Getting Started In Property - Unity Funding

Lay out the numbers and what you've done. What is your income, what have you got saved, and who have you talked to (an independent mortgage broker, your bank, etc)?

You asked for the details...here they are :D

My husband earns $70k pa. I earn $0. We also get $300 per fortnight in family tax benefits. We have 2 dependants and a $24k car loan. Our credit card limit is $6k. It has $0 balance, $0 annual fees and is only there for emergencies.

As mentioned before, we have about $20k saved. I say about because some of it is in shares so the actual amount will be dependent on the unit price, fees, etc when we cash them in.

So far we have spoken to Mortgage Choice and iSelect to find out if we could borrow now and how much we could borrow. We spoke to them just to get a guide. We'll talk to others when we're almost ready to act. Their response was we could borrow $200k max and we?d have to pay LMI. So $220k for everything doesn?t go far for a property that we can manufacture some equity in. Roughly speaking the project breakdown would be: $190k purchase price, $20k to manufacture the equity and $10k in duties, fees and charges.

Initially we looked regionally with a purchase price up to $200k. Our search criteria was/is houses in NSW, 2+ bedrooms. We?ve even visited a few towns that we found potential suitable properties. We found a few good contenders, but to go ahead with any of them we have three issues to resolve/manage first: 1) How do we fix up the property when we need to be in Sydney to work? With such a small budget a lot of the work will have to be DIY. We could travel there every weekend but that would drive up our holding costs with fuel and the extra time required. Alternatively, the kids and I could live onsite so I could get the work done?but with two little helpers it?s an accident waiting to happen. 2) The properties we?ve found need some serious work. Some need to be gutted. Right now I?m not confident we can get the project in under or on budget given how much work would be required and how small our budget is. We need to learn more about renovation costs before we start so we don?t get caught out. 3) The average listing time for many of these towns is huge. Over a year in some cases. I think we?re playing with fire if we can?t somehow ensure our property is one of the town?s ?quick sellers??don?t know how we?re going to do that. I think starting regionally this will end up being the option we take.

If we can somehow increase our budget and find something closer to home that isn?t a disaster zone we?d overcome the issues I mentioned (we?d still have to learn more about renovation costs). This brings us to our current (probably wishful) search criteria?same as before, just within 100km of Sydney. Under $200k the majority of the results are caravans in lifestyle villages on the central coast?not exactly the type of property you can flip for a profit. I increased my price limit until I started seeing some potential properties. About $400k seems to be the number. So our total budget for this kind of property would be in the order of $450k. Logistically it?s an easier property for us to do and poses less risk?but we can?t make $230k magically appear. Hence our interest in a joint ventures.
 
I'm not sure where in Sydney you are, but have you looked at the Central Coast? It has properties in your budget (or very close), as well as much cheaper (and easier to get into) childcare :)
 
You asked for the details...here they are :D

My husband earns $70k pa. I earn $0. We also get $300 per fortnight in family tax benefits. We have 2 dependants and a $24k car loan. Our credit card limit is $6k. It has $0 balance, $0 annual fees and is only there for emergencies.

As mentioned before, we have about $20k saved. I say about because some of it is in shares so the actual amount will be dependent on the unit price, fees, etc when we cash them in.

So far we have spoken to Mortgage Choice and iSelect to find out if we could borrow now and how much we could borrow. We spoke to them just to get a guide. We'll talk to others when we're almost ready to act. Their response was we could borrow $200k max and we?d have to pay LMI. So $220k for everything doesn?t go far for a property that we can manufacture some equity in. Roughly speaking the project breakdown would be: $190k purchase price, $20k to manufacture the equity and $10k in duties, fees and charges.

Initially we looked regionally with a purchase price up to $200k. Our search criteria was/is houses in NSW, 2+ bedrooms. We?ve even visited a few towns that we found potential suitable properties. We found a few good contenders, but to go ahead with any of them we have three issues to resolve/manage first: 1) How do we fix up the property when we need to be in Sydney to work? With such a small budget a lot of the work will have to be DIY. We could travel there every weekend but that would drive up our holding costs with fuel and the extra time required. Alternatively, the kids and I could live onsite so I could get the work done?but with two little helpers it?s an accident waiting to happen. 2) The properties we?ve found need some serious work. Some need to be gutted. Right now I?m not confident we can get the project in under or on budget given how much work would be required and how small our budget is. We need to learn more about renovation costs before we start so we don?t get caught out. 3) The average listing time for many of these towns is huge. Over a year in some cases. I think we?re playing with fire if we can?t somehow ensure our property is one of the town?s ?quick sellers??don?t know how we?re going to do that. I think starting regionally this will end up being the option we take.

If we can somehow increase our budget and find something closer to home that isn?t a disaster zone we?d overcome the issues I mentioned (we?d still have to learn more about renovation costs). This brings us to our current (probably wishful) search criteria?same as before, just within 100km of Sydney. Under $200k the majority of the results are caravans in lifestyle villages on the central coast?not exactly the type of property you can flip for a profit. I increased my price limit until I started seeing some potential properties. About $400k seems to be the number. So our total budget for this kind of property would be in the order of $450k. Logistically it?s an easier property for us to do and poses less risk?but we can?t make $230k magically appear. Hence our interest in a joint ventures.

Hi, Will this be your first project? Have you had experience in doing this? If you were the first timer, I would suggest you think it twice before you do it. $400,000 is a huge amount. You would bound to face some problems which you might not have the experience to overcome it. It could bring you backward. I would suggest you to start small (if you really want to) and learn from it. It would be better for you to buy a small IP with what you can afford now and hold. Do it when the time is right.
 
My husband earns $70k pa. I earn $0. We also get $300 per fortnight in family tax benefits. We have 2 dependants and a $24k car loan. Our credit card limit is $6k. It has $0 balance, $0 annual fees and is only there for emergencies.

As mentioned before, we have about $20k saved. I say about because some of it is in shares so the actual amount will be dependent on the unit price, fees, etc when we cash them in.

So far we have spoken to Mortgage Choice and iSelect to find out if we could borrow now and how much we could borrow. We spoke to them just to get a guide. We'll talk to others when we're almost ready to act. Their response was we could borrow $200k max and we?d have to pay LMI. So $220k for everything doesn?t go far for a property that we can manufacture some equity in. Roughly speaking the project breakdown would be: $190k purchase price, $20k to manufacture the equity and $10k in duties, fees and charges.

Initially we looked regionally with a purchase price up to $200k. Our search criteria was/is houses in NSW, 2+ bedrooms. We?ve even visited a few towns that we found potential suitable properties. We found a few good contenders, but to go ahead with any of them we have three issues to resolve/manage first: 1) How do we fix up the property when we need to be in Sydney to work? With such a small budget a lot of the work will have to be DIY. We could travel there every weekend but that would drive up our holding costs with fuel and the extra time required. Alternatively, the kids and I could live onsite so I could get the work done?but with two little helpers it?s an accident waiting to happen. 2) The properties we?ve found need some serious work. Some need to be gutted. Right now I?m not confident we can get the project in under or on budget given how much work would be required and how small our budget is. We need to learn more about renovation costs before we start so we don?t get caught out. 3) The average listing time for many of these towns is huge. Over a year in some cases. I think we?re playing with fire if we can?t somehow ensure our property is one of the town?s ?quick sellers??don?t know how we?re going to do that. I think starting regionally this will end up being the option we take.

If we can somehow increase our budget and find something closer to home that isn?t a disaster zone we?d overcome the issues I mentioned (we?d still have to learn more about renovation costs). This brings us to our current (probably wishful) search criteria?same as before, just within 100km of Sydney. Under $200k the majority of the results are caravans in lifestyle villages on the central coast?not exactly the type of property you can flip for a profit. I increased my price limit until I started seeing some potential properties. About $400k seems to be the number. So our total budget for this kind of property would be in the order of $450k. Logistically it?s an easier property for us to do and poses less risk?but we can?t make $230k magically appear. Hence our interest in a joint ventures.

I feel for you. Have you thought about buying a place in a regional area with a positive cash flow--not something that you need to renovate, but something that would pay itself off in a few years? Let the tenants pay it off for you. You could then sell it a few years down the track, hopefully having made some capital gains as well (although they're not great in the regional areas). You would then have a $100,000+ deposit and the banks would lend you more than they are willing to at the moment?

I'm not sure the $24K car loan is a good idea.
 
Back
Top