Whether you’re just starting on your property investing journey or you’re an experienced investor, it’s really important to consider how much the property is going to cost you. Not just the initial purchase price, but the monthly cost for the period that you intend to own it for.
Are you hoping that the rent will cover most if not all of the ongoing costs? Are you planning to use the property as a means to reduce your tax burden, so you’re happy for it to cost you something?
Do you know what the ongoing costs are likely to be? And how much do you need to budget for each month? These costs include mortgage repayments, landlords insurance, strata levies, utilities, property management fees.
These are pretty major things that need to be considered before you decide where to buy, what type of property to buy and how much you’re going to spend – both initially and ongoing.
We’re not financial planners or financial advisors, so we can’t give you financial advice, but we can urge you to ask yourself some questions and also seek professional advice.
The number one question we’d like you to ask yourself is… Are you investing to:
- Minimise tax?
- Diversify your investments?
- Have a nest egg?
- Leave a legacy for your family?
Then you need to ask:
- How much can I put in each month to pay ongoing costs?
- How many weeks of rental vacancy can I manage?
- How long do I want to hold the property for?
- What can I do to maximise tax benefits besides a depreciation schedule?
For many of us, property is something we’re comfortable with. We can see it, we can easily search property values in the suburb as well as current rental vacancies and rates. We’re familiar with property and we’re constantly hearing about it being a great investment due to capital growth. But we do need to understand the cashflow and we need to take advantage of the tax benefits that property investing offers.
We have a trusted team of professionals that can help guide you through the cashflow, strategy and tax implications, if you need a referral.
Once you know your numbers, then we can get to work on finding the property that ticks those boxes.