[Andrew_AParticipant@andrew_aJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 392]

March 21, 2012 - 9:24 pm

There is the REBAA website as well to have a look at http://www.rebaa.com.au/ for independent agents

[Andrew_AParticipant@andrew_aJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 392]

March 14, 2012 - 9:16 pm

Location Location Location is obviously a little too simple. Jumped on my marketers who can sell an area’s upside and lifestyle and future improvement which is an easy sell, what they won’t mention is that by paying an outrageous price for their product you are still going to be fleeced.

Research Research Research always Comes back to the quality of your research though, one hour from an expert might be worth more than a month from a beginner, also conclusions from research have no promise of being correct. Still it’s all we have!

I personally like this one.

Property at the right price. Everything can be factored into an appropriate price and yield I believe.

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March 14, 2012 - 9:03 pm

We just bought half of a duplex pair for 30.8% below the other half of the pair which sold in 2009. That must feel like a crash for the people who sold now.

In price ranges 1M+ in areas that are tied to the business cycle we have seen 50% falls in cases in QLD, mortgage belt areas not unusual to see 15-20% falls, greater Brisbane as a total market is approximately 10% down from it’s peak.

Supply of product is roughly in balance with demand or slightly under supplied with trends showing large under supply on the way, rents are your proxy for measuring this and they are healthy or better in most places in greater Brisbane. Mining regions are still going ballistic.

It’s fine to use a term like crash, pinning down to numbers and time frames is more interesting. In all matters investing and this includes market timing there are only three things that matter.

1) What do I buy?
2) How much do I buy?
3) When do I sell?

If you aren’t buying residential property you are likely buying an alternative which might just be cash in the bank. All of this can be measured. I guess (predict) that people working a plan with accumulation of property for buy and hold, which is 1) well placed resi property at a good price 2) when you can comfortably afford it and 3) never (can be adjusted to suit but never is easier to measure) will continue to outperform other guessers (predictors), even if they have a plan to put forward.

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March 14, 2012 - 8:50 pm

Interested in what action you have taken since your original post Samuel?

[Andrew_AParticipant@andrew_aJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 392]

March 14, 2012 - 8:49 pm

You could try the REBAA website for independent Buyers Agencies

http://www.rebaa.com.au/

As this is likely to be a significant investment for yourself it pays to do your research wisely into who you choose.

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March 14, 2012 - 8:48 pm

Can you find examples of sale prices for the different product? Perhaps council will only allow the one process so that will remove the doubt!

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March 14, 2012 - 8:47 pm

Hi Ashington,

For independent Buyers Agent’s you can try the REBAA website to begin your research perhaps.

http://www.rebaa.com.au/

This removes marketers and unlicensed candidates for a start.

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March 14, 2012 - 8:45 pm

Laury wrote:

I have bought two properties through TIC. Both transactions went very smoothly and both properties have enjoyed a very low vacancy rate. The QLD property has not performed to expectations and rent has been stagnant sincepurchase date, however the property manager seems to do a very good job and it is a no fuss investment.  The west Perth property has been awesome. Have had it less  than 18 months and rent went from 650/wk to 795/wk but WA property managers take a gouge plus some!

The 'support member' is paid a commission on the sale but they do seem to make a lot more effort than your average estate agent.  As a lazy investor, I like the in depth property profile and generally low fuss transactions I have had with the club. I do have to wonder though about the overall goal of building up a large enough portfolio to live off the equity and as much as I love reducing my tax, I wouldn't mind a positive cash flow property now instead of in 5 years time!

I will probably buy a third property through TIC but I will always retain my own ideas, opinions and a 'safety cushion'  rather than fully endorsing their 'plan'

Laury this is biased advice from myself of course. Have you considered an independent Buyers Agent if low fuss and lazy investment is an important criteria? For a fee that should be around 2% they will not only do all of the work for you but have no interest in pushing product where they are paid a commission of 6.6% or thereabouts, you have access to all property and not just newly built property that the developer can’t sell without a marketing margin paid on top.

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March 14, 2012 - 8:39 pm

Magg how much research did you do into this company before agreeing to purchase a significant investment off them? How much will they be paid for selling this property?

There’s plenty of independent opinion and links to further discussion already on this thread.

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March 13, 2012 - 12:29 am

Never sell so it won’t be revealed how well (or not..) you have bought perhaps?

[Andrew_AParticipant@andrew_aJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 392]

March 13, 2012 - 12:21 am

Create scarcity with an offer might be an idea.

Increase or keep the same but explain your reasoning and that you aren’t prepared to pay more at the moment, have an expiry on the offer in written format and let them worry about it from there. This is assuming you are prepared to walk away or have someone else buy the property which is a risk you would be taking, if it’s a property that is fantastic for you there’s a solid argument for just doing what is necessary to secure it.

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February 29, 2012 - 10:09 pm

Samuel you also might want to start building your network and connections, that will be powerful for your future.

http://www.meetup.com/brisbanepropertygroup/

First night is free to attend and then it's approx $30/night, mostly DIY investors are attending these evenings and a good way to learn at little cost.

[Andrew_AParticipant@andrew_aJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 392]

February 29, 2012 - 10:05 pm

Keep reading and asking questions, no harm talking to a lot of different people and learning what they have to say. The Jan Somers property forums are also a useful resource though I don't think they do anything else apart from selling software and books and speaking events.

[Andrew_AParticipant@andrew_aJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 392]

February 26, 2012 - 10:26 pm

Latest Matusik thoughts on Brisbane.

http://matusikmissive.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/weekend-3/

[Andrew_AParticipant@andrew_aJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 392]

February 26, 2012 - 10:04 pm

Samuel241993 wrote:

Hello,

Im an 18 year old looking to buy an investment house somewhere in Brisbane, i have saved 20k and currently live with my parents. I have a full time job and study part-time. I also put away 300 dollars min into a savings account each week, however i would be putting this money towards the repayments if i bought a house. I would be looking to spend 300k-400k on a property, including stamp duty.

My questions to you:

1. Does it seem like im in the ideal situation to buy an investment property?
2. Should i consider going into this with a partner (I have a sibling looking to invest as well)?
3. Which would be the best suburbs to start looking in Brisbane?
4. I (and my sibling) have experience in building and design, so is it really worth while flipping houses or should this be something i hold onto as a long term investment?
5. Is there anything else i should know about or should be asking?

Thank you so much for your time and answers.

1) Will tell you in five years time Plenty will pretend they know now however!
2) This is personal financial and structuring advice and shouldn't be answered here
3) Depends
4) If you can make money from property trading then why not? Do it, make money, repeat!  Can mix this in with appropriate holding of longer term properties. Well done value adding has continued to work well like it pretty much always does, buy and forget capital growth has been much harder to come by over the last five years in Brisbane.
5) Plenty. Do some reading and networking and you will find the quality of your questions will improve quickly.

You are young and thinking about these things so that already places you in the top few % of the population, congratulations!

[Andrew_AParticipant@andrew_aJoin Date: 2003Post Count: 392]

February 22, 2012 - 11:46 pm

Well the Brisbane rental market has been healthy in total so the figures seem to make sense. Even after the flood there wasn't strong growth which indicates a balance between supply and demand, when you get that imbalance you see the crazy rent growth that is still happening in QLD mining areas.

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February 22, 2012 - 9:50 pm

The freckle, since my answer about 'prove it' could have been taken as flippant I apologize, will expand on the point about the graph you posted.

Also re: Real Estate agent comment, hardly a difficult qualification to achieve, I would upgrade my status to 'internet stranger' for purposes of internet debate, I was an anonymous internet commentator long before getting an agents license. Re: Spruiking, well my vested interest is that people buy property and use my services, above that not a great concern what happens to the market other than I'm also an investor and prices grinding lower hurts confidence, crash probably not good for almost everyone, flat to moderate growth can live with comfortably, boom also not good perhaps. My vested interest in property should be obvious.

Re: Your chart. No I don't think property operates in isolation, it's tied very closely to the economy. Issues such as credit supply and debt are very important, I'm no expert on that at all. Specifically in terms of commodity prices, I don't know what interpretation you have of that graph? To me it's just a graph showing record high prices are at the moment, what does that all mean?

My take would be presumably some reversion to the mean at some point and we can expect sharply lower prices? Might expect lower prices but there would also be some chance of structural change to the mean as we are talking about non renewable resources with a growing world population but that's just a guess. What would that imply for property prices specifically if commodity prices fell? What has it done in the past? what's the correlation between commodity prices and property?

I believe it's fair to assume property will continue to grow in line with the growth of our country, perhaps at or around inflation, perhaps at lower rates than in the past, this is roughly in line with Residex predictions for 5 year forward growth, we all have to base our investing decisions on something and that's what I'm doing. If you were to have a view that property won't grow or fall in price you would naturally make very different decisions.

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February 22, 2012 - 9:10 pm

It's just Residex data, including the log graph at the beginning that you describe as your 45 degrees. Interpretations based on the data that I seem to be making according to you are definitely open to debate.

2012 is looking better as buyer activity has been strong since mid December and turnover should definitely reveal higher numbers. Yes this is subjective as 2012 hasn't finished yet! We will see what happens with the data, I expect Feb will print close to flat as well for Brisbane, we will see in a few weeks.

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February 21, 2012 - 9:55 pm

Working on the 'why' is important, perhaps more important that the 'how'.

If you can work out what you are trying to achieve and why it can work well to have an end point in mind and work backwards from there to your present situation.

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February 21, 2012 - 9:53 pm

It's not only a good investment, it can be a great way to generate money through value adding such as renovations.

Working your way up the ladder is the only way you are going to do it unless you can find someone to lift you higher up the ladder immediately? Perhaps inherit or marry into money? Otherwise start on the first rung and start climbing!