Every week I see a spreadsheet from a first-time investor that has two numbers in it: the rent and the loan repayment.
The rent minus the loan looks great. Then the property settles, and reality starts invoicing.
Kate reckons I can ruin any dinner party by asking someone what their water service charge is. She’s right. But here’s the list anyway, because a $650,000 property that “pays for itself” on the fridge-door maths usually costs $100 to $250 a week once everything is in.
1. Vacancy
The rent is $520 a week for the weeks someone is actually paying it. Two weeks empty a year is normal, not bad luck. That’s $1,040 gone, or about 4% of your rent, before anything else.
2. The property manager’s full menu
The headline fee is 7 to 9% of rent. What’s in the fine print: a letting fee of one to two weeks’ rent every time a tenant changes, admin fees, inspection fees, lease renewal fees. Budget the percentage, then add roughly $800 a year for the menu.
3. Insurance, and the loading you didn’t expect
Building plus landlord insurance runs $1,500 to $2,500 a year on a typical house. In flood-mapped or cyclone-prone areas it can triple, or worse. Get the quote before you go unconditional, not after. Genuinely, some properties are close to uninsurable.
4. Council rates and the water bill you pay anyway
Rates are $2,000 to $3,000 a year most places. And even with the tenant paying water usage, the service charge stays with you. Call it another $800 to $1,000.
5. Maintenance, which is not optional
Hot water systems die. They die on public holidays, at 4pm, in winter. A fair long-run budget is around 1% of the property’s value a year on older stock. On $650,000 that’s $6,500. Spend nothing this year and you’re not saving it, you’re queuing it.
6. Strata, if you bought into it
Units and townhouses: $800 to $2,000 a quarter, and a special levy whenever the building needs a birthday. Read two years of minutes before you buy. The minutes always know.
7. Land tax
Doesn’t exist in your spreadsheet until you own two properties in the same state, then suddenly it does. Thresholds and rates vary by state, and they’ve been moving. One more reason buying everything in one state is a strategy with a use-by date.
8. The lender’s extras
Under 20% deposit means lenders mortgage insurance, often $10,000 to $20,000 capitalised onto the loan. Package fees run $300 to $400 a year. Small lines, but they’re yours now.
9. The purchase costs you already paid
Stamp duty, conveyancing, building and pest, loan setup. On $650,000 that bundle is $30,000 to $40,000 depending on the state. It’s not a weekly cost, but it’s real money that has to be earned back before the investment is in front.
10. The tax refund that isn’t coming
This one’s new. Buy an established property after 12 May 2026 and from 1 July 2027 your rental losses stop offsetting your salary. A $20,000 annual loss used to bring back $7,800 at a 39% marginal rate. On established stock, that refund is now $0 until the property itself makes money. That’s $150 a week that vanished from a lot of fridge-door spreadsheets. The full explanation is here.
Add it up
To be clear, none of this says don’t invest. It says know the number. Our cash flow calculator has a line for every cost on this list, with honest defaults, and it shows the weekly figure before and after tax. Run it before you offer, not after you settle.
And before the offer goes in at all, there are about 40 checks worth doing. We put the whole checklist up for free.
If you take one thing from this: the rent minus the loan is not a number. It’s a hope. The real number is smaller, and you want to meet it before it meets you.