A lot of the banks are starting to introduce DEFs (deferred establishment fees) – especially if you take a discount. ANZ has a $700 DEF, eg., but they wil reimburse you if you take out another mortgage within 12months. But even $700 is not much when compared with some of the exit fees on the non bank lenders.

You just need to approach some personal friends or relatives, accountants etc.

I agree with Pud, You cannot usually claim the costs of inspecting properties you are yet to own. These are capital costs and can only be claimed against the sale.

Setting up a trust can cost as little as $175 on line, but you would be wise to use a professional to assist you in setting one up or you could get into a mess. Accountants don't prepare deeds. They are drawn up by solicitors. Accountants can assist with filling in the roles such as who will be appointor and trustee etc. This will vary depending…[Read more]

You've got a fair bit of equity, so you could probably buy 3 to 4 more properties if you wanted to. Whether you could afford it or not will depend on your income and rents received.

There is probably a lot out there on unit trusts, but they are pretty straight forward – so there won't be much in depth. have a look at http://www.lawcentral.com.au for starters.Unit trusts are similar to companies in some ways – the trust ownership is broken up into units (like shares in a company) and the unit holders get income according to their…[Read more]

MarkatTo use equity to repay loans, you just borrow a bit extra, use that to pay the interest etc on the way and do your development then sell, or refinance and keep. In your situation, if you had a LVR of 50%, you could possibly take this up to 80% using a No Doc loan and have another 30% available to do more with.Having different structures will…[Read more]

You will be able to get finance for sure. But what the rate is the and LVR will depend on how severe your blemish is, how much it was for and when it was, or if, paid. You may even be able to get pretty good rates with a lower LVR.

St George and MAcquarie are lenders I have recently used for hybrids

What is the finance situation like in the Philipines? Can non-residents get loans?

Bank West's exit fees on some products are only $300 (approx).There may also be the opportunity to keep the loan open and just switch securities – but this can be a lot of mucking around.

You may need a prospectus for what you are doing – which can be very costly. People have gotten themselves into serious trouble raising money from the public – have a look at the ASIC site.

Hi VBI see.No, I don't have a SMSF and haven't really done any research in this area. So if you are going to borrow to do something like a JV with the super fund, and you cannot mortgage this property why not just buy it outside the SMSF, just on your own? The JV would be ungeared so you will be tying up a lot of cash?

I am not qualified to answer, but I think you can roll over income losses from year to year without limit – until your income wipes them out.

Sorry, I don't follow.You set up a unit trust to own property, and then the units are owned by yourself and your superfund 50% each? Why not just 100% in the superfund if you are not borrowing?

Hi MarkI am not qualified, but believe you can claim reasonable expenses incurred when going to view an investment property that you currently own.So is it reasonable for you to stay overnight for 2 days to view a property? Maybe it is if you are getting tradespeople in etc. Maybe not if you are just having a quick look at it. If you drove you…[Read more]

The OSR do random audits and target some people who have been 'dobbed' in. There are cases where the FHOG has been ordered to be repaid and extra stamp duty imposed.Look at this article on a guy who had to pay it back http://www.mccourts.com.au/public/news/realestate/HTOct07.html#1

I don't know for sure, but have heard something similar – that if all parties do not agree, then one party can take the matter to the supreme court.

Most of the major lenders have their own in-house legal teams and the fees are incorporated into the loan. But a lot of the smaller non bank lenders actually charge separately for legals. $1200 is a fair bit. (Some lenders may say nil app fees, but then slug you with other fees to make up for it!).

The yield isn't bad for todays market if it is in a major city. As long as there is potential for some good captial growth it sounds good.