Is it too late.....

Start with how much money you will need to live off when you want/need to retire. If you buy property are you hoping it goes up in value to make profits?
Are you looking for properties that can give you cash flow soon as you buy or soon after by either raising rents or paying debt down?
Do you have enough in super or savings at retirement age in case your investments don't work out?
Will your investments increase more than the interest loan amount you currently owe on the mortgage? If not you will be going backwards.

Definitely read through the forum, perhaps get some financial advice as well

 

Read Travelbug's story here! Very inspiring.
Travelbug started seriously investing at 50 and now 7 years later, is going to retire.

I'm throwing in the towel

 

That is inspirational...... I would love to retire by 55...

 

If the dream is strong enough, I am sure you will find a way.

My parents started well into their 50's and did quite well through property investing so age isn't a factor.

Cheer,
Michael

 

It can definitely be done...but you need to move with 1 growth cycle.

If you are 43....technically if you buy 10 properties at good prices you should be able retire....

 

I'm also 43 and just purchases my first. I would recommend doing a heap of reading first. I did about 9 months of reading before I did anything. Go to your local library, use audio books and listen to them on your way to and from work. Read Somersoft and Property Chat. The info and wisdom on these sites is priceless.

 

Age isn't a barrier. However, what end of the cycle you buy into will have a more lasting impact.

 

It is never too late. Age is irrelevant. Doing nothing is not an option. I started at age 52.

 

The first problem I have with this is if he wants to convert his home to an IP later then he is screwed... no loan --> terrible property for tax reasons --> no forward thinking.
But.... put the money into an offset account = original loan still intact = heaps better result. If OP might go down this path its also better to convert the loan to IO rather than P&I to allow the loan to stay as large as possible.

Secondly, there are places that are in a rising market right now... refer to the Herron Todd White property clocks. If I was the OP I'd look into the places in the "start of recovery" or "rising market" categories as a place to start. Remove anywhere with high vacancy rates. (Say over 3.5%). Also some of these areas might only do very small % growths so you need to educate yourself much further on the locations.

Thirdly... what if there is no bubble??? The OP will forever be on the sidelines...

Anyway.... OP. Welcome to the forum. Educate yourself as others have said. Use your money, buy multiple IPs (i'd go for more than 80% loans to maximise buying)... try to buy from distressed/desperate sellers....
You just need one strong cycle with multiple properties to start. Then you can pull out equity, rinse and repeat. Also if you can see a niche, an opportunity in the market that everybody else has missed... if you are confident with it... go for it. But you need to have a great understanding of the market first before jumping in and committing that money.

 

Here's the thing...whether you think you can or think you can't you will be 100% correct.

You don't have to get it right you just have to get it going - it's the starting that stops most people.

Food for thought!

 

I'm also a 43 year old looking at investing in property in the next few years. Sounds like I'm in a similar situation to the OP, although we've got 80k left on our loan, but similar equity.

Given that we want to stay in our current place for the next 20+ years, what's the problem with wanting to be debt free or having a small mortgage?

Also, this may be a stupid question, but I was thinking we could leave a grand on the mortgage and redraw if/when it's needed. I've looked through the fine print and can't see anything that says this isn't allowed. We will have access to ~250k because we have paid down our debt quickly, so couldn't this be used for a deposit?

To be honest I'm not in a hurry as the areas I'm looking are in my own state (SA) which will be on the ropes for the next 3-5 years, so my strategy is to do a cashflow positive 2-in-1 when it will (hopefully) be both cheaper to buy and build...and then repeat that again before retiring...or am I dreaming?

 

If you have zero intention of turning it into an IP then what you are doing is completely fine. My problem was, I went P&I on my first place, decided I didn't like living there after about 2 years, so I bought a new PPOR and turned the first place into an IP. Trouble is, I had paid down some of the loan (and worse still, paid down extra with the thought that redraw is the same as offset!). Which was bad from a tax perspective as you want as big a loan as possible on your IPs as its all tax deductible.

What I should have done is have an offset account and park my extra money in that. Same effects but if you turn it into an IP later, you can use that money elsewhere, and the inital loan is still intact. You can actually put so much money in the offset that you effectively pay zero interest.. same effect as completely paying down the loan. You never know what life will throw at you so you might as well aim for maximum flexibility.

 

Nothing wrong with that apart from the fact that all those lazy dollars are sitting in your house with absolutely no leverage being applied to them.......what a waste. You need to make your money work hard for you.

 

Good luck with that! What if as many here suspect, that there is no bubble?

 

+1. Yep. If I had of waited till my PPOR was paid off, I'd still only have 1 property to this day. But now I have 5 properties all working away, all quietly gaining equity while I sleep at night... with the equity... go buy another and another... rinse and repeat.... the tax benefits are there too... what's not to like?

 

There are many different property markets... They are all dancing to their own beat. I would not buy into a market if I was concerned about the growth prospects. But if you are waiting for the entire market 'bubble' to 'pop' you might be waiting a llooooonnngg while.

 

if you are waiting for the entire market 'bubble' to 'pop' you might be waiting a llooooonnngg while.[/QUOTE]

Going by the doomsayers, the pop will happen in 2017.

 

It's fine for doomsayers to call for a market collapse and the add a disclaimer that their advice is not financial advice and should not be factored into decision making. Meanwhile they have scared people out of buying when it actually could have been a good time to buy. Personally, I wouldn't touch Sydney or Perth right now and I would be careful in Melbourne but there could be good buying in Adelaide or Brisbane. People waiting around for an imaginary housing bubble to burst are simply wasting money.

Something the bubble pushers have never been able to answer is this: do property prices fall in a property bubble? Because look at Perth and Sydney. Prices are falling. Are we still in a bubble then?

 

Prices aren't falling in Sydney ... auction clearance rates are, but prices aren't. They may start to at some point, but right now they are not. Let's all remember, bubbles can lose air slowly.. they don't necessarily have to burst

Perth is falling because it is just like a household that was getting a lot of extra temporary money from overtime or bonuses, only to see that stop. Perth's coming back to earth a little because the capex phase of mining is winding back. The mining boom was Perth's credit boom. Perth didnt need to wait for APRA's intervention to slow down. RIO and BHP took care of that already