returns in the long run, then -ve gearing is one option.

2. If you are looking for investments that…[Read more]

Ron & I are going away this weekend (yay, no kids for 2 days!) to look at some properties. Hopefully we can all get together in the near future!

Lisa

PS. I live near Toronto, what about everyone else?

I’m with you Rachel. My gut instinct tells me this is just common sense! Why should I be paying money out of my own pocket for a supposed capital gain I can access when I retire and sell the property???

Does anyone have advice on whether it is better to pay interest only or to pay principal & interest?

Lisa [^]

It was our PPOR until December last year, so we would (thankfully) avoud CGT.

Its hard to wrap my head around his argument (being a non-accountant), but what he basically said that adding the rental income to my existing income, then deducting the allowable expenses for the property would leave me with a tax bill not much under what…[Read more]

I was being a little cautious, calculating at 8% over 25 years.

And I didn’t look at it that way, that I own a property and it is costing me nothing and appreciating (if only slightly), in value.

Lisa