Looks fantastic Chris! I cant wait to (one day) do the same myself! Ahh the joys of being at the beginning of the property investor journey….. [biggrin]

Hey Roy,

Send me a reminder email to [email protected] and Ill send you out the details tonight.

Cheers

Lou

Hi.

You may want to read Steve’s second book. It fits a little better with today’s market. His first book was written pre-mid boom where pos cashflow properties were still readily available, however its not that easy in today’s (east coast) post-boom era. His second book shows a different perspective to investing (getting more creative to find those CF+ properties) which suits today’s market a bit better. It should give you some ideas on how to think differently/creatively to find (or create) CF+ properties.

Feel free to shoot me down anyone.

Louise.

Can I please please please get you to check something out first before you purchase this property! Go to the local Council and check that the property is not affected by any tidal zones etc. The council should have a coastal engineer of sorts. Ill give you an example that Ive come across: (..and no this is not an example from the Council I currently work at – however this is a real example)

There is a council who has undertaken a coastal study of their assets along the coastline of their Council Area. The study shows that the future water level goes through the loungerooms of well over 20 homes just along one stretch of beachfront. These properties have a hell of a lot of problems with undertaking any developments/renovations to them (because the Council is encouraging residents to build well away from the coastline – and the Council’s cant afford to purchase these multi million dollar properties). you may even have to waive your right to any appeal to the Council for any passed DAs which in the future may be washed away in a storm event or coastal erosion. I know its not entirely legal, but you may still come across this.

The residents also find it pretty much impossible to insure the property – what insurance company would be silly enough to insure a structure in a fluvial environment? So check with your insurance companies too.

Please remember that a coastal environment is not static. Have a talk to some of the older looking locals on the beach and they will tell you how the dunes used to be another 40feet out to sea – it puts it into perspective, and you dont think of this when you take a snapshot view of a property.

Yes there is sea level rising. yes there is coastal erosion, either natural or enhanced by human settlement, and yes there is and will be severe storm events including storm surges and king tides. So please do your homework!

I know the beach houses are beautiful homes and a bit of an aussie dream, but if it were me, Id be buying on the other side of the road from a beach, or up on a good solid cliff face away from the sand dunes.

I dont mean to scare you off, but Im just raising these issues with you – not everyone thinks of them. This is just my experience as an Environmental Planner in local government. If I can help you with anything along these lines, please dont hesitate to send me a PM.

Lou

Hi Roy,

I made mention at the end of the meeting that I have a background in Local Government strategic planning, and that I use this background to undertake simple research on the potential future planning and developments within a chosen area Im interested in. I was going to share some of the research methods I use with the group at the next meeting.

The idea behind it is allowing us to develop a way to find out what external factors will effect the value of a property (more from a CG point of view rather than CF). There are many IPs on realestate.com.au which go for $200k and bring in $200pw (for example), but which ones out of those are getting a new freeway leading to the main CBDs built near it, or a large investment into the local shopping district, or Council strategy to increase the densitiy within the area. Just some of the things which the little ads in realestate.com.au don’t include, yet can effect the value of a potential IP.

I dont want to tread on your toes, (but let me know if I am), but if people have the time to do a bit of the research themselves then it empowers them to either have a better understanding of your research, or to go solo and see what they can find out about an area on their own. I wont and can’t give a comprehensive list of places to go research, but Im happy to part with as much knowledge that I have from a planning perspective. More than happy to share the stage too, Roy! [biggrin]

Louise

PS: Lawrence, I was more after which STATES everyone is looking at, to find the state level strategies… not necessarily particular suburbs. Im more than happy to provide links to state level strategies, then give an overview of how to then drill down to regional and local strateiges – without covering any specific localities.

Ill be there. [biggrin]

..and the delayed response from Lou:

I havent received any group email, so could I please be added: [email protected]

I really enjoyed meeting you all the other weekend, and look forward to the next meeting!

I second the Tim Tam motion! [biggrin]

Should be a good chance to meet like minded investors. Im looking forward to this.

Regards

Louise

…on saying all of the above, I can tell you first hand from working within local government planning, that the political environment can play a very very strong part in the future urban landscape of an area.

So even though you may speak to a planner and they may tell you that they are developing a planning instrument to increase development in their Council area, you never know on the night it is presented at a Council meeting what the political environment will be like. It could be thrown out the window because the Councillor supporting the proposal last week just lost their battle in the previous council debate and has spat the proverbial dummy.

Just another thing to take into consideration….

Hi Tombola,

sounds great! Im currently relocating to Melbourne (from Sydney) and would love to meet up with like minded investors.

Please keep me in the loop.

Cheers

Louise
[email protected]