Hi, The Silver Bear here

I was a bit concerned about switching over, but seeing most of the old faces move gave me a lot of assurance that this place is going to be as good as the old home.

Live in Sydney on the Lower North Shore with my wife and 2 boys aged 6 and 7.
44 years young, I moved here from the UK 4 years ago after my wife lost her parents suddenly.
I run a small IT business supporting small to medium sized organisations.

My original Somersoft post from 3 months ago is here: http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106912

I am ashamed to say I haven't done anything yet, despite many hours of hand-wringing and reading these forums. Had a lot on my plate personally and the time wasn't right.
Perhaps I'm lucky not to have bought in Sydney via a buyer's agent. Am more tempted by Brisbane right now, and my business partner there tells me the unit our company works from is for sale...
One half of me feels the need to do something now, the other says remain cashed up and wait for the Sydney crash - as usual I am torn!!!

Anyway, hello you all

TheSilverBear

 

So for various reasons I've still not bought anything
Youngest child finally diagnosed with ADHD after 6 very hard months, and some marital issues have got in the way.
Things are now on the up though and I'm chomping at the bit to kick things off.
Have promised the wife we can do some home reno so have $3-400k to kick off with.

I've been reading most of the threads on here daily, so here is a brief summary of what I understand:

My goal is to reach $5m unencumbered portfolio in the next 10 years as 5% would replace both our incomes and allow us to retire (me 54, Mrs Silver 52). It's sort of a hypothetical goal though as we would probably keep going rather than sell if we had reached $10m portfolio with 50%LVR....). To get there I guess I roughly have to get up to 20 $500k places then start selling down.
*I appreciate all these values change as nominal and real prices change, but it gets very complicated.
But not having started it seems a very long way away!
Just need to get going ASAP as so many on here have said, and am happy to take a few risks on the way. Also trying to learn the ropes as we go along so can do more things alone.

Brisbane seems to be the place to go to start right now, and I understand that starting with a CG property with negative cashflow would be a mistake as it would stop me growing the portfolio for several more years due to serviceability.
All the cashflow positive properties (e.g. all the Loganshire ones that get talked about on here) seem attractive, but as I know nothing about the area I would use a BA to buy in Brisbane - and the $10k(+) fee seems a lot to spend on buying that sort of cheapie.

That and the fact I'm pretty time poor (young demanding family and own business) surely means I should aim for higher value places?
I guess my "strategy" is to go for places that are as potentially CG+ as possible while being neutrally geared at worst so that serviceability doesn't stop me making purchases 2,3 and 4 etc.Places that require no reno, no pools etc.
Or at least until time makes initial purchases CF+ve so I could afford a CF-ve with more growth prospects.
Should be possible to buy 2 $500k properties immediately in Brisbane, wait for some CG in 1/2/3 years to release enough for number 3 and possibly 4.

Would there be anything wrong with something like this to start with:
http://www.domain.com.au/1-74-beck-street-paddington-qld-4064-2012296443?sp=2
Seems like good 6% yield and nice land centrally located. Low maintenance by the look of it.
The BA I contacted said they were buying at around 4.5% yield, which would be CF-ve and threatens my whole strategy. Perhaps I need to BA shop? Try and get a good deal on multiple cheapies in Loganshire?

In my original thread some even offered advice that given $400k I should considering buying land with development potential even if not ready to act on it now, but from these boards I gather that is competitively priced now and it does seem a bit ambitious!

One major problem is not knowing the Brisbane market at all, and I simply can't afford the time to fly up enough times to get to know the market. I read all the threads on here but regardless I just feel like I'm stabbing in the dark still when it comes to property selection, especially remotely - and seems better to hand that job over to a BA.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for unstructured nature of the post, just needed to get something out there to stop me sitting on my hands.

On a side note it has crossed my mind that it's a shame there isn't a PC buyers club or even unit trust!

Thanks all who read, respond, or participate in this great community.
The Silver Bear