Insights · Page 33 of 40 · FinancialPlus Mortgage Broker Gold Coast

Choosing between an apartment and a house

[h1]Eyeing an apartment[/h1] Apartment living is becoming a popular lifestyle for Australians looking for affordable property, but there are costs and considerations you may not be aware of. As lifestyles have changed and affordability has become more of a challenge, apartments have become increasingly popular – the ‘great Australian dream’ may no longer be a big house on a big block. And you only need to look at the data to see the price difference. According to the August RP Data-Rismark Daily Home Value Index, while the median Australian house price is $595,000 the median unit price is

Does a fully maintained company vehicle affect the amount you can borrow.

With some lenders, the answer is a resounding YES but with others, it makes no difference whatsoever. But why is this significant? Let’s assume that we have two lenders – one of whom looks at someone with a company car and acknowledges that this improves your financial position so they are happy to increase your gross salary by over $5,000 when looking at your income whilst the other lender doesn’t even show any interest in the company vehicle at all. If you’re on gross wages on $48,000 p.a., this means that one lender will increase your salary for working out

How much super do you need for a SMSF

How much superannuation do I need for a Self Managed Super Fund to be viable? It’s amazing how many enquiries we are getting about setting up a Self Managed Superannuation Fund but the very first question that everyone asks is how much they need to have as superannuation. The answer to this question is as simple as “how long is a piece of string?”. Or perhaps a better answer would be “It depends”. The main factor is how much are you prepared to pay in annual fees as a percentage of your fund assets. These fees include ongoing accountant and

Clearing out a tax debt

It’s that time of the year again in Australia when we are getting ready to settle our end of year tax obligations but for some, it may turn out to be quite a nasty surprise or, then again, it may be that the past has finally caught up with them. Either way, you could find yourself in the position where you have to pay back a tax debt that you can’t afford and have to come to an agreement with the tax office to pay it in instalments that may come with a very high interest rate. There is an

Queensland to lead capital Growth

Another great article today from Hotspotting and good news for anyone that lives in or has invested in Queensland. News from Hotspotting is that Queensland will lead the country for capital Growth over the next two years, with Victoria the lowest. This is based on information from the NAB Residential Property Index. Housing market sentiment lifted slightly in the March Quarter as sentiment improved in New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Survey respondents expect price growth to be fastest in Qld (3.5%) and NSW (3.3%) and slowest in Victoria (2.2%) and SA/NT (2.2%). There has been a

Negative Gearing in a Nutshell

Did you know that owning an investment property can provide tax benefits through a process known as negative gearing. It’s true and is a nice bonus as the taxman helps you cover the cost of owning an investment property but it should never be the reason for investing in property – just one of the side benefits – but how does it work? In layman’s terms, negative gearing is a term that is used to describe the situation where you have an investment where the income that you receive is less than the cost of holding that investment. So, when

Property & lending insights