Property Investor Newsfirstnational

111 - 113 Wilson Street, Burnie TAS 7320 Phone 03 6431 4544

Burnie

Are you a property investor who wants to aim at the furnishedproperty rental market? Have you bought your investmentonly to realise that you now have to pay out to furnish theproperty? This doesn’t come cheap but for those in the knowand who do their research, there are a number of ways tosave huge amounts of money.

The Lifestyle Channel is a great place to start and their onlinewebsite lists five tips to finding cheap/free furniture. Although

these seem to be aimed at the tenant, you can just as easilyapply them to you, the landlord.

• Visit the website www.gumtree.com.au where you can buybeds, tables, chairs etc or swap or get them FREE atwww.ozrecycle.com which lists furniture that is no longerwanted by its owner. This is a great environmentally friendlywebsite that also reduces landfill and unnecessary waste. Youcan find anything here from pianos to bulbs for the garden.

• Take a drive around your local area, as peopleoften leave things out for people to take.

• Do the obvious and go to op shops such asVinnies or The Salvos. They often have very

good quality cheap used furniture.

• Garage sales also providea great place to pick up a

bargain and these are usuallysignposted around the local

neighbourhood, in the localnewspaper or even on the

website... egaragesales.com.au

• If you really don’t want to usesecond hand furniture there are

plenty of reasonably priced furnitureshops such as IKEA or FantasticFurniture.

Fitting out a furnished propertyor holiday home

November 2010

Important note: Clients should not rely solely on the content of this newsletter. All endeavours are made to ensure the content is currentand accurate however, we make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or currency of the content.Readers should seek their own independent professional advice before making decisions.

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The value of aninspection reportwhen a tenancycommences

Landlords beware –the taxman iswatching you!The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) islooking into property investment and hasvoiced concerns over some investors whoseem to be:

• Claiming rental and share investment expenses that are not legitimate or cannot be substantiated;

• Not declaring capital gains on the sale of their investments; and

• Not reporting rental and dividend income on their tax returns correctly.

The ATO has also voiced concerns overGST issues with property transactions andhas sent out a warning to taxpayers toensure they report transfers, sales andpurchases correctly on their BusinessActivity Statements and income taxreturns.

The ATO is clearly on the warpath, raisingapproximately $195 million from audits onover 3,000 GST reviews last year. For thetax year 2010-2011, the ATO aims atfocussing on GST on the sale of a propertyand will do so by:

• Data matching of property sales; and

• Identifying those taxpayers who do not report the property transaction or do soincorrectly.

If you are unsure about any issuesconcerning property taxes, contact theATO.

Spray painting – the quick way!Do you have a short window of opportunitybetween one tenant moving out andanother moving in? Do you need to touchup the paint and make your propertypresentable? The quickest way to do this isto use a spray gun. Spray guns aredesigned for interior walls as they produceless over-spray and therefore less wasteand less mess.

A standard gun can normally cover 12square metres and comes with settingsdesigned for various uses, from broadapplication to targeted spots.

Obviously before starting, make sure youhave covered the floors with a drop sheet,covered up windows and doors withnewspaper, and protected architraves andskirting boards with painter’s tape.

Prepare the walls in the usual way, i.e. bylightly sanding and then washing down withsugar soap and rinsing.

A handy tip for ease of spray is to dilute thepaint with 10% water to obtain a smoothconsistency.

Did you know?Did you know that ABS statistics can beused to your advantage? Not only are theyare a source of extremely valuable and freeinformation, but they can be used to helpyou plan your investment strategy.

A handy starting point for investorsresearching a particular area assists:

• People – this gives you an indication ofwhere the population growths are; thedemographics of that population; incomeand projections for the future.

Thus assisting you in initially determiningwhether an area is worth looking into or not.

Water Rates –Who Pays What?Our office has had manyqueries regarding what part ofthe water/sewerage bill can bepassed onto to the tenant. Theanswer is, none of it. Theservice charges are to be paidby the owner. Any excesswater usage will arrive on aseparate bill and this can bepassed onto the tenant as longas they have resided in theproperty for the period of thenotice. These arrangementswill continue at this stage until30th June 2012.

Vacancy RateFirst National Burnie’s currentvacancy rate is 0.8%

Deanne LampreyPrincipal

CalendarMid Month Payments15th November 2010

End of Month Payments30th November 2010

18 Pine Avenue Upper Burnie3 bed, 2 bath, garage

$220pw, 12 month leasePrice $197,000

November 2010

Obtaining QuotesAs you are aware, our office has a list ofapproved/preferred tradespeople that weregularly use. Our preferred tradespeople arereliable, licensed if needed, carry PI Insuranceand in most instances provide their services atvery competitive rates.

We are quite often asked to obtain more than 1 or 2 quotes, and are finding it increasinglydifficult to oblige with these requests as wehave a shortage of tradespeople in our area,and at times the extra quotes are taking weeks,if not months to obtain. We are also noticing,some of the tradespeople are now charging forquotes or won’t even quote because they arenot guaranteed the work.

This has added to your Property Managersalready busy work load, as they are constantlyhaving to chase the extra quotes as they arenot forthcoming in a timely manner, so as of 1st October 2010 our office will only beobtaining one quote if required and this will befrom our preferred tradespeople. Should youhave any questions or concerns, please speakwith your Property Managers.

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