What a week! Apologies for the podcast’s downtown earlier this week and thank you to those of you who wrote in to us. We had a system update and things didn’t quite work out as we wanted them to be. That aside, the 2017 Federal Budget has been released just a couple of days ago. So let’s talk about that.

There were a few proposals relating to the affordability issue and a couple more that aims at the property investors pool. But overall, this was not an overly exciting budget. It was a conservative one. Nonetheless, what impact will if have on property owners and the Australian Property Market in general. Some of the issues that Bryce and Ben discussed in today’s episode are:

• The proposed changes to depreciation deductions for plant and equipment
• Capital Gains Tax exemption for foreign and temporary tax residents
• Investors’ travel expenses claims
• The implementation of First Home Super Saver Scheme and is it a good idea
• The expanded audit on overseas investors

If you would like to understand more about the 2017 Federal Budget, please check out this link.

We’ve also answered a few questions from:

• Joel on the First Home Super Saver Scheme: Hi property couch crew! Since the website is down ill throw my question for the next Q&A here. A good one of the younger generation first home buyers as well as parents. My question relates to the announcement of the first home buyers saving scheme announced in the budget, with the tax break through superannuation. Being someone who has been taught in uni and at home by my parents not to touch my super and add extra payments where possible, is this scheme of accessing it for a house deposit reasonable? I see the tax break being a great idea but opening the idea of people taking there super to buy a house they cant save for rings alarm bells for me. Do i have the correct understanding of it all? Would you recommend another way?

• Leo on property valuation: Hi Ben & Bryce – (and the Stig!), I cannot thank you enough for the endless amount of value that you provide for your listeners. Your content is conversational and easy to understand even for a first-time investor like myself.
  I have a suggestion that may also benefit other listeners. I have recently purchased my first investment at 23 years old. It is an existing (3 bed, brick and tile) property and I am in the process of planning a cosmetic renovation. My question is – When refinancing against an existing asset, do all property valuers have a set agenda when valuing your property? Since all valuers will have a different opinion on price, is there a similar set of factors they look at? (i.e Condition of kitchen, bathroom, flooring etc) – going on from this, Is there ways you can make your property more appealing to a valuer in order to gain a higher valuation to leverage onto the next investment? Thanks alot guys – I appreciate your work!

• Derek on bookkeeping for investors: Something that isn’t as widely discussed in the field of real estate is book keeping. You guys mention the need to spend 10 hours or so per year to review each property in a portfolio. Can you dive into greater detail as to what exactly this entails? What sort of information do we need to keep track of and is that done through spreadsheets or specific software?

 

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