I also would suggest it is not wise to buy an appreciating asset in a company as you lose the 50% CGT reduction for assets held over 12 months – which could cap your tax at half of the top marginal rate of 46%. 23% is less than the company rate of 30%.

And you certainly should not buy in the same company you trade with. Businesses are often sued, and this will place the properties at risk.

I would look at trusts, probably in your situation a discretionary trust. Losses cannot be offset against no trust income, but being self employed, you may be able to structure it so your company profits can flow into the same trust offsetting losses.

Blueheeler, losses cannot be be claimed by a beneficary. Unit holders may be able to claim a loss by borrowing to buy the units, but to enable this to happen there seems to be too many restrictions required for the ATO to accept it.

yes, it would be possible. eg. You could offer the tenant an option to purchase the house at a discount of X% against a sworn valuation – or the average of a valuation requested by yourself and a valuation requested by the option holder.

Tax benefits of a trust result from the streaming abilities – you can usually distribute (with a discretionary trust) to the lowest income earner of a wide range of beneficiaries, this results in lower tax being paid.

Trustees have a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries of the trust. that means they must act in the best interest of the beneficiaries, not their own interests. The VIC ruling you mention may be related related to Land Tax.

Banks impose their own requirements and nearly always will want all trustees to guarantee the loan. Sometimes they want the beneficiaries to guarantee as well. Once the loan is established it may be possible to enable just having one person's signature for redraws etc. Just like when you have a joint account, you can require both to sign, or either party to sign.

Each state has legislation relating to Trusts, for NSW see

TRUSTEE ACT 1925,

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ta1925122/

Yes, you would just have to apply like normal though. They would need proof of income and a new valuation etc.

fact.

Banks would not let someone take over without making sure they could pay the loan. What would happen if you took over and then stopped paying? The bank would be in the same position. 

it will still depend on the clients background to a large degree.

1) ANZ or St George
2) ANZ or St George
3) I like St George as they have their own LMI and they are good with trusts. But they are fussy with wanting to see lots of documents (eg credit card statements). But they charge LMI.
Citibank is very cheap at the moment, no LMI, but they only use Genworth for their LMI
RAMS are good too having the 2 major LMI companies plus their own, and they can got o 85% LVR, but their exit fees are very high and they are not so good with trusts
4) St George, maybe RAMS
5) Don't use them, but St G have a discount on at the moment.

Hi Lisa

I was going to suggest something similar to Richard and Simon. Using IO for all loans, even PPOR, and put all spare cash, including rents, into a 100% offset account against the PPOR, not into a LOC. You can have a LOC attached to the PPOR, but this should only be used for deposits and investment costs. As the funds in the offset increase, you can pay this off the home loan and increase the LOC. You probably should not just use this cash to directly pay deposits as this will result in higher interest on your home loan without it be deductible. If you were to pay all cash into a LOC it can get messy at tax time and result in lower deductions. You are also saving interest on the investment loans which means less deductions and end up paying higher interest on the home loan which is not deductible. Also consider paying all IP expenses such as insurance and rates etc from the LOC (get accountant's advice).

Buying cashflow positive property that is low growth will slow you down in the long run. Deposits need to come from somewhere – cash or equity, so the only way forward without growth is saving.

Trust names don't appear on titles. Just the trustee. The ATO knows because you will submit a tax return in the name of the trust and have other documents backing up the ownership being in the trust name in case this is ever disputed. eg. minute, contract of sale etc

Trusts have names, but these are not really registered. You can register it when getting an ABN, and it can be searched via the http://www.abr.gov.au site. That is why it is best not to use you own name in part of the trust name – easily found.

At least with IO you have the choice of paying extra when you have the money (like a PI loan) and can then reduce your repayments if need be. With a PI loan you are stuck in paying PI.

Crashy

You could on sell the house, but unless you have a option, you would need to pay stamp duty.