u/Sufficient-Put2544

Hi everyone,

I’m a FHB who has lived in my home for about a year now. I’m now seriously considering renting it out and moving into a share house to the inner/northern city suburbs.

My reasons are:
\-Reduce my monthly housing costs and build up my offset.
\-The house is larger than I need for just one person.
\- I’d like to be closer to the inner-city lifestyle while still keeping the property as a long-term home.

I’ve never been a landlord before, so I’d love to hear from people who’ve been through this. If you have advice on any of the points below, just reply with the number(s) you’d like to comment on.

1. Where do you even start when deciding to rent out your home?
2. Choosing a property manager/real estate agent what should I look for and what questions should I ask?
3. How do agents determine the rental price, and should I get quotes from multiple agencies?
4. What should I look for when reviewing tenant applications? Any red flags or green flags?
5. What are some common mistakes first-time landlords make?
6. Are there any unexpected costs or responsibilities that caught you by surprise?
7. How does changing your home from owner-occupied to an investment property work with your mortgage?
8. Did you stay with your current bank or refinance elsewhere?

I’d really appreciate any practical tips or lessons learned. Thanks!

Edit; thank you so much to all of you who commented with such great insight from your experience. I really appreciate it. It has helped a lot more than you think.

Hi everyone,

I’m a FHB who has lived in my home for about a year now. I’m now seriously considering renting it out and moving into a share house to the inner/northern city suburbs.

My reasons are:
-Reduce my monthly housing costs and build up my offset.
-The house is larger than I need for just one person.
- I’d like to be closer to the inner-city lifestyle while still keeping the property as a long-term home.

I’ve never been a landlord before, so I’d love to hear from people who’ve been through this. If you have advice on any of the points below, just reply with the number(s) you’d like to comment on.

1. Where do you even start when deciding to rent out your home?
2. Choosing a property manager/real estate agent what should I look for and what questions should I ask?
3. How do agents determine the rental price, and should I get quotes from multiple agencies?
4. What should I look for when reviewing tenant applications? Any red flags or green flags?
5. What are some common mistakes first-time landlords make?
6. Are there any unexpected costs or responsibilities that caught you by surprise?
7. How does changing your home from owner-occupied to an investment property work with your mortgage?
8. Did you stay with your current bank or refinance elsewhere?

I’d really appreciate any practical tips or lessons learned. Thanks!

Edit; thank you so much to all of you who commented with such great insight from your experience. I really appreciate it. It has helped a lot more than you think.

I’m interested to hear from people who live or work in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

Which suburbs do you think are genuinely on the rise over the next 5–10 years.

I’m not just talking about property prices as we all already know where that is heading too. I’m more interested in suburbs that are evolving into great places to live for young professionals and young families. Some of the things I’m thinking in include Infrastructure and transport improvements
New developments and urban renewal etc..

I’ve been doing CrossFit-style training at a commercial gym after leaving my box, and I’m curious how others make it work.
The biggest challenge for me isn’t the programming—it’s the environment. I miss having space to drop a barbell, dedicated rigs, and the group atmosphere.
At the moment I’m doing things like:
Power cleans
Toes-to-bar
Wall balls
Rowing, SkiErg and Assault Bike intervals
Bulgarian split squats
Conditioning circuits
But I sometimes wonder whether I’m actually getting the same training effect as I did at CrossFit, or whether I’m just convincing myself that I am.

For those of you who moved from CrossFit to a commercial gym:
What do you miss most?
How did you adapt your training?
Did you eventually go back to CrossFit, or stick with the commercial gym?
Would love to hear what’s worked for others.

I’ve been watching The Karl Stefanovic Show lately and it’s been interesting to see the discussions around housing, the economy and government policy. What do you all think of the show and the perspectives being shared?

Any other first-home buyers out there who put pretty much everything into their deposit to keep the LVR down and then spent the next year wondering if they’d made a terrible mistake? 😅

I bought year ago and no regrets but between the mortgage, bills, and random life expenses, I’m finding myself a lot more anxious than I expected. I focused so much on getting into the market and putting down a decent deposit that I didn’t leave myself with a huge cash buffer afterwards.

Trying to understand the proposed negative gearing changes properly.

My understanding is that under the proposal, properties purchased before the announcement date would continue under the existing negative gearing rules (grandfathered), but any established property purchased after the announcement date would no longer qualify for negative gearing once the policy comes into effect in July 2027.

Is that correct?

For example, I purchased my PPOR in Sep 2025. If I later move out and convert it into an investment property in a few years, would it still fall under the existing negative gearing rules because the property itself was acquired before the announcement date?

Or does it depend on when the property becomes an investment rather than when it was purchased?