Hi there

A property is negatively geared when the costs of owning it, mostly loan interest, exceed the rent it earns. The shortfall comes out of your pocket each week, and at tax time it can generally be deducted against your other income.

The strategy only works when the numbers work. The weekly cost has to be genuinely affordable through rate rises and vacancies, and the property has to be one you would want to hold long enough for growth to outrun the shortfall.

The calculator below gives you the honest first pass: pre-tax cash flow, then the estimated position after the deduction at your marginal rate.

Sell an investment property for more than it cost you and the profit is a capital gain, taxed as part of your income in the year you sell. Your own home is generally exempt.

The headline rule worth knowing: hold the asset for more than twelve months and, as an individual, you generally only pay tax on half the gain. Timing a sale either side of that line, or either side of a high-income year, can move the outcome materially.

The calculator gives you a first estimate of the tax and what lands in your hand after it.

A self-managed super fund can borrow to buy property under a limited recourse arrangement: the lender's security is the property itself, not the rest of the fund.

Commercial SMSF lending is alive and well, and it is a genuine specialty here. Business owners buying their own premises through super is one of the most common and most effective uses.

New residential SMSF borrowing is being phased out under announced government change, so the right answer depends on timing and your fund. This is the corner of lending where deep policy knowledge matters most, and where the average broker falls short.

Every rate decision becomes a headline, but the only number that matters is what it does to your repayment. A 0.25% move on a $650,000 loan is roughly $100 a month, more on a bigger loan, less on a smaller one.

Knowing your own figure changes how the news lands. A rise you have already stress-tested is an adjustment, not a crisis, and a cut is a decision about whether to pocket it or keep paying the loan down faster.

Stamp duty is usually the biggest upfront cost after the deposit, and it is the one governments discount for first home buyers. In Victoria the duty falls away entirely under $600,000 and phases back in up to $750,000.

On top of that sit the deposit guarantee schemes and grants, each with its own price caps that change over time. The order you apply for them in matters.

Check the duty side on your price below, then let Rob confirm the full picture before you offer.