We paid a 5%deposit on land off the plan in early July 2003. Supposed to settle November.In February agent rang to say deposit had to be 10%. “Values” had jumped by 25% in the interim, so it was sitting on a nice little capital gain, (462% gain on deposit) and we also thought developer must be trying to squeeze us out. Agent said, “no, it’s…[Read more]

Another option is to build a nice new home in the backyard for yourself, and sell the front one. NSW will allow you to build after getting approval for dual occupancy, so you get a construction loan which is interest only until completion of construction, then you get a tenant in for 6 month lease on your old home, and during that period organise…[Read more]

We are planning to do a similar transaction with family member who is a first home buyer, so will not have to pay stamp duty now or worry about CGT if/when she sells, I believe. Eveything I have read indicates that ATO is looking very carefully at this type of transaction and will deem value to be market value, even if you try to use a lower…[Read more]

Check with your bank before you send a cheque, some charge $10 – $20 to clear cheques banked overseas. Also, your friends bank may charge a fee also to deposit the cheque. I currently pay an account overseas by ringing up and getting it charged to my credit card here. Perhaps you could pay for something your friend owes. Get an exchange rate…[Read more]

Have you worked out the figures as to when each of the -ve properties will become +ve. Maybe you could use some of your good income to pay extra off the mortgages for a while. Once 1 becomes +ve, then pay off the next one……until all are +ve. Alternatively, do all the calcs for each property for current and projected figures and then…[Read more]