We have a rental, the rent covers the mortgage but not other expenses like insurance, rates and any repairs. Dh does what he can but we did have to repair the roof. Our loan is interest only too. It's in my name only as we run a business and wanted to keep them separated. We are only doing our tax now but because we made a loss due to the expenses it is negatively geared and the loss comes off my taxable incomes for the year. Make sure the property manager does inspections every 6 months and keeps us informed of how the property is looking.
It's our plan to do interest only loan, with long term goal of having more equity in property rather than paying it off outright. Then if all goes well, considering using equity to purchase further investment properties. So increasing our portfolio. Seeing as it seems its more cost effective having a mortgage that is paid off with rent, and being able to negative gear. With no thoughts of selling for a while due to huge taxes involved.