[SjsMember@sjsJoin Date: 2001Post Count: 8]

October 15, 2004 - 12:42 am

OK, maybe I’ve misunderstood here, but I’m not sure why the “gross” annual positive cashflow is the figure Steve has chosen to give in the book. It seems that this figure is, well, useless – if you are trying to get an idea of how well one of the Mappers did in terms of positive cashflow.

Have I understood correctly that this figure is the cashflow before expenses like loan repayments, rates, insurance etc. are taken out?

Looking at Will and Del’s figures from page 250 (chosen purely because that’s roughly where I’m up to in the book right now): if we assume that they bought all the property at an LVR of approximately 80% then they have debt somewhere in the area of 1.3 million dollars. I have no idea what interest rate they are paying, but guesstimation says they _may_ have an annual interest bill as high as 80 or 90 thousand. That’s well over half of the “gross” annual positive cashflow specified, before we take into account the principal repayment (unless they’re all IO loans), rates, insurance etc.

The “real” positive cashflow that Will and Del have from their MAP purchases (i.e. cashflow after all expenses but before tax) may be very small.

Of course, since we don’t know their actual LVR, whether they have IO or P&I loans, their interest rate, etc. etc. it may be that I’m wrong and they actually do have a lot of “real” positive cashflow… but this is entirely my point: *we have no idea*… so what use is this “gross” annual positive cashflow figure? Why not give their cashflow after expenses but before tax?

We know that Steve managed to “get out of the rat race” (i.e. achieved an annual positive cashflow *after expenses* in excess of his annual living expenses) in under a year (in 11 months, if I recall correctly.) In the same amount of time, and with the benefit of having attended one of Steve’s seminars, plus a whole year of mentoring from Steve, did *any* of the Mappers manage to get out of the rat race? Did any of them come close?

[SjsMember@sjsJoin Date: 2001Post Count: 8]

August 4, 2003 - 4:04 am

I called my local dymocks about Steve’s book this morning. They claimed to have 2 copies on the shelves. When I asked them to hold one for me, they were unable to find either of them. Their conclusion: someone had stolen them. I placed this call at around 11am… guess there are some McKnight fans that are quicker off the mark than I am. — Guys, if you’re out there, I’m always on the lookout for a good mentor.. You obviously have the “take action” step down-pat… any pointers on the “integrity” bit????? []

Oh well.. maybe I’ll have been lucky enough to have been one of the 1st 100 orders on PI.com…..

[SjsMember@sjsJoin Date: 2001Post Count: 8]

June 11, 2003 - 2:27 am

No, no! We want downloadable Ogg/MP3/AAC! []

(Preferably Ogg, since it’s patent-free, although MP3 players are currently more readily available.)

We could listen to the thing mere minutes after we buy it….

[SjsMember@sjsJoin Date: 2001Post Count: 8]

January 14, 2003 - 9:15 am

I wasn’t the original poster who asked this, but since I’m trying to find an area in which to get started I thought I’d have a go at answering these questions.

Katoomba is in the Blue Mountains, 110km west of Sydney.

A quick search on http://www.realestate.com.au for 3 BR rental properties in Katoomba came up with only one property. Rent was $180 per week.

Propertyvalue.com.au says the median house price for this area (postcode 2780) is $279,298.

Regarding population, I don’t know how to find stats on population movement.. can anyone point me to a good way to find this stuff? Anyway, Propertyvalue.com.au says the pop for this postcode is 16540. I’m not sure how wide an area that covers though. From another source I have a pop for Katoomba specifically of around 8500.

If anyone can give me some tips on better ways to get this info I’d appreciate it.

Some other interesting info from Propertyvalue.com.au:

Crime is low compared to the NSW average.

Renters are the 2nd largest group in terms of nature of occupancy (fully owned is the largest.)

Here’s my total newbie evaluation of Katoomba then:

1) The population looks a bit low.

2) Looking at the likely rent vs the median house price, this region is light-years away from the 11-second solution.

Therefore (since my goal is financial independance, and hence I want to invest for cashflow) Katoomba is a very bad choice of area.

I’d be interested to hear what more experienced investors think. Am I looking at it wrong?

Thanks.

[SjsMember@sjsJoin Date: 2001Post Count: 8]

January 9, 2003 - 2:33 am

Thanks LanceH for that info. I think I must not be understanding the wrap process correctly.

I was under the impression that I needed to find an *area* where properties which fit the 11-sec soln were generally available, rather than finding just one property which works.

If I’m going to be ’empowering’ a wrapee to go out and find a property, isn’t the idea that they should find one which fits the 11-sec soln?

Should I be looking for potential wrapees that are paying high rent in their current property and sell them a much cheaper property? Wouldn’t that mean the wrap property would have to be either

a) Significantly smaller
b) Significantly lower quality
or
c) In a completely different locality

than the property they are currently renting? Do people really want to move to that sort of property in order to be owners?

Thanks.