[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

June 4, 2012 - 7:22 am

Haha,

Stole that idea from the 1985 film Brewseter's Millions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster's_Millions

Funny film from memory, Brewster needs to spend $30M in 30 days to inherit $300M and tries to spend some of it on a business venture shipping ice to the middle east which actually turns out to be quite profitable to his bemusement.

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 30, 2012 - 4:39 am

Nope,

If it's not a government grant, they'd have to be getting this $30k grant from somewhere. Me says, that somewhere would be your bank account (government gets it from there to, let's not get into the specifics tho ).

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 30, 2012 - 4:36 am

Just applied for a card with bankwest, small limit $2k, just to cover my monthly expenses, was trying to link up my interest repayments to it but just found out that is a no no

I called, asked for one, they told me I couldn't have it as I couldn't show incoming and outgoing expesnes (a property deal was underway and I was in financial limbo with money all over the place), low and behold it showed up to my house anyways.

Happily using it frivulously  

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 23, 2012 - 7:52 am

Although i'm sure there's people out there who have implemented his teachings successfuly,

The ones I know who have paid to do his courses, the money they spent they could have put a deposit on a house or two, I'm yet to see an outcome to their 'education'.

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 22, 2012 - 8:49 pm

Haha

I've already mentioned it to Terry,

My Acer Tablet (Transformer Prime) adventures have been far from positive. It's a nice toy, impossible to do any real work with.

Also jumps when I reply to posts.

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 22, 2012 - 12:06 am

My dad built some major extensions to his property a few years ago, saved about $40k in management fees and did a very high quality job even by professional standards. In saying this he is pedantic and well organised, I manage projects for a living and am still learning my fair share from him doing a project together right now.

A man living down the road from them has been building his house since 1998 when we moved to the area, it's still a work in progress and has now completely run out of money.

From experience, i'd say the latter story is an extreme version of what is most likely to happen. If your up for the challenge (and with out a doubt, plenty of stress) it can be very rewarding, on the other hand, leaving one loose thread in the project timeline will cause it to quickly unravel with budget blowouts and poor quality finishings running rampant.

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 16, 2012 - 1:06 am

Only available in Victoria I take it… anything similar for NSW?

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 15, 2012 - 7:10 am

Also have a couple of places in St Marys, you'll find if you do spend the extra cash (ensuring you will get those returns making it break even as such), you will be able to be more picky with your tenants. Then again, leaving it as is means you won't need to worry too much about 'damage'.

Is it rented at the moment? Will you loose rent during the renovations? I think most places will rent there renovated or not, just depends on the quality of tenenant your after.

Cameron McEvoy wrote:

Thanks for the post – great thread! I'm really interested in hearing some success stories for DIY works that have resulted in capital growth and/or increased rental yield. I say this because I've just purchased a new PPOR, and am going develop some skills by attempting a very basic cosmetic reno. It's a small 60's three-floor walk up, and all it really needs is new paint on the walls/cieling (floors are fine – they were recently renovated with floating timber floorboards). The windows are old metal ones, and I was thinking about painting them, then removing the ugly vertical blinds, and replacing them with custom-fitted plantation shutters. Kitchen and bathroom are fine; just need some painting. Once this is completed, I was thinking I'd use the skills and contacts I've made to then conduct a cosmetic reno on one of my IP's. But this is where I come unstuck. I have an IP in greater western Sydney (St Marys area). It's a very old top floor red brick apartment. Great bones but needs new paint (cheap and easy), new carpets, new kitchen, bathroom, and laundry, plus, new window coverings are needd. I think I'd be in for $20K plus. Problem is, I think it'd only gain me an additional yield of $20, maybe $30 pw. This means only $1560 revenue in one year. Sure, there'd be some great depreciable claims for tax, but with the property becoming so positively geared, I'm wary of doing to much work on it. Thing is, the unit is in dire need of renovation. So it's one of those 'damned if I do; damned if I don't' things. Any suggestions for me? Thoughts are to try and do some of the works myself (painting). The place is actually floorboarded; it's just the two bedrooms requiring new carpet. The real expense is kitchen/bathroom/laundry. I could maybe get away with just a tart-up (so instead of new cupboards, appliances, tiling, electrics, basins, sinks etc, could I get away with just: painting existing cupboards (chaging all the handles, knobs, spouts etc to be more modern), basic 'extra large' wall tiling (which I could do myself; see; extra-large tiles are cheaper and easier to do, with the imperfections less noticeable. As for the window coverings, perhaps the cheapest possible vertical blinds? Or maybe just new curtains?

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 10, 2012 - 4:08 am

Hi Jason,

I have started looking at the Melbourne market as well as the rest of Victoria for my next investment property.

What is your personal experience in with the RE market? Do you own property of your own? What are suburbs/cities you believe are good places to invest?

Would love to hear your 2cents as a busienss owner involved in Melbournes RE industry.

Regards
NHG

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 9, 2012 - 4:05 am

engelo10 wrote:

Sounds like a great deal. How much rent are you getting? Did you pull out the equity?

Engelo

Settlement is on May 28^th. I have a 3 bedroom fibro 1 street away renting for $360. This is a much nicer 3 bedroom brick veneer. Will rent it to existing owners mum for $340/wk which will benefit in that I can carry out repairs on the other building and claim deductions (all under one title).

Talked to a few agents in those 20 mins before I made an offer :p and the whole lot would rent for $450/week. However renting it separately after council approval (already in the process) it should rent for about $620/wk minimum.  I don’t know why the place behind mine sold for $450k, I really wouldn’t pay more than $380k for something similar to mine in that area even in mint condition.

Will probably sit on it for a bit, pull out equity in a year, study the Victorian market in the meantime. 2 properties and pumping money into granny flats at the moment has eaten up all my cash and strangled my cash-flow L (lesson learnt).

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 9, 2012 - 3:53 am

Starting small may benefit you in so many ways:

–          Easier for a $100k place to grow in capital by 10% than a $1M place;
–          Lower repayments, thus quicker to build savings and paying less cumulative interest to the bank;
–          A small increase in rent will change the ROI significantly more than for a more expensive house;
–          Have extra capital ready to take advantage of a new opportunity;
–          Etc.

A significant portion of my mates are offered $500k+ from the bank and immediately go and purchase nice apartments in the city. Only prayers and their parents deep pockets will help them when interest go up. 

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 8, 2012 - 7:25 am

engelo10 wrote:

Im finding good deals on a daily basis wish I could buy them all haha

Feel free to throw them our way – haha

Am struggling to find these great deals, still inexperienced. The last one I bought for $310k with two dwellings, the house behind just sold for $450k. To be honest, that was a fluke, I was actually on my way to see another house down the road and was curious why the real estate agent (who I had seen previously) hadn't mentioned it.

Turns out the vendor was a nightmare to deal with, they never wanted to call him, and greatfully, not many people ever saw the inside of the house before me after months on the market. Realised it was a bargain and made an offer within 20 mins.

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 8, 2012 - 2:03 am

Hi Terry,

Curious how it would work in my parents case.

eg. Let's say they have a house work $1M. Joint ownership. Dad retired, mum on $50k. In NSW, owned the house for $15 years.
They want to move into an apartment worth $500k, perhaps use remainding money to purchase investment properties.

Would dad sell to mum for the $1M, use $500k on apartment and pay capital gains on remainder of $500k? Would they be able to claim all interest back on mums tax (as negative geared) as the original house is now the rental?

Regards
NHG

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 8, 2012 - 1:47 am

Hey c-man

I recently started myself and now understand nobody can answer those questions but you. Questions to ask YOURSELF should be more along the lines of:

–       What are your aims and by when;
–       What level or risk/debt are you comfortable with;
–       How much time can you dedicate to learning and improving;
–       What changes are you willing to make to your lifestyle to save more.

From house to apartment, you can make a profit on both. Personally I prefer houses that require small changes. I don’t do major renovations or any sort of special financing (flips, vf, etc). You may want to start with something simple by buying under-priced property which require minor renovations.You’ll be surprised how little you really know about the process until you take action. Everyday is now a learning experience wether it be negotiating with vendors, council, or my dad (who seems to know everything)

Again that is my opinion and everybody would advise differently.

IMO, start with 2 books:
1. From 0 – 130 properties in 3.5 years by Steve McKnight;
2. 20 must ask questions for every property investor by Margaret Lomas.

Theres dozens if not hundreds more books and articles you may read from there. Oh and network with people who know more, they will not only inspire you, they will also save you a few bucks by helping you NOT make a mistake.

As for structure, there's plenty of advice here, personally buying a couple under my own name to take advantage of land tax thresh-hold, rest will be in discretionary trusts.

Gluck!

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 7, 2012 - 10:09 pm

I’ll admit, common sense tells me a lot of what I’m seeing in the market seems unsustainable. When and how the market will correct is just purely speculation from my part.Yet you will find people will pay top dollar for perceived value. I asked for $340/wk rent on a place in St Marys, NSW and was offered $360/wk by 2 people within 3 days, the latest rental is in a mess and already has a tenant lined up for the same price (un-renovated). Mates of mine pay $300+/wk each to live in Sydney City. Unjustifiable by your standards and mine, yet it happens. Work pays for my rent, and I still haggle over rent to keep it under $300/wk, thus I own property and they don’t.

As more of the population tells themselves house prices are high and unaffordable, you will find more people entering the rental market making it tighter and driving rent prices up. Adult ‘kids’ still living at home will be pushed out as retired parents sell down, and be forced to rent, using their higher incomes to maintain their status quo standard of living.  As an informed investor, it is up to us to makes sure we are buying property that will have a highly perceived cost/benefit ratio, to take advantage of competition in a tight rental market.

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 7, 2012 - 7:21 am

Freckle wrote:

bardon wrote:

I think that you will find that when it comes to rent reviews then the outcome is that they rise which is hardly a wild claim.

 I've rented for the last 13 years, 2 for 5 yr periods each. Not one rent rise in all that time. I pay less today than I did 10 years ago.

Hmm, I think that may have more to do with either a naive PI who feels they are doing the right thing as you were such a great long term tennant, or they are receiving poor advice from the PM.

I asked my dad why his rent was so low, was renting to tenant for 3 years and rent went from $300 to $330 in that time. A quick look at rentals in the area, he realised rent for that house should have been $400. Fired agent on the spot, their explanation "they were such nice people". Now renting for $420 (went from negative to positive geared).

Incomes are increased by inflation rates every other year, I read somewhere, average house rent can be up to 30-35% or the persons average income. So if incomes are increasing, then so are rents.
Thoughts?

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 7, 2012 - 4:45 am

Only in the finest of penthouses of course… :p

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 4, 2012 - 5:18 am

BankWest down 32 basis boints it seems.

That puts me at 6.23% and 6.15% for each property. Think they are both automatically positive geared now (after all expenses, pre-granny flat construction yet after 10/20% deposits respectively – wohoo…)

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 3, 2012 - 12:51 pm

Learn to negotiate hard (and it's not always about money, so many things to negotiate on).. just started late last year and at #IP2 now.

First property, I felt I was being rude offering such a 'low' price. My dad who always has an opinion told me off for not negotionating hard enough.

Fast forward 6 months, purchased property number 2. This time dad was uncomfortable as I was putting in 'low ball' offers. I stuck to what I felt was the right price for me in order for said property to meet my cash-flow criteria, amusingly all offers have come back with a yes (some 2-3 months later). I took the one that I felt was a great buy.

Lesson learnt, now working on improving research and negotiating skills.

[NHGMember@nhgJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 198]

May 3, 2012 - 12:44 pm

Any word on what BankWest is doing for existing customers? Watching it like a hawk, tho only seen mention on drop to 6.98%.

Haha Dwolfe… was thinking the same thing myself this morning.