Hi all,
have lurked a little on and off for a while, but I now have a question that I'd like to start learning more about.
We are going to see an accountant/financial planner, but in the mean time, I wanted to gauge if anyone can offer any advice to our current situation.
We are paying off our PPOR, which we built in 2008/9, and currently have a loan of ~$352K for. The house was valued in April at $450K (4/2/2 in Darra, Brisbane). Our mortgage is around $440 a week (we pay $600 comfortably), an real estate says that we would get $400-440 a week in rent for the house. The house is newish, so not anticipating any large repair bills in the near future (although will plan for it).
I am studying as well as working full time in a reasonable paying, secure job, with lots of future potential to increase my income. My job will be moving to Brendale on the north-side soon, and rather than commute the whole way across town 50mins each way, the wife and I have thought about renting out our PPOR as an IP, and renting a house closer to where my work is (Enoggera/Mitchelton/Gaythorne/Ferny Hills etc area). The wife works in the city, so the train line and walking distance to it is a must (currently catches the train from darra - 20mins express or 30 mins non express). Would prefer no further than we currently are out (so around 30 mins on the train is OK).
Our combined income is around $130K, and aside from the house and a modest new car, we have no other debts. We are NOT selling the car as we need family sized reliable transport (I ride a motorcycle which I own outright to and from work). We dont chop cars in often, and will keep this one till it dies.
So hopefully thats enough background, but my question is - Currently the loan on the PPOR is a P&I loan, which i'm happy to keep paying at the rate that it currently is. From what I understand, only the Interest portion is tax deductible (which is practically all of it anyway). A friend has said because our house is ~5 (almost 6) years old, we could probably claim depreciation of that as well.
We dont want to spend more than 450-500/week rent (same as current loan) - do you think this would be a worthwhile move financially/tax wise? This house was always built with being an IP in mind (not our dream house). As I'm getting older (currently 35) i'm conscious of building a decent portfolio of assets (I want to start shares as well) spread across a range of markets to minimise risk (currently paying a little extra into super also). I have never stayed in a house this long before, so am happy to move, despite loving the western suburbs as a place to live (with young kids - convenience to amenities is great!).
So what are the major things I need to look for (as a complete noob) and what can I do to maximise my tax benefits? Due to studying, I pay a very large amount of tax just on my income ($~30K) so any way to reducing the taxable income would be great! Any tax return money I get would likely be put either into the house offset, or into shares to help grow our wealth.
have lurked a little on and off for a while, but I now have a question that I'd like to start learning more about.
We are going to see an accountant/financial planner, but in the mean time, I wanted to gauge if anyone can offer any advice to our current situation.
We are paying off our PPOR, which we built in 2008/9, and currently have a loan of ~$352K for. The house was valued in April at $450K (4/2/2 in Darra, Brisbane). Our mortgage is around $440 a week (we pay $600 comfortably), an real estate says that we would get $400-440 a week in rent for the house. The house is newish, so not anticipating any large repair bills in the near future (although will plan for it).
I am studying as well as working full time in a reasonable paying, secure job, with lots of future potential to increase my income. My job will be moving to Brendale on the north-side soon, and rather than commute the whole way across town 50mins each way, the wife and I have thought about renting out our PPOR as an IP, and renting a house closer to where my work is (Enoggera/Mitchelton/Gaythorne/Ferny Hills etc area). The wife works in the city, so the train line and walking distance to it is a must (currently catches the train from darra - 20mins express or 30 mins non express). Would prefer no further than we currently are out (so around 30 mins on the train is OK).
Our combined income is around $130K, and aside from the house and a modest new car, we have no other debts. We are NOT selling the car as we need family sized reliable transport (I ride a motorcycle which I own outright to and from work). We dont chop cars in often, and will keep this one till it dies.
So hopefully thats enough background, but my question is - Currently the loan on the PPOR is a P&I loan, which i'm happy to keep paying at the rate that it currently is. From what I understand, only the Interest portion is tax deductible (which is practically all of it anyway). A friend has said because our house is ~5 (almost 6) years old, we could probably claim depreciation of that as well.
We dont want to spend more than 450-500/week rent (same as current loan) - do you think this would be a worthwhile move financially/tax wise? This house was always built with being an IP in mind (not our dream house). As I'm getting older (currently 35) i'm conscious of building a decent portfolio of assets (I want to start shares as well) spread across a range of markets to minimise risk (currently paying a little extra into super also). I have never stayed in a house this long before, so am happy to move, despite loving the western suburbs as a place to live (with young kids - convenience to amenities is great!).
So what are the major things I need to look for (as a complete noob) and what can I do to maximise my tax benefits? Due to studying, I pay a very large amount of tax just on my income ($~30K) so any way to reducing the taxable income would be great! Any tax return money I get would likely be put either into the house offset, or into shares to help grow our wealth.