My book is finally here!!

[Michael Yardney]

Hi Michael

I just ordered a copy of the book. Would be nice if I could have an autographed one.

Thanks

Sunshine

It would be a pleasure to autograph your copy.
Thanks all so much for the great feedback.

I look forward to meeting many of you at my Property Briefings around Australia starting this Saturday - I am up past midnight still adding new content to my presentations

 

[DKinvestments]

Just finished reading ur new book

Michael,

Just finished reading ur new book, very informative and i learnt a lot

Thanks,

 

[Merovingian]

Hi Michael,

I only have 2 chapters to go, but I thought I'd say my piece.

An excellent book. Only a few real estate investment books have really resonated with me, and this one is one of them.

Excellent work! Thanks!

PS: Looking forward to seeing you in Adelaide next month.

 

[geoffw]

And Geoff W thanks for the suggesting the chnage of name - you were obvioulsy spot on

Shouldn't that have been the change of nmae, rather than the chnage of name ?

Michael, my apologies for the long wait for my response (although I did respond in another thread).

I did enjoy your book immensely.

Well, not just enjoy. That's not quite the right term. I learnt a lot

I found it refreshing that your book covers a number of areas closely related to property investment- but areas not usually covered by books which have come before. I especially liked your coverage of dealing with real estate agents, and about auction techniques.

There's a lot more of hands on advice than just theoretical "buy property and ...". Very well done.

And you did have the courage to admit that you had made some mistakes in your personal life earlier on. Many of us had made mistakes. Admitting that, in print, must have been a difficult thing to do.

Your book is much more of a practical "How to" than a more theoretical "buy real estate and watch it grow" book.

I'd recommend your book as a next step past those reading Jan's "Building Wealth" book. Jan gives the reason why- yours gives much more "how to" advice.

 

[fatboy4]

Just ordered mine

Looking forward to a good read!

BTW loved the comment about looking for excitement outside one's property portfolio. Sometimes the hardest thing is to pull your head in and do nothing.

 

[shaunwalker1]

i just finished it as well, a pretty good read.
the only real question i have is on servicing debt and taxes. (i wont go into that now)

the funny thing was a friend of mine came round, saw the book (without opening it) then told me i was stupid for wasting my money.

he then opened the book and criticised me for doing what michael has said!
all this coming from a guy who only just bought his PPOR in the trendiest suburb of canberra 3 months ago!

i sat there and said nothing, let him rant and rave, (we'll see who's doing better in a couple of years time i thought )

cheers
shaun

 

[Tizzy]

Michael I just ordered a copy of your book after reading the first chapter on your site and reading some of your posts. I'm very keen to get stuck into applying some of the principles in the book. I hope it puts some order into my current hit and miss style of investing. It would be great if you are in Perth some time to attend one of your seminars. If you are doing a body count, put me down for 2.

 

[Michael Yardney]

Michael I just ordered a copy of your book after reading the first chapter on your site and reading some of your posts. I'm very keen to get stuck into applying some of the principles in the book. I hope it puts some order into my current hit and miss style of investing. It would be great if you are in Perth some time to attend one of your seminars. If you are doing a body count, put me down for 2.

Thanks Tizzy

It nice people like you who have made it a best seller - first print run of 5,000 sold out in 2 months. Thank you and to all the forum members for invetsing in it and your kind words!!

I have had hundreds of emails from WA so I will try hard to get there later in the year.

 

[Rolf Latham]

Hi Shaun

Obviously a useful friend

ta
rolf

 

[Bandita]

Hi Michael,

First off - loved you're book!!

But something has been bothering me ever since I read it - P.174 - (I apologise if this is copywrite, delete it if so)...Perhaps I am reading things wrong, but it appears you are saying that the deprecation on the property is actually income - "I would like you to clearly understand this. If you bought this investment property you could expect a rental income of say $250 per week or $13,000 each year. Of that $13,000 through the 2.5% building depreciation allowance, $3,750 or over a quater of your income is TAX FREE.

Rent: $13,000
Building Appreciation Allowance (2.5% of $150,000): $3,750 per annum
% of Gross income Tax Free: 28.8%

I would argue that $3,750 is not income. Instead, it is a cost, taken out of your income, giving you a maximum deduction of your highest tax bracket. Have I missed something?

Cheers,
Jen

 

[lizzie]

jen - i am no accountant but using your figures:

rent income $13,000/yr plus depreciation of 2.5% on the building cost of the house on the property. say the house cost $100,000 when built 5 years ago and you bought it this year, you would be able to claim 2.5% of $100,000 against any tax you pay under the structure you own the property. this would equal $2,500.

so, you would have rent income of $13,000 plus $2,500 returned to you in your tax return if you made a taxable income. so the property would give you $15,500 income.

if you're carrying forward a loss, this $2,500 will just be added to the loss and carried forward until you can write it off against a profit (such as a sale).

 

[Bandita]

This is my confusion? If you were able to claim $2,500 in depretiation, I thought this would reduce your earned income by $2,500 and if you were on the highest tax bracket, the most you would get back would be 47% of that depreciation, meaning the income you received from the property would be $13,000 plus $1,175 (from tax return for depreciation). What am I missing, or is depreciation a 100% offset against tax?

Cheers,
Jen

jen - i am no accountant but using your figures:

rent income $13,000/yr plus depreciation of 2.5% on the building cost of the house on the property. say the house cost $100,000 when built 5 years ago and you bought it this year, you would be able to claim 2.5% of $100,000 against any tax you pay under the structure you own the property. this would equal $2,500.

so, you would have rent income of $13,000 plus $2,500 returned to you in your tax return if you made a taxable income. so the property would give you $15,500 income.

if you're carrying forward a loss, this $2,500 will just be added to the loss and carried forward until you can write it off against a profit (such as a sale).

 

[geoffw]

This is my confusion? If you were able to claim $2,500 in depretiation, I thought this would reduce your earned income by $2,500 and if you were on the highest tax bracket, the most you would get back would be 47% of that depreciation, meaning the income you received from the property would be $13,000 plus $1,175 (from tax return for depreciation). What am I missing, or is depreciation a 100% offset against tax?

You're right Jen.

The $2,500 gets subtracted from your taxable income. Your tax gets reduced depending on your tax bracket.

But depreciation is a two edged sword. You can claim this because the value of your house is reducing. But you will probably have to replace what you are depreciating down the track.

For instance, if carpet had an effective five year life, you could claim the cost of the carpet, depreciated, over the five years. But at some stage down the track you will need to rip out the old carpet and put in some new stuff.

 

[thefirstbruce]

Agree with Geoff on the depreciation issue.

The one thing I think Steve McKnight is 100% correct about (probably based on his accounting background) is that he believes you should forget about the benefits of depreciation, because the money should be put into a sinking fund for repairs and upgrades. It should not be considered cash or savings that can be channeled into something else, without consideration that it will be needed sometime in the future.

Probably the best way to treat savings from depreciation is to set up a separate account for depreciation savings, and invest that in shares or funds or LPTs that keep the money well above CPI erosion.....and pull it out when needed for the repairs....

But to commit that money to discretionary expenditure or non income generating capital expenditure, is self delusion..

 

[Ian (WA)]

'Evening Michael & All,

In replying to another thread yesterday re: residential development books, I gave a brief comparison between this book and two by Ron Forlee. In attempting to always provide fair, balanced and honest opinion on forum subject matter I felt I should offer my feedback in this thread also (so that my two cents worth is out in the open and not seen by others as hiding in the bowels of another thread).

Essentially I was hoping Michael's book was going to predominantly recount his years of experience in property development and hopefully provide numerous case studies, deliberations and anecdotal content on developing. Sadly (for me) this wasn't the case. In essence I found the book to be disappointing given the publicity and feedback it has received on the forum and in Michael's newsletter and website. For me there was a degree of waffling creep in particularly when talking about property cycles.

However, I also found some very good reading throughout the book, so much so that I have just finished reading it through for the second time!! I am now hoping Michael will indeed write a second book, this time more specifically on residential property development; i'll be first in line to buy it!

I trust people will re-read my comments and put them in perspective, prior to jumping down my throat for daring to air a degree of disappointment with the book! As I said, I was expecting something more substantial on Michaels experiences in property development, rather than basic investor theory that a lot of other authors have written on previously.

Michael, I hope you take my comments as being an objective and honest critique and hopefully as a spur to get a second book into print asap.

As I have touched on it earlier, for anyone interested in residential property development Ron Forlee's books, particularly his second offering, I found to be extremely good. This is just my opinion, I look forward to yours.

Cheers,

Ian.

 

[geoffw]

Ian

A good, thoughtful and fair comment.

I liked Michael's book. But I wasn't looking at it being a book on developing. It wasn't ever intended to be- it is a book on property in general, and as such, touches on a lot of bases which previous books have not touched.

I went to his course a few years ago, expecting it to be concentrating on devloping- and it wasn't. It was about property in general, and about a lot of different aspects of property. I learnt heaps.

I went again this year. I learnt heaps again- though, for unusual circumstances, I'm not able to act on. There was a lot less on property development in the seminar- though there was a lot of information given out as printed material, which covers a lot of ground.

(What I found interesting was, that although Michael has invested a lot in commercial and industrial property, he is not doing so just now).

 

[Ian (WA)]

G'day Geoff,

Thanks for your reply and I concur the book wasn't specifically meant to focus on development.....I was just hoping it would, as I was hanging for Michaels insight. Maybe in his next book???

Cheers,

Ian.

 

[Programmer]

Essentially I was hoping Michael's book was going to predominantly recount his years of experience in property development and hopefully provide numerous case studies, deliberations and anecdotal content on developing. Sadly (for me) this wasn't the case. In essence I found the book to be disappointing given the publicity and feedback it has received on the forum and in Michael's newsletter and website. For me there was a degree of waffling creep in particularly when talking about property cycles.

Don't worry Ian, I can't see too many people on this site flaming you for stating a fair personal opinion.

I too found Michael's book disappointing. But then I haven't read a REALLY good p/i book for a while now. That said, I'm still glad I bought it if only to be reminded of fundamentals. I'm also not sure Michael's book would have sold enough copies if he went into specifics about the more 'technical sides' of property development etc. This is, I beleive, one reason why Jan's initial book is so popular. It's specific, but kept on one subject. It could be read then, and now.

I respect anyone (including Michael) who get's off their behind long enough to actually do something, and I do believe Michael is passionate about what he and his better half do. I also find his newsletter terrible from a marketing 'push push' (fonts, colour - reminds me of cheap USA websites)point of view. That said, Michael's in business. And it appears he does quite well.

 

[Ian (WA)]

G'day Programmer,

Thanks for the reply; some thoughtful comment in there too - well said.

Yes I agree Jan's book is, for want of a better term, a classic of the ages, for all ages! Like a well designed house facade, it just doesn't date.....looks as good now as it did back then, or should I say, it reads as well now as it did eight years ago.

Agreed, Michael has nothing to prove....and who am I to argue?

Happy investing and success in property & life to us all!!!

Cheers,

Ian.

 

[redwing]

I'm waiting on books from the following authors;

GeoffW (you just know it will be Funny AND Informative)

AceyDucey (comprehensive and detailed)


Rolf Latham (Financial Angle and Tips)

Dale's next book (Hint Hint)

And Valued Contributors such as Sim, See Change, DuncanM, Jacque, Asy, Les, XBenX, The First Bruce and Rixter etc etc etc..

Maybe we can start with thier interviews



RedWing