Thanks Derek

I will get some bells and whistles eventually.

Thanks guys. You can sign up by my website – beware it is very amaterish!

Hi Songrad

So you put down 20% deposit and costs. Lets say $50,000.

If you used cash that means you had money which you could have paid into your home loan to reduce the interest and your non deductible debt.

If your loan is at 6% then the interest on a $50,000 decrease would be $3500 per year.

This means you will have $3500 per year less in tax deductions for the next 30 years or so. Roughly a loss of $1000 per year after tax.

Another way to think of it is imagine if you had a spare $1000 per year to pay off your home loan – and that this is paid monthly and imagine the compounding effects

Yes, Celibacy!

Whether you could get a loan or not would depend on the circumstances. Best to talk to a broker about that bit. It may be difficult if your spouse has just bought a house, but the projected rental income from your property will be included in serviceability.

Also you may want to hold off a bit and do it down the track.

Tom, no need for the " " as that is exactly what can happen in VIC. Sell to a spouse for full market value with no stamp duty!!

You could have structured things more tax effective. Are you living in the first home?

Where did you read that???

This is not correct JacM,

If you as an individual are trustee of the SMSF and you get sued then the assets of the fund are not your property and generally cannot be touched. The Bankruptcy Act has an express exemption in the definition of 'property' so that it does not include assets held on trust for another.

Why you want a corporate trustee of a trust, including a SMSF, is because of the asset protection if the trust itself is sued. Say a tenant falls out of the window that was not properly fixed in a rental property. The tenant would sue the owner which is the trustee. The trustee would be you or the company. If they win you would have pay them $x, but you would have a right for this to be paid for out of the assets of the trust. If the trust assets are not enough then you still have to pay. That is why it shoudn't be you, but a company.

There are heaps of other reasons as well – such as death, passing on control of the fund etc.

Your lawyer is not really correct. They can accept offers and there is no requirement for going to auction, but an auction is a good indiciation that it went for market value.