Actually, I think you may not need a valuation
see s118-185 ITAA 1997
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/itaa1997240/s118.185.html

Yep, IO is great and not paying down the loan is great. You could use a savings account for spare cash, but it would be so much better with the offset. Maybe you should see a broker and see if there are any other options out there. I wouldn't worry too much about the hits on your ccredit file.

Tell them you are changing banks and see what happens. Ask for a pay out figure on all loans because you are changing to NAB.

I don't think the are – unless you are in the business of investing in residential property.

Firstly, RAMS is a non bank lender so you will have high exit fees and no offset account. These are major drawbacks!

IO is the way to go, especially if you will be moving out. Redraw shouldn't matter as you should not be paying down the loan if IO. Do you understand the tax implications of paying extra and then trying to withdraw later?

Capital costs are costs associate with the house/land and its purchase and includes the house itself, fixtures and fittings and legals and stamp duty associated with the purchase of these.

Borrowing costs would be application fees, LMI, registration of mortgage, stamp duty on the loan (now mostly abolished I think), stamp duty on LMI.

say you borrow $95,000 on a $100,000 purchase. LMI would be payable and probably application fees (maybe) and some of registration fees etc. You may end up borrowing $98,000 with $3,000 being extra for the borrowing costs.
You would generally be able to claim the interest on the full $98,000.
But you could also claim the costs of the borrowing costs too. These are $3,000 divided over 5 years (or the term of the loan if shorter – eg you may sell or refinance). This would mean you have an extra $600 to claim each year for the first 5.

Stamp duty is a capital cost so you cannot claim it against income, but when you sell and make a profit (or loss) it can be taken into account and claimed then. You could borrow the stamp duty and claim the interest on this too – generally. so in the above eg, you may borrow another $4,000 for stamp duty and have a total loan of $102,000 and the interest on this would be deductible. (you may be getting part of this loan from another LOC or using a second property as security).

In the ACT, and maybe NT too?? the land is lease hold so there it is a bit different there. You pay stamp duty on the lease to the government and can claim this against your income because it is not a capital cost. I haven't never purchased in Act so am not totally sure how this works.

i would disregard inflation for this sort of scenario as it will apply for any option you go with.

You should also consider that if you had $100,000 cash you should be using this to pay down your non-deductible home loan and then reborrowing it to invest. You will be be saving $x pa in interest and will also be able to get the other investments too.

Marriage is not really necessary (nor is any love or affection required) – if they are in a spousal relationship that would be enough to obtain the exemption in Vic. (assuming the property is in vic)

If he wants 10% of the property, including growth etc, then he really wants ownership. He could do this in 2 ways (maybe more). 1 is to go on title as legal owner and 2 is for you to act as his trustee and own his share on behalf of himself. Both will have tax consequences and probably consequence for the loan as well. You really should see a lawyer to explain the consequences draw up an agreement. Its much more complex as he is a non resident too.

The 6 year rule is only applicable when you are absent from your residence if you are just renting a few rooms out you are not absent so can't claim the exemption