[surreyhughes19905Member@surreyhughes19905Join Date: 2003Post Count: 204]

March 29, 2005 - 11:57 pm

I guess I have to say that so far my experience with Devine has been positive. The fellow I’m dealing with has a couple investment properties, he is nice to talk to and has all the answers to the questions I ask (backed up by paperwork).

My view point is that it doesn’t matter what builder you go with as they will all screw, cheat, lie, steal or otherwise mislead you as much as humanly possible. Every one of my friends and relatives who have had anything built has found builders to be, at best, trying to screw you for hours of labour while they muck things up and at worst just this side of criminal.

One friend had a builder install an electronic roller door he expressly said he didn’t want and then the builder tried to charge him to have it removed! That was only one small detail of that experience. Another friend was having his bathroom renovated and not only did it take over a month to install a toilet, but when they did they installed the wrong one, then again wanted to charge for their mistake.

So the way I see it I am expecting a shoddy job at best and it looks like Devine will at least see that I get that [biggrin]

Now this post is at 200+ views and still no name to add as a referer. I’m quite surprised. No one know a friend of a friend or anything?

[surreyhughes19905Member@surreyhughes19905Join Date: 2003Post Count: 204]

March 29, 2005 - 7:17 am

Thanks AussieRogue,
A bit mysterious though.

Could the real leigh mathews please step forward?

I’d love to give you $1,000!

[surreyhughes19905Member@surreyhughes19905Join Date: 2003Post Count: 204]

March 29, 2005 - 5:16 am

Too good to be true? Nah, Devine just want people like me to go about the place doing their selling for them. $1,000 for a closed deal on a referral is cheap advertising.

I can imagine that once I’ve settled I’ll be somewhat biased toward recommending Devine on the basis that I’ll get $1,000 each time someone goes ahead an buys.

Oh and if someone will refer me, I get a dishwasher (worth about $1,000 to me). So for just a name the salesman puts on the registration form it’s a pretty good deal.

Surrey.

[surreyhughes19905Member@surreyhughes19905Join Date: 2003Post Count: 204]

March 29, 2005 - 5:11 am

Hi,
Firstly, don’t be afraid that the bank wont lend you enough, be afraid that they’ll lend you too much! [blink]

More important is to do up a budget and figure out how much money you have spare each week (or month). This info is largely part of you loan application anyway. But the good thing is it lets you see how much debt you can carry assuming no income from the property (or until you can live in it).

Once you’ve worked out your budget you should be able to see what position you are in and you’ll be better able to see what price range you are looking at and so on.

To answer your nagging doubt: What if it doesn’t work? Well you can sell it and move on. Not that big a deal really. Just research. One of the best indicators of how easily you can back out of an investment by selling is to see how much a bank will lend against that asset. The banks have that same question as you do: What if it doesn’t work? and so they’ve worked out how likely they will get their money back from any given loan. Unless you gain additional insight into a particular asset, you can follow the bank’s opinion, after all they are the ones who’ll lend you the money

Use the loan calculators available at the bank web sites along with your budget and you should be well equipped in regards how much you can spend. Then work out what you are trying to buy (quite important). As in are you trying to buy equity for future business loans? Are you trying to buy an alternative to renting? Are you trying to buy a cash flow? etc…

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March 29, 2005 - 4:19 am

Oops it’s slipping down the list a little. 71 readers and still no name?

That’s ok, I’m patient.

[surreyhughes19905Member@surreyhughes19905Join Date: 2003Post Count: 204]

March 29, 2005 - 2:14 am

33 readers and not one knows someone who has bought a Devine home and wants $1,000?

You can email me if you like.

Also, I’m bumping this up.

Heck one could make some money being a Devine referer [biggrin]

[surreyhughes19905Member@surreyhughes19905Join Date: 2003Post Count: 204]

March 23, 2005 - 1:28 am

Hi,
I’ve faced the question of buy or invest just recently. And what the equation comes down to is: Can you buy a place to live in that costs the same as or less than rent? If you work out how much you would be out of pocket by renting and investing (or in pocket as the case may be) compared to living in your own home you know the answer.

EG: If for arguments sake you are paying $150 / week rent then you are paying: $7,800 / year in rent. This is the same interest paid on a $110,000 loan (assuming 7% interest). So you could buy a house for say $125,000 (using your deposit savings) and be paying the same amount of interest as rent (effectively the same thing except you pay the bank rather than your landlord). Any extra money you pay goes against the loan amount and in effect is your savings (as it becomes equity). If you got a room mate in to pay half your loan costs say, you could effectivley get a $220,000 house and pay the same as you are now. If you are eligible for the first home owners grant then that’s at least $7,000 in your pocket better off you’d be.

If you bought an investment property you would be paying your rent plus either getting a little extra or losing a little extra (depending on +ve or -ve cashflow). So I think a big question is one of lifestyle. I chose to keep renting because I live in East Melbourne and there is no way I can afford to buy a house for the amount I’m paying in rent and I don’t want to move out to whoop whoop just to save on rent (I’ve got plenty of time to do that later) when I also work just 3 minutes away in teh city.

Anyway I’d suggest getting someone to do the numbers for you so you can play around with the possibilties. Also check out how much houses you’d like to live in cost and how much you’d have to borrow and pay back to do so.

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March 22, 2005 - 4:03 am

$50k can be the start of a beautiful business no doubt. If it’s just paying the rent that’s your concern and you think you can deal your way into greater cash (but still need money to pay the rent) then you might consider NEIS (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme).

Essentially you go to Centrelink and register to go on NEIS. They tell you when the next workshop is on and you’re off. You work up a business plan, develop a budget, get a mentor, attend small business workshops and all the while collecting the dole without searching for a job (as you are presumably creating one). I’ve got a couple of friends who have done this. One now runs her own massage / beauty therapy shop for instance.

If you think you can make a buck buying land in early release then reselling / reno resell / buy and rent / property repairs whatever then give it a shot. Set up a systematic process for money creation and off you go! [biggrin]

Me, I work to keep up a solid cashflow to fund my acquisitions (just signed a contract on some land in Melton) and so does my fiance (she works at a bank in financing so…). My plan and budget has me investing full time in 5 years and retired in 10 (though the advent of kids may draw that out some).

The reason I don’t take larger risks is because I’ve got such an easy option to fall back on. The less comfortable you are the harder you’ll work on the risks…

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March 22, 2005 - 1:31 am

If the lease is expired then you are on a month to month lease.

In this time you can give 28 days (or maybe 1 calander month) written notice that their time is up. Then I think you can serve them an eviction notice which means they have 2 weeks to vacate. If they don’t by then you can march them and store their stuff for 1 month.

If you can’t get in touch with them, like they’ve abandoned your premises I think you just need to take reasonable effort to contact them with similar time frames as above and then move their stuff into storage.

Read the act and it’ll be pretty clear (and more accurate than what I’ve said, but it is an indication).

Of course if you don’t mind being a little underhanded and you can’t get in touch with them then you could just shift their stuff onto the street and change the locks. Possession is 9/10 of the law and if they are not in possession of your property and they don’t have a signed lease or rental receipt for the past 3-4 months, they will have a hard time proving they are in the right. [strum]

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March 21, 2005 - 4:45 am

Hi,
In my mind I see $50k as being a lot of money, but also a very small amount of money.

On one hand you would have to work hard in a 9-5 job to earn that much in one year and many (most?) take 2 years to have earned that much let alone saved up that much. On the other a 10% return is only $5k / year which might be enough for your groceries, but not for a place to sleep.

So congratulations are in order, but don’t do what my anti-mentor does (he’s the guy I do the exact opposite of in order to succeed). The main crime my anti-mentor commits is counting his chickens before they hatch and from the way he does his counting they must be golden chickens in those eggs!

1. If you are young and haven’t got out in the world then this is a good opportunity to do so. BUT: write a budget and a plan and ensure you don’t return to Australia with a head full of memories and a pocket full of nothing.

2. Don’t “quit” your day job as it were because that $50k does not a cashflow make and you can’t eat big ambition (though my anti-mentor seems to think you can, after all he’s going to be rich so what does it matter if he blows it all + some?) By all means be brave and take a step into the unknown, just make sure you have a map to get there!

3. Remember that cashflow (positive) is what will allow you to be free, a dwindling supply will inevitably lead you back into servitude.

4. Could you give me some of your money? I’m getting married in March 06 and haven’t even paid for the engagement ring yet… then there’s the honeymoon… [biggrin]

Also, do yourself a favour and visit Canada. Beautiful place, great people and there is nothing like the mountains in Autumn.

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March 21, 2005 - 12:46 am

Not being a tax professional at I will add my experience in reading tax law for my own uses…

This sounds like a strategy you would want some serious pro help on to check it’s legality. What you are essentially doing in this situation is borrowing against the equity in an IP to pay down your PPOR and claim tax deductions.

The old trick was to refinance your PPOR to a split loan to buy an IP and claim all the interest on the IP side of the loan thus effectively turning your PPOR loan into an investment loan. Well the tax office isn’t quite as thick as we’d like it to be The fact that you sell your IP (or part of it) to your partner / spouse doesn’t go unnoticed as you are effectively still in control of the property and all you’re trying to do is claim your PPOR loan as a tax deduction.

Of course, since gay marriage is not recognised would this mean that gay couples gain the advantage that, though they are as “together” as a married couple, they are not considered so under law? Could they therefore take advantage of this failure to recognise partnership to shuffle debt to a more tax favourable situation?

hmmm. Might that be a way to introduce change? Hit them in the hip pocket [biggrin]

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March 7, 2005 - 8:06 am

I’ve looked into this sort of thing:
1. You can’t get a mortgage because there is no land title transferred. Thus you can only get personal loans = high cost of finance.

2. No capital growth because of point 1 and depreciation on relocatable home. ie everything just loses value.

3. Rent must include GST as they are not considered “residential”.

Those were the 3 points that I took into account and chose to put my pennies elsewhere. Things may have changed, but you can check that out.

On the positive side they can and do provide cashflow, though as a long term investment… well do the math and see how it works for your situation.

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February 24, 2005 - 4:18 am

The first thing that comes to mind is at least get a free initial consultation with a financial planner to see what they can do for you.

Second thing: Finance can be gotten if your husband works full time and you can show you have spare income and enough equity (your redundancy package for example).

Work isn’t hard to find if you don’t mind finding any sort of work. I think that stands regardless of age or background. So if you need extra income to get rolling I’m sure you can find something to do.

I’d also recommend you pay off any high interest debt you have (credit cards, car loans etc…) $1 off a 12% loan is like investing at 12% return [biggrin] to an extent anyway.