[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

October 24, 2004 - 4:47 am

Hello,

As far as investing overseas goes, I’ve bought a couple here and in NZ, but was thinking about places like the States and Europe. Does anyone have any tips, tricks and pitfalls for investing further afield than NZ?

Thanks

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

September 4, 2004 - 10:34 am

Is it worth paying to get a depreciation schedule done up for $100,000 or so investment properties that aren’t furnished and are a bit older?

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

August 31, 2004 - 12:14 pm

I’ve had a look into ozforex.com.au and they actually look pretty good – good exchange and good (ie cheap) fees. Has anyone used them before and have any positive or negative feedback about them?

Del – have you got a mortgage in NZ? Am I right in thinking that interest rates are about 0.75% higher in NZ at the moment?

Does anyone know what the chances of setting up a small mortgage in NZ from Australia would be?? – in order to have somewhere to send the rent in NZ and have it actually reducing interest on the loan.

Thanks everyone for your help

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

August 28, 2004 - 9:02 am

Hi again,

Thanks for your responses. I thought that even having an ANZ account in both countries, the banks would still charge a TT and forex fee. Thanks for the suggestion about ozforex.com.au – their rates do look pretty good (too bad I didn’t know about them before settlement…)

I think as far as the forex risk goes, at least the NZD (hopefully) shouldn’t go too far away from the AUD. I had a look at mortgage rates in NZ and it looks about 1% more expensive, which would probably turn out to cost more than forex fluctuations.

Thanks again

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

April 2, 2004 - 9:10 am

What are people’s opinions on serviced apartments and the like. I was looking in NZ and made a conditional offer on a +ve geared one, went through the due diligence and found that the body corporate insurance excluded water damage and the building had plumbing problems. I’ve been told that this is apparently a common problem in the NZ cities – has anyone else experienced this?

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

March 22, 2004 - 1:38 pm

Thanks for everyone’s responses. So am I right in assuming that there’s no actual disincentive to keep foreign investors out – eg a foreign investors tax or something along those lines.

Not having stamp duty certainly seems to make it that little bit easier to find +ve geared properties…

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

October 26, 2003 - 10:12 am

Thanks all for your responses. Keep ’em coming

As far as the stats of the town/location, the population’s about 20,000, the place I’m looking at is on the main street of the town. There are a couple of vacant store fronts, but not too many. As far as the agent’s comments go, I got the impression he was just being conservative in his estimates.

Like Peter said, the figures even on 50% occupancy aren’t too bad. I did go over to the town and it looks like a really nice storefront, and well kept, solid interior.

The guy selling the property is actually the current tennant, who’d be leasing one half of the property back with a view to reviewing the lease each year. Since he’s the one setting the first year’s rent, I figure that’d be a relatively low rate he’d be giving himself as well.

I’d also definitely be interested if anyone can give me any idea of what considerations should be made with regard to owning commercial properties. Eg GST, is insurance for a commercial property a lot higher than for residential, etc.

Thanks again for all your feedback

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

October 25, 2003 - 8:58 am

Hi Craigc,

Thanks for the feedback.

At the moment, the finance shouldn’t be a problem because I’m just using an existing mortgage on my home.

I think the other shop’s been vacant for about 6 months. The agent was saying the owner hasn’t really been too fussed about finding anyone else, and he reckons he could find a decent tenant within 6 months

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

September 26, 2003 - 2:46 pm

Sorry… just did a search on previous posts and found a few topics that were the same as this one… anyhew

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

August 28, 2003 - 2:35 am

Any other comments or feedback on the suitability of this investment for me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

August 27, 2003 - 11:09 am

Thanks everyone for the feedback – if anyone has any other tips or suggestions about this, please keep the thread running. The floorspace is only 30sqm plus balcony (Could someone explain why it should be at least 45sqm – ie is it a huge problem that it’s not?), but it’s definitely pooled rentals, and it’s a development on the mariner there so the location seems alright. The development website is http://www.lagunawhitsundays.info/m if anyone wants to have a look and give anymore feedback.

Thanks again

Cheers

[nmcaceParticipant@nmcaceJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 16]

August 27, 2003 - 4:50 am

It’s on the coast, at Luguna, which is going to be the location of an international airport by the end of the year. The main market’s apparently conventions and conferences (at already existing conference facilities that are already booked solid for 4 months next year), as well as some golf tournament participents/spectators