[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 20, 2011 - 11:20 pm

Hi,

I was also using their software for the 14 days trial and i thought it was very powerful and was really good value for money if you were doing a number of searches per month.

Its also great way of quickly educating yourself with specific areas you are interested in or have heard of.

But if you are an investor who is maybe looking at adding 1 property per year to your portfolio, $169 per month is alot of money.

I also looked into PriceFinder, which offered something very similar, but have added CMA functionality. The price is the same as REI and you can choose to pay monthly, but you are limited to one state.

It would be great if these companies actually catered for the smaller guys by allowing 2-3 investors to share a subscription.

In this example, $55-60pm for each investor is much more affordable and REI gets another monthly subscription of $169, which they probably wouldn’t have got.. its a win-win situation.

Regards,
Robbie

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 11, 2011 - 12:53 am

I'm also based in Sydney CBD.

Would be great to spend some time chatting to you about my property venture plans and how you could assist me with my property transactions.

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 11, 2011 - 12:49 am

Thanks guys..

What is the best way to go about finding a independent buyers agent? I have targeted a few areas which I'm interested in buying in, so now i need to find buyers agents who deals in these areas.

I guess there would be no point contacting the major estate agents in the area as they generally act on behalf of the seller?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 11, 2011 - 12:38 am

Thanks Terry.. where you based?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 10, 2011 - 5:59 am

Thanks!

Question: If you are a buyers agents and you source a property from a seller, who isnt using a sales agent, how do you lock in the seller?

For example, if a BAs finds a property where the seller doesnt have an sales agent, then the BA offered this property to a buyer, what is stopping the seller from accepting offers from other BA's or private buyers?

I think this term is refered to a 'gazumping'

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 10, 2011 - 3:31 am

Yup the shared subscription for PriceFinder is really good. but unfortionately for the areas im interested in, they dont offer the shared subsciption, so it works out to about $150pm

If you prepapred to pay around $150-160pm for individual use, Real Estate Investar is by far the best value for money as it gives you access to multple states and regions where as most other companies limited to you a region or state for this fee.

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 10, 2011 - 3:03 am

Andrew_A wrote:

Robbie in QLD the legal document is a form 22a, the form to engage a buying or selling agent, this is the required legal form that is both supposed to offer the agent protection for their commission and the buyer potential recourse if the agent doesn't fulfill their legal requirements. 

Why would a seller sign a form 22a with a buyers agents when he could sign one with a normal agent, who would be looking after his interests better?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 10, 2011 - 2:57 am

Thanks..

How do you go about finding a buyers agent if they work independently?

Generally speaking, do buyers agents only operate in a certain areas?

Lastly, with regards to a buyers agents fee, is this something that would beed to be included in the contract / offer to purchase? i.e

Lets say a buyers agent found a property for $98 000, could the $2k fee be included in the purchase price. If it is structred like this, the buyer can use the bank finance to assit paying the buyers agent fee.

OR

If a buyers agent found a property for $98k, would you need to pay the agent the $2k separately? i.e. not included in the contract / offer to purchase?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 10, 2011 - 1:59 am

So the only real difference, in terms of costs, is the flat 1.6% rate for land tax?

So by purchasing property around $150k, the land value could be around $100k, which is $1600pa ($133pm) for land tax. For one property its not so bad, but if you have 10 it might quite high.

On the same note, if the value of the land is going up, im sure the value of the property is too (good sign).

I guess you would need to weigh up the land tax (1.6%) versus the potential savings in the medium term (tax) as land tax will be applicable for property bought in your own name once its reaches the threshhold.

If you also plan to only buy positve cash flow properties (from day one), wouldnt it make sense to use a trust structure to avoid having to pay tax on the addtional infome your properties are making?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 10, 2011 - 1:36 am

Thanks Ryan, i agree, it is very good..

Did you end up taking a monthly subscription after the inital 14 day free trial?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 9, 2011 - 10:57 pm

Interesting, seems very simple but i wonder what it takes into consideration when working out whether a property is positive cash flow?

There so many factors i.e. loan amount, loan term, interest rate, propoperty expenses etc.

I would hate to turn down a good deal if it just fell short and is actually positive cash flow if a few of the abive items i mentioned above were tweaked.

Have you found any properties which are positive cash flow based on this quick test?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 9, 2011 - 10:11 am

By asset protection in your personal name do you mean getting sufficient life cover to pay for any outstanding debt of your property in the even of either one of you passing away?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 9, 2011 - 5:16 am

So with a fixed trust is the tax free threshold applicable?

Silly question, but who decides on the value of your land and how do they determine this value? Is it a simple calculation done by multiplying the size of your land by the value (per squate meter) of the land? Might get tricky if different suburbs have differnent values in terms of the land vlue?

Lets say you land value was just below the threshold, is it up to you to alert the tax office that its now over the threshold or is this something done automatically by the tax office?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 9, 2011 - 5:04 am

But land tax is applicable to both trusts and if you buy in your personal name right?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 9, 2011 - 1:26 am

I think what i was refereeing to is agents (working for agencies) who advertise properties on sites such as Doman / RealEstate will always be representing the seller, which means they always going to try get a much a possible for their clients property, so you never really going to get a good deal buying property through these kinds of agents. 

I guess a better use of an agent would be a buyer’s agent. I guess a buyer’s agent would represent and have the interests of the buyer at hand. I guess a buyers agent would need to work independently? My next question is.. if a buyers agents represents the buyer, how does he lock a seller into a deal with no mandate in place and does the buyer pay for the agents commission? What commission do buyers agents usually charge?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 9, 2011 - 1:00 am

They are cater for both Australian and New Zealand markets.

The software is great, i just dont like the idea of being locked into it for 12 months at $169pm.

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 7, 2011 - 9:23 am

Thanks Navid, ideally you want to be dealing with a lawyer who is an investor himself and works with other investors.

I will send you an PM, but also happy to hear about other memebers recommendations.

Cheers,
Robbie

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 7, 2011 - 6:25 am

Thanks guys, i guess tools such as these do allow you to educate yourself quite quickly in terms of market value estimates in areas you are not familair with.

Are there any other users of Residex or My Valuer (Real Estates Investar)?

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 4, 2011 - 3:56 am

Thanks Michael, this clause was just a quick thumb suck to try prove a point or an idea i was trying get across with regards to get creating around your contract escape clauses.

Do you have a good lawyer I can use? The ones I have used back home in South Africa have generally been the smaller firms with less of a big, powerful reputation.i.e you paying for their service and not their name.

[RobbiePMember@robbiepJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 108]

November 4, 2011 - 3:00 am

Jpcashflow, thanks for your input

With regards to your points:

1: I have heard about RP Data, but they are extremely expensive when only using for personal use.
2: That was just an example, which happens out there. How would a home owner, with no income and other debt, be able to draw addtional funds from their mortgage? Surely they would need to provide the bank that the can afford the addtional funds? Even if they could, this would only be a temporary solution.
3: Exactly, which is why you need to be specific in what you say and how u use this cluase and prefably get it checked out by a lawyer before using it.