Josef wrote:
Hey Mate, There is absolutely no benefit in having an offset account if its your PPOR. You should be able to have a redraw facility on your home loan which is pretty much the same thing. The only benefit of an offset account is for investment properties as this offsets the interest you pay on your home loan and still gives you a…[Read more]

Yes I agree with AaronC- you never know what you are going to do in the future.At least by putting all of your money if an offset you have options- you can move money from an offset account into your loan to usea as redraw without any tax consequences but you cant simply move money from redraw into an offset account.This comes up so often on this…[Read more]

Putting the money in the offset account would give you more flexibility. You should put the money into an offset account because if you have a situation where you need access to the money (e.g. new car, medical emergency) then you can withdraw the money without any tax implaications. Whereas if you pay it into your loan, the redraw is counted as…[Read more]

Aaron_C wrote:
As a general rule, new properties are not good 'investments' because you are paying retail price for a product. Do you see people who shop at Myer making money by on-selling the products they bought? Of course not. Developers make money by buying land cheap, building for cheaper than what you can build for, and charging you retail…[Read more]

Did you do any research on what you would probably be able top build before you purchased the property?Cheers,Luke

Look on the bright side- you have managed to pay off $70k in 18 months, and only owe $100k on an investment property. There are plenty of people in worse positions than yourself! I am sure a good mortgage broker can help you out with your future loans and structures to make sure you are being as tax effective as possible (of course tax is not t…[Read more]

luke86 wrote:

luke86 wrote:
Sorry, the last sentence of that paragraph should have said: The interest on the original $100k is tax deductable as it is for an investment property but because this is counted as new borrowings, the interest is NOT tax deductable as the purpose of you reborrowing the $200k was not for investment purposes.

Bad…[Read more]

luke86 wrote:
E.g. 1) You owe $100k on your investment loan with another $200k sitting available as redraw. You withdraw $200k to buy a house to live in (not an investment) bringing your loan balance back up to $300k. The interest on the original $100k is tax deductable as it is for an investment property but because this is counted as new…[Read more]

Putting money in an offset account will save you money when the time comes when you need a sum of cash for personal expenses. If you pay the money into your investment property loan, you would need to redraw the money from the loan to pay for your new car or new house to live in. Because it is redrawn, this counts as new borrowings. As the money…[Read more]

Stop paying money off your mortgage and put it in an offset account instead would be a good start.Cheers,Luke

Also interested in this queston. Although I am not going to do it in Whitehorse Coucil, I have heard stories of people squeezing more units onto a block of land than they should be able to accoriding to council rules by having a draftman who knows the system and produces clever designs.Or are these stories stretching the truth and coucils…[Read more]

I have heard via the forums that NRAS properties are hard to finance and so will be hard to sell- not good for investment property.Also they are only for tenants, not for people to buy as a PPOR- also not a good thing for investment property if you are searching for capital gains (as people who are buying a PPOR will pay a bit more to secure a…[Read more]

Hi Cameron,I am having a stab in the dark here and do not mean to be rude- the reason why your property has not sold is because you think it is worth more than it is (because it is yours and you have an emotional attachment to it) and not many people will pay more than a fair market price for a property. Maybe it is because of a bad advertisement…[Read more]

Hi Danev- If he is building a largish block of units then it might be best to sell and take the profit. You have some leverage in the negotiations as your block of land is worth a lot to a developer if they already own the adjacent properties. If the proposed building is a large multistory development then it will decrease the value of your unit,…[Read more]

Why will you be without electricity? Just get the electricity account transferred to your name for the 4 weeks or so it takes to do the reno and then have the new tenants transfer it into their name when they move in.Cheers,Luke

Qlds007 wrote:
Definately agree Aaron.If the level of enquiry from clients saying "my current lender has just declined my loan, can you help" is anything to go by it is only going to get worse and worse.

Hi Richard- Interesting comment. Are you seeing the domestic credit market tightening possibly due to the Greece default? And it sounds like…[Read more]

scha9799 wrote:
Hi Kosta, welcome to the forum : )1.2 Million at age 30 is way ahead of many people already, congrat !there is a option you can invest to have healthy cashflow position constantly.you can put 1.2 million in the bank at interest rate 6%, you can have healthy can safety cashflow about 72,000 per year. which mean one of you don't h…[Read more]

Best talk to your solicitor/settlement agent- but of course make sure they know what they are talking about!!! I understand that you would be up for double stamp duty if you had not set up the company/trust when you signed contracts. Best to get this sorted out BEFORE you sign anything to avoid painful and expensive mistakes.Cheers,Luke

Terryw wrote:
My view is that none of the interest will be deductible if you put the money into an offset account. Once it hits the offset it is no longer borrowings. See the Domjan case – although Domjan was denied deductibility because the borrowed funds were mixed with non borrowed funds in the offset.Use a LOC as it is not worth the risk. Or…[Read more]

Not meaning to be rude or to judge against forum users- I love this forum and am on it all the time but sometimes you have to get paid advice.Cheers,Luke