The term cross collateralise means that one loan uses two properties as security. Why might this happen and why should you avoid it?

You have decided to buy an investment property. Your owner occupied residence is worth $500k and your home loan is now only $250k. You have what is called equity in your home. The usable equity is the available equity that a bank will lend against.

Investment guidelines : The Power of Leverage.

I remember when I was quite young and was introduced to investing by my family – who as it turns out invested mostly in the share market. I was encouraged to buy my first parcel of shares. The business still exists today – Argo. After 12 months they had gone up and I remember proudly ringing my uncle and asking if I should sell, only to be told that “our family doesn’t sell” and that he would only help me if I was ringing to buy.

What is an Asset? There are differing definitions of what makes something an investment but they all focus on two main points

• The ability to generate income
• The ability to increase in value

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it isn’t much help when trying to anticipate the best time to buy Real Estate. That said, by analyzing past data it is possible to expose telling trends and cycles. And right now, the trend is your friend.

Let’s take a closer look into three particularly interesting and current trends:

• Trend 1: When interest rate goes down, house price goes up
• Trend 2: Sydney Median House Price rises at 7% per annum
• Trend 3: Brisbane Median House follows closely behind Sydney Median House Price 

Start with the end in mind and focus on it often – especially when you feel like wavering!

Both sides of politics in Australia are telling us that we will need to wait for an increasingly longer time before being able to access the aged pension. Although the rules around qualifying for the pension are complex and must be explained by a qualified professional in relation to your own needs, one thing is clear – you need to take responsibility for your own wealth creation if you wish to be able to have the retirement you wish for.Set a personal goal to create a capital base big enough to generate sufficient income to meet your daily and annual needs WITHOUT reducing the capital base.

I remember when I was quite young and was introduced to investing by my family – who as it turns out invested mostly in the share market. I was encouraged to buy my first parcel of shares. The business still exists today – Argo. After 12 months they had gone up and I remember proudly ringing my uncle and asking if I should sell, only to be told that “our family doesn’t sell” and that he would only help me if I was ringing to buy.

Construction finance is a completely different ball game. As such it has all of its own pitfalls – it is without doubt the least understood area of mortgage financing.  An area where accurate information and an expert on your team are absolute essentials to making good decisions.

What can you borrow and what must you pay for?

It can be so much fun to build your own home – it literally is about building your very own dream. The first step and probably the most important, is to find your block of land.

People often start the other way – and looking at display homes is truly great fun!! If only the money barrel was bottomless!!

No matter where you start, the house salesperson will pull you back to the block of land because the house you like must fit the block of land you have.

What is an Asset? There are differing definitions of what makes something an investment but they all focus on two main points

• The ability to generate income
• The ability to increase in value

In my opinion, the one to which the MOST attention should be paid is the ability to generate income because that is the most reliable indicator of something’s inherent financial value. From this perspective something that generates no income is NOT an asset. This rules out many things often “said” to be assets.