Sydney investments

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From: Louise Wolfgang


Hi All,

I am moving back to Sydney from PNG in February 2002 and would like to make an investment in property. I have equity of 150K and income of 60K. I am brand new to the property game.

I would like to live in the inner city, and would appreciate any tips on whether I would be better off buying a place and getting the NHOG and then refinancing in one year, or just buying for investment upfront and renting another place to live in.

Also, as to what capital cost should I be looking at to maximise capital growth in the longer term.

Also, any tips on growth apartments to buy in the inner west/city area would be much appreciated.

Thanks and have a great holiday period everyone,

sincerely,

Louise

 

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Reply: 1
From: Roderick Aguilar


Hi Louise,

That's a very good start you've got there in order to get into the property market. Below is what I would do in order to accelerate my entry into the Sydney market:

1) Ensure that the loan that I have the $150K equity in is a revolving Line-of-Credit (LOC) with the lowest possible interest rate. Since you are on 60K then you just managed to qualify for the professional package of most banks. This package gives you among other things a discount of 0.5 - 0.7% on their advertised standard variable rate. So if everyone else is paying 6% interest rate you would end up paying 5.3%. By having a revolving line of credit you can write out cheques for the deposit on your investment property in Sydney.

2) Once the finances are arranged I would then live with my parents or relatives so that I pay minimal rent/board for a few years.

3) Once my accommodation is looked after then I would begin looking for the IP. WIth 150K as equity then that equates to several houses:

(i) if you are targetting houses in the Liverpool area then that's $150-250K. You would need a deposit of say 40K. Plus 20K for buying and leasing costs. That's approx $60K - $70K. So you can afford two IPs = $120K - $140K leaving you some buffer of 10-30K for rainy days.

(ii) if you go for the inner-city Sydney, then you would be looking at off-the-plan purchases or 1-year-old IPs in the $380-$400K mark. In that case, you would need $80K deposit plus other costs taking you to about $100-110K. This leaves you 40-50K buffer for rainy days.

(iii) I would begin staking out an area and know it like the back of my hand. Know all the real estate agents and perform extensive research in order to ensure that I am not paying too much for my IP.

(iv) Finally, I'd invest 3-6K in an investment course to further educate myself on IPs.

(v) From the friends I meet in the course, I would then carry out the most important thing in IPs.....networking. Associating myself with like-minded individuals and constantly increase my number of contacts in the industry.

(vi) And finally, not forgetting that it's not all about money and being greedy. You must first share to get something back. It can't be take, take and take. It's knowing that things take time and to remain open-minded.

I'd like to meet with you as I am interested at how you managed to get work at PNG and what was it like? Send me an email on [email protected] for us to meet and have a chat. I'll even ask my wife to cook us dinner if I ask nicely enough!

Cheers,

Roderick Aguilar