The wife and I are planning to purchase a second home as an investment property, since we have never bought an investment house before I was wondering if I could get some advice people might have who have investment homes of their own. Just after any piece of information you would deem note worthy or any pitfall you might think of to watch out for.

Thanks.

Dazza.

Assuming the investment house will be a rental GET A GOOD MANAGER!! that you can trust and who will only allow good tenants.(We just sacked our last manager because the firm she works for wanted $80(!! ) to isssue a rental statement.....!! Bad tenats have cost myself and my dad big$ over the years....i find the best tenants are lil old ladies as they seem to take real pride in there houses (or units in my case) and really look after the place..my 2.2c's

are units a better idea than houses or are they fairly equal, are corporate fees on units a hassle or just a different way of saying rates.

Dazza.

tHE VALUE OF A hOUSE AND LAND PACKAGE WILL ALWAYS INCREASE faster than a town house. My father own a Finance Company and says the best Tennants to have in investments are GAY GUYS, they look after everything with lots of pride even if it ain't theirs. Anyway Look for something you can buy cheap , clean up and charge good rent for , then negative gear it, you will then add extra dollars in your pocket every year from the TAx return.

I have been told by a few people that negative gearing is bad bad bad, and you should always try and at least get enough rent to pay the loan repayments. Whats the benefit to negative gearing and not negative gearing.

Dazza.

sorry if i confused anybody by units i dont mean town house i mean duplex units with yards...town houses and most "inner city" apartments are imho overpriced to start with and generally the only person who seems to make money them is the developer....two gay guys hey?.......i think i'l stick to my lil old ladies they always like you to stay for tea and bikkies when you go round for a rent inspection....

hey i just had a though (a rarity i know but hear me out)...instead of two gay guys what about two hot blonde swedish lesbians.......just a thought....

Edited 21/03/06 05:58 PM21/03/06 05:58 PM by hiddeous

As for the negative gearing....i'l probably get flamed for this but...i negative gear because of the tax benefits. i pay around 75 to 80% of my investment repayments with the rent collected and pay the other 20% out of my pocket. i suppose it depends on why you have the investment 1. as another source of income or 2. as an appreciating assest. It also depends on your income and if you can afford to negative gear or you need the tenants to pay 100%. Be mindful that any dollars you take in over and about your repayments will be classed as taxable income (minus expenses associated with the property of course) With a negatively geared property you can also claim all the interest paid and any bank fees the are incured by the investment finance. i dont know if you can with a positivly geared property..

clear as mud??

best advice would be to find a good financial advisor/planner and talk to them...

good luck with it

best advice would be to find a good financial advisor/planner and talk to them...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's about the best advise you could get Dazza. Although this place is in no way short of "experts", everyones financial sitution is different and what may work for someone else could be the worst setup in your scenario.

on the finance side of things.......

Get an INTEREST ONLY loan...... your repayments will be lower..... Whilst it does not pay off the loan, you can reduce the loan with lump sum payments usually.....

What most people want is to take advantage of the capital gain...... so... what you want in the meantime is to keep your monthly payments lower.......

Negative gearing is OK as long as you have a big salary and want to reduce tax, but, other than that, why would you buy a property to lose money ???????

We have 50 properties, and they are all positively geared....... if you make $$$ you have to be prepared to pay tax on it.......

that's where doing property investing AS A COMPANY comes into it...... you only pay 30% profits tax, so, you can pay for all sorts of things with pre tax $$$..... meaning your company only shows a small profit, or even a loss......

lots to consider with property investing...... MOST IMPORTANTLY, you need to work out what you are doing it for.... what are you goals ???

Cheers

Scott

I would be surprised if you could buy any property these days that is not negative geared unless you paid a substantial amount upfront with a deposit.

Negative gearing is not particularly bad but it is not a saviour either. Even though you are getting a portion back at tax time you will still have ultimately made a loss.

If you have your own home then put maximum funds into paying that off and pay interest only on the investment loan.

All expenses incurred in the process of earning money from the investment property are claimable (ie. bank interest, fees, council rates, insurance, property manager fees, repairs etc).

I would steer clear of larger houses with big yards. Tenants generally (gays and oldies aside perhaps) don't give a toss about looking after a house that is not theirs. They will not lose sleep over stains in the carpet nor the fact that the back yard is an overgrown weed pit. Between tenants you will spend lots of time and money preparing the place to attract new tenants.

Something many investors don't consider is the benefits of depreciation (bad for cars good for tax returns). If you buy a property built after 1987 then you can claim 2.5% of it's 'build cost' every year.

Rent continuity is important so also consider something like an apartment with guaranteed rent return if volatility exists where you are buying.

Muz