
Was it right for me ?
Update 24 June 2017 that is 5 years laters
Looking back 5 years later after many lessons learned in the school of hard knocks, the answer would have been a firm yes if I had been more wise and courageous and stayed away from syndicated property development. In hindsight this has proofed far to risky. As I understand it SMSF's do not allow direct entrepreneural activity or limit it severely and syndicated property development can be more risky than investments in shares due to a lack of stop loss safety provisions.
I would have been better off to buy an investment property outside of an SMSF and pay my taxes or buy it within, rent it out and then sell it (even if it is to myself).
The problem with SMSF property ownership is that we can't hold title and/or conduct development activities or renovations and that.
If you are looking for general info about administrative requirements, regulations and limitations for SMSF investments and whether or not a low fee SMSF is the right vehicle for you to hold a property, then esuperfund is good starting point. It provides plenty of free information. Self managed super funds or SMSF's are characterized by complex compliance requirements and much higher management costs than normal Super funds, but provide a means to hold title in a property. Owning property is a safe way to look after old age, as the money is visible in bricks and mortar right in front of your eyes. And that it makes it much safer.
PS This is just my opinion. it's for free cause it's not financial advise. I'm neither professionally qualified, nor licensed and I don't provide any financial services. I just gave it a crack. I've lost money, lodged with ASIC (failed), lodged with FOS (success) . If this sparks interest I'll post more later.
What could possibly go wrong ?