General QnA - Property Investment Q&A

• Living longer than your money: when is property investing too late?

  Q: My husband and I are in our early sixties and want to retire in 10 years. We haven’t invested in anything for our retirement, other than compulsory super. This scares us. We’d like to invest in property, but one doubt hangs over us: have we left it too late? read more

• A case of the subdivision butterflies

  Q: I own an investment property valued at $500,000 and I’m looking for more. The property has a large backyard area and a friend has suggested subdividing the land and building a two-three bedroom house behind the one already there. I’ve almost paid off the mortgage and have estimated the costs of building and dividing the land to be around $400,000 to $500,000. Is this likely to be a good long-term investment for me, or would I be better off buying a new property altogether? read more

• Dealing with a problem neighbour

  Q: I’m an owner occupier of a flat in a block of 12. One of the flats is commission housing and, coincidentally, the tenant of that flat is very much a nuisance – making noise and committing other misdemeanours. I’d like to get this house to become privately owned and hopefully get a higher quality tenant there. What should I do? read more

• How do I improve my valuation?

  Q: I’d like to know how to get the best valuation on the house I’m planning to sell. What are things that valuers look at that I could work on to help my case? Obviously I can’t change what city, suburb and street it's in, but are there some changes that I can do to the house itself to improve the valuation? read more

• The renovation equation

  Q: Seeing as the market’s quite slow at the moment, I’m looking into renovating to add value to my properties. I’ve seen them as ‘set and forget’ investments so far, so am new to the world of renovation. How do I go about working out if it’s worth renovating, and what kind of renovations will increase a property’s value? read more

• Comparing investment strategies

  Q: I’m trying to understand the cash flow versus capital growth argument. Is one investment strategy considered better than the other? I’m a single, high-income investor based in Canberra – is one strategy better suited to me than the other? read more

• Q&A: Should I subdivide and sell?

  I’ve had my home for more than 20 years, but have decided to downsize and move closer to the city. It’s a pretty old place and I was wondering what the merits are of knocking it down, subdividing and then selling the land? It’s my PPOR, so will I have to pay CGT? read more

• Q&A: Where to look in a buyer’s market?

  They say it’s a buyers market at the moment, so investors are in a good position to negotiate prices. My worry is that in some areas it’s a buyers market for a reason – no one wants to buy there. What will indicate that an area is not worth buying into at the moment, even if there are many bargains there? read more

• Valuation madness

  Q: I’m an investor with 4 properties located in Sydney. In the last year or so I have had valuations done on two of my properties by professional valuers. In both cases I had more than one valuation done as there appeared to be no consensus on the properties' value. Indeed, the low and high valuations varied by $80,000 on one and $95,000 on the other house. read more