We have mentioned before that property investing is like any other form of business and a business plan should be written to make sure that you stay focused on what you are doing. That is an all encompassing statement because a good business plan for property investing should have absolute detail in it so that you are searching for a particular type of property. The Final Goal I am often asked, “How many rental properties are needed to enable aRead More

Over the years real estate investing has proven to be a popular vehicle for people to build wealth. During the past couple of years this has not always been so but there is a positive outlook that real estate investing will still be the most popular way to create wealth for retirement in the coming years.  REAL ESTATE INVESTING There are several reasons why real estate investing is so popular: Most investors are familiar with the product It is aRead More

When buying investment properties investors need to establish early in their planning whether they are going to buy for capital growth or rental income. Why? Capital Growth Here are several scenarios when an investor may go for capital growth: often a property that is bought for capital growth means that it is in a sought after area such as beachside or CBD or another similarly popular area and this may mean that loan will be substantial and the rental willRead More

No-one promised life as a property investor would be easy!  We all know that, don’t we?  It would be fantastic if everything we touched, real estate included, turned to gold and that there were no problems along the way.  But we have to get real! Sometimes it is takes looking past the problems of today and focusing on the future to keep a property investor motivated.  Property investing, like anything else, can come with problems and there will be timesRead More

Life often spins us difficult times and renters are no different.  Just because life can treat us harshly, especially in terms of finance, it does not mean that our values have changed.  The last couple of years in Australia have been particularly difficult for many renters who may have faced unemployment or a down turn in income which could have been caused by jobs, illness or accidents. With these thoughts in mind I thought I would tell you about anRead More

There are many different strategies in this game and investors choose different strategies for different reasons. They could make their decisions based solely on their finance ability at the time, or if they have more funds available they make a totally different view of how they will make their money work for them. Alternatively their real estate experiences may have them choosing a different course altogether, especially if they are or have been involved in the building trade. Another factorRead More

In our last blog we talked about how an investor can make a lot of extra money if they can source undervalued properties.  Even to the point that, if it takes a long time to find and buy the right property, the profit is worth the wait.   Searching for the right property may be easier said than done, unless there are certain strategies set in place that an investor follows. Many experienced property investors have refined their property searchRead More

There is always strong speculation about where to buy an investment property.   For some investors there is no way you could talk them into buying out of their local area, whereas with others that is not such a concern and as long as the figures and due diligence stack up, they are happy to buy nationally. So let’s look at some of the potential property models that are worth investigating: •    One bedroom apartments in CBD’s which are veryRead More

I have been reflecting lately on the different property purchases that we have been involved with as a company and one factor that struck me was the length of time it took to find the ideal property. Buying properties for an investment does have different criteria than does a property for our personal uses, but when buying for an investment there are certain criteria that should be met to gain from the overall exercise. Whereas with a house for livingRead More

The Australian Taxation Office offers property investors the opportunity to get their tax refunds allowed to them in each pay packet throughout the year.  This can be a great benefit as far as cash flow is concerned but at other times, due to a change of circumstances it can be very difficult to meet repayments on loans.  Conditions that cause this could be: * loss of a job * less overtime * a new addition to the family * severalRead More

RICH DAD TIP ~ Robert Kiyosaki “The business plan is your road map. It should help you define your goals and focus you efforts on achieving those goals….” This quote from Robert Kiyosaki is so relevant to your property investing business.  Many do not focus on the fact that property investing is a business.   The intention of property investing is to make money from an investment in real estate and to that end an investors needs to have clear definedRead More

There is one fact that is real when it comes to building wealth and that is that it is not easy.  For many years life might seem great and rosy, but you can surely believe that eventually the tide will turn and a difficult patch will come along. That is what happened to investors all around the world several years ago, and due to the severity of that period many people are today, still trying to get their investments backRead More

One expense that needs to be kept at the forefront of our minds when property investing is the interest rate increases that occur over time. Fixed Interest Many property investors opt to use the Fixed Interest strategy and this is a very good strategy to take if an investor wants to ‘set and forget’ their interest costs.  An investor just needs to make sure they can make all the repayments over the time of the loan and then they canRead More

As investment property owners it is advisable to get new valuations done every few years.   In fact, investors invariably should look at their financial situation at least every three years or earlier if they are purchasing another property. That review should include the value of their properties and also the loans on the properties.  As much as we like to keep abreast of property prices, valuations give us the true picture and if our portfolio is worth more than weRead More

Staying focused is a very big factor in a property investor achieving what they set out to do and that is to make money! Whether the goal in buying realestate was to make money on a positive cash flow property, save on tax through negative gearing or grow wealth through capital growth, it does not matter; the fact is that staying focused is what is going to get the investor where they wanted to go. I thought I would writeRead More

I remember coming across this statement many years ago and at the time I thought it was a bit farfetched. My thoughts were that once you were happy with the prices and other criteria within a suburb you were pretty safe with buying within that area.  But how wrong I was. This was brought home again to me the other day when a friend of mine was searching for a property and had decided on the area in which toRead More

SILENCE  is a powerful negotiation tool. If you have not been involved in sales in your working career you may not be aware of just how powerful silence is!  The saying is that the first person to speak is the loser. The reason for this is that the person who is very keen to make the deal is usually the person who cannot remain silent during a negotiation process. Take for example a situation where you are trying to sellRead More