General QnA - Property Investment Q&A

• To invest or not to invest?

  My wife and I own our townhouse (strata title) outright with no mortgage. It’s valued at around $300,000 and located in NSW. We hope to sell this and buy a bigger house later in the year so we have more space for our children. Do you think we should we buy the new house before jumping into the property investment market? read more

• Property Management

  I've just bought a rental property – a two-bedroom unit in inner Brisbane. As this is my first investment property, is it better to have it managed through a professional property manager or should I self-manage? I've heard some cases where I can't get landlord’s insurance if I self-manage, is this true? read more

• Property vs shares

  Q:I’m looking at investing in property at the moment, but the share performance is also enticing me to put my money in that asset class. At this stage of the cycle, is it better to put my money on shares or property? I already own some shares but I don’t have investment property. Any advice on how I can get started with property investing? read more

• Q&A: Should we risk investing interstate?

  I’m looking at purchasing another investment property and my initial thought was to stay local where I knew the area; however, I think it would be better for me to look to Sydney or Brisbane. How can I purchase in another state when I live in Western Australia? read more

• Q&A: Is it worth adding an extra bathroom?

  My wife and I recently bought an investment property. It has a smallish bathroom so we were thinking about converting the internal laundry into a second bathroom. Is this a wise investment move for adding value to the house? read more

• What constitutes a 'major structural defect'?

  My husband and I recently signed a contract of sale for a property passed in at auction that was subject to a building and pest inspection. When we signed the contract we understood that there was no cooling-off period, and we noted that there was a clause saying that the contract could only be ended if the building and pest inspection found ‘major structural defects’. read more

• Shall I sell and what do I buy?

  My husband and I own our home in a blue chip suburb in Brisbane; we bought it in 2003 for $790,000 and were told a year ago (by agents and bank) its value would be $1.1m. An identical house in the same street recently (two months ago) sold for $1.35m, so we assume ours would actually sell for around that too. As we are now living overseas, the house is rented out for $850/week. The rental return is therefore about 3–3.5% and the capital growth has been about 8%pa. read more

• How do you create more cash flow through property?

  Cash flow is becoming a key issue for many investors particularly in the current environment where interest rates are rising. Bill Zheng explains how to find cash- flow positive properties and ways to increase the income you're getting from your investment. read more

• Q&A - Empty pockets

  Should I pay interest-only and change to a line of credit? I have enough super upon retirement to pay out my mortgage. read more