I echo the voices of support and wish you nothing but the best.
Still, I don’t believe taking advice from a well meaning yet ill equipped investor forum board would be as worthwhile as seeking some specific professional help – perhaps initially a community social worker or maybe even lifeline.
Having said that, the easiest option isn’t often the best option. Think through things very carefully and never make a decision such as the one you are considering in the heat of the moment (or an argument).
Sincerely,
Steve McKnight
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Remember that success comes from doing things differently.
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Well, it took Dave and I over six months to do our first few deals – and I was doing it more than part time but less than full time (let’s call it 3/4 time!).
In truth, your results can be better or worse than what I achieved based on the resources you want to allocate to getting the task done.
Best wishes,
Steve McKnight
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I just wanted to show that a gross salary needs to have super deducted from it to form a net salary, and then that income tax is levied on the net rather than the gross salary.
Cheers,
Steve McKnight
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I’m very pleased you like the new forum categories.
Thanks for your suggestions too.
Actually, this is not the forum upgrade that I was planning. (hopefully) Soon we’ll be moving to a complete new forum software system that is more robust and has many more features.
With a site this big, it’s just a slow process that is inching forward.
Cheers,
Steve McKnight
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Leigh, will you give me another Enjo glove if you can come as a helper?[]
Probably be about 150 or so people there… I’m allocating specific time for questions and a quite a portion of the material will be stuff I have never discussed at seminars before.
The market is changing rapidly and I want to get the message out there for all to profit from. There will be mystery speakers (for about an hour) at the Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane events. I need this to give my voice a rest.
Cheers,
Steve McKnight
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I think that Wright Books put out a book about buying commercial property recently. I heard it was quite good too.
After some research at Wright Books…
quote:
How Investing in Commercial Property Really Works
By Martin Roth
0 701638087 Price: $34.95
Studies have also shown that commercial property investments often perform well when other asset classes are weak. Well, the stock market is at a four year low, there are fears that residential property prices may have peaked, and with a range of new investment opportunities, the spotlight has moved onto the numerous benefits of commercial property. These attractions include high yields – generally far higher than for residential property or the stock market, security of income, tax benefits and the chance of capital gain.
Best-selling finance journalist and author of Top Stocks 2003, Martin Roth has exhaustively researched this area of investment and his findings are written up in this comprehensive new book.
As for my tips… commercial is all about yield in comparison to tenant risk. A 10% return isn’t that hard, but you want to make sure you get a quality long-term tenant as commercial is usually harder to relet.
Watch out for GST too… it is applicable to commercial but not (as a rule) residential.
Perhaps I’ll try to cover this in an upcoming newsletter.
Cheers,
Steve McKnight
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I started with an economic profile that was prepared by the local council.
There should be stats available – but you may have to pay for them. See the links area on this site for some useful information, and I think http://www.propertyvalue.com.au/ might be of some help too.
As for tenant turnover etc. ABS data is likely to be too generic, but the REIV / REIA may be able to help.
You are going to need to throw some time at this to get the outcome you want.
Finally, watch out for rural areas… be sure to have a plan and a purpose to your investing rather than being caught up in a mad +ve gearing panic resulting from the book and recent boom.
Investing fundamentals rather than hype must always shine through.
Good luck,
Steve McKnight
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1. I want to show respect for Richmond’s decision to lock it; and
2. It contained discussion which is now redundant.
Still, your and Mini’s discussion remains relevant and as such, I have copied and pasted her post below for you to reply to (I hope this is adequate):
quote:
hey pin,
in reply to –
“Also the thing with +ve geared properties they ONLY put something like $1,000. PER ANNUM in your pocket. (i.e. peanuts.) WHY?? because this is eaten up so fast by EXTRA expenses that you forgot to put into the equation.”
I agree you probably shouldn’t just rush out and buy property if you ‘forgot’ about strata fees, property management fees, mortgage application costs, mortgage insurance, loan repayments, closing costs, maintenance costs, insurance, rates, vacancy rates, letting fees, or any other expense to do with buying or owning a property. All that calculation stuff is the kind of thing I learned at the seminar I went to with Steve,
(I actually went twice just to cement some stuff!) along with the ability to work out what that all means in terms of the bottom line.
Yes, the yearly surplus might not be large if you are (like me) buying ‘baby-deal’ properties around the 30K mark which rent for 115 per week. but the important thing is that there IS a surplus. And the yearly surplus is the bit that makes me feel secure that i won’t have to put any money into that house – I have a buffer. it’s also the thing that means that i can start looking for another property straight away ….and then keep on going. As the years go by the repayments seem less in relation to the rent – which goes up each year. The property manager should ensure that you have regular rent -increases which at least are in line with inflation.
After analysing a good many deals this year, three of which i bought, I’m at the point where i’m pretty bloody confident that I know what I’m doing numbers-wise (PS – I had to be – my Dad is an accountant and initially was not convinced…until i showed him the numbers!!!) – and I’ve built enough buffer into my calculations to allow for rising interest rates – which also means I’m going to keep my borrowing to a point where I am comfortable. This means I will keep more equity in the deal than a lot of people would. I am happy to go a bit slower in order to be a bit safer. but that’s just me. Also I am freelance so the ‘not digging in to earned income’ thing is quite important to me.
So I agree that the numbers aren’t big on the small deals but like when you play Robert kiyosaki ‘cashflow’, you start with a bunch of small deals that increase your cashflow, and over time, you can ‘get there’ by just doing lots of small deals, or you can eventually move into the bigger deals. either way it has a cumulative effect and the principal of the thing means you can replicate it. with no loss of lifestyle (other than the time taken to set up the deals, which i am in no way underestimating! However now they are set up, all I do is check my bank statements!!
>For Steve this is a completely different story. He has the >money and the backing. I am thinking about your average >Mum and Dad here, who don’t know what they are getting >into to. “
Steve didn’t have the money when he started. Didn’t you read the book? Read it! You’ll never guess where they got finance when they were starting out!!! The ‘zero’ in the title of his book means none, zip, zilch. They had NO properties when they started and 130 3.5 years later. They didn’t start with any backing, other than finance.
As far as the average mum and dad, they probably spend 105 percent of what they earn. ( I read that somewhere. that’s what the average Aussie does. Scary or what?? Credit cards are a growing sector….) They probably own their own home. Negatively geared of course, because own homes always are.
You won’t see them here.
The UN-average people are the ones who learned to spend less than they earn, eliminate consumer debt, and maybe think about investing the surplus. That is SOOO not average. The average in debt to the eyeballs Aussie mum and dad take the kids on holiday if they have a bit to spare (read: room on the credit card.) That’s why only 8 percent of people that own property own an investment property. And only 6 percent of THEM own three or more. That’s 0.5 percent of property investors. Not the average mum and dad, for sure. Why can’t there be more? Because negative gearing is so prevalent.
Because most people want to invest in their own homw first, because of many emotional (amongst other) reasons. because properties that will be cashflow positive are a bit thin on the ground. because a lot of people are way out of their comfort zone buying outside where they live. because most couldn’t be bothered to learn to understand it anyway.
A lot of my friends and family are impressed/bedazzled/confused/overwhelmed/challenged with what i’m doing with property. Most are interested enough to have me explain it. Some have borrowed my CD sets or bought the book. Fewer have read it. But a couple of friends
who borrowed the CD set, listened to it, made their partner listen to it, rang me up lots and asked me stuff, looked for deals, analysed them with me, and made offers have now bought cashflow positive properties….they are not average people though….
cheers-
Mini
Bye,
Steve McKnight
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Good call… onwards and upwards, especially seeing that Pinky did have the resolve to apologise for the benefit of all.
It takes a special person to fess up to making a mistake, and an even srtonger person to do it in a public forum area.
Bill, Pinky et. al. …keep posting please, but let’s focus on helping people with their investing. If you admire me for my approach then take a leaf out of my book and let’s move on to more productive discussions.
Thanks in advance.
Steve McKnight
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Wow – that took a lot of guts! Thanks for doing this – I very much appreciate your sentiments.
Of course, I hold no grudges. But this wasn’t always the case… when I was sacked in Mackay it took a long time for my self confidence to return.
I agree with Leigh that there are no guarantees, but I would hope that your trust in me turns out to be well placed. Only time will tell though.
As for my other concerns, let me just again reiterate that all I ask of people who post on this forum is that they keep it relevant and are respectful of others.
In fact, to be honest, your posts encouraged me to split the forums so that there was an area where people could post opinions without everyone having to read it.
It’s good that we don’t agree on everything. I don’t have all (or perhaps many!) of the answers… but I like to try and help where I can.
Olive branch happily and graciously accepted.
And hey, if you’d like to come back and are happy to moderate on the basis that the rules are the rules (and you are happy to apply them without bias)… then I’d be delighted to beef up your forum rights to moderator status so you can make sure this forum area is fairly maintained.
Cheers,
Steve McKnight
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Still, I can say that it will those that have attended seminars and contribute on this forum that have the best chance of being selected IF I do anything in the future.
Interesting… some people have said they’d do anything to be mentored. Anything? Well, we have said to quite a few that attending the eminar would be a great platform to launch your success and have a chance to network with our organisation.
“How much?”, they ask.
“$1,190.”
Oh, no… I don’t want to pay that.
Ah, then you won’t do anything will you?
I’m not saying that being at the seminar is the be all and end all. But, if you want to network with Dave, me and some of my closest friends and advisers (who regularly attend as my guests)… then you’ll need to come along.
I definitely subscribe to the theory that hanging around successful people rubs off. And trust me… I’ve paid a lot of money to learn and hang around successful people!
Cheers,
Steve McKnight
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Remember that success comes from doing things differently.
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Sometimes I have to shake my head in disbelief (sometimes shock) at the things people write.
I’m never disappoineted though. What people say is indicative of how people act and it’s not too hard to spot those that will be successful from those that will struggle.
But it’s all about a journey rather than an outcome.
As for this forum resource. It’s free, right? Its value is in the way we help each other!
To this extent, all I ever want is for the posts to be relevant and for there to be more helpers than those needing help.
Cheers,
Steve McKnight
P.S. I’ve missed you Leigh!
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To be honest, at the time of writing, there was no alterior motive behind ending the book with Tenants From Hell [] It’s just the way things ended up.
However, if I can take credit retrospectively, I would have crafted it this way because people who read the book and think “Oh no, that’s too scary from me!” should be investing to start off with.
Too often these days I see people wanting a risk free no effort way of earning a profit. Such a thing is a dream – a fantasy! What’s required is massive action. I seriously don’t think that 99.9% of people understand this.
Only when you want something bad enough that you are willing to make a sacrifice does it take on an urgency needed for you to reach a point whereby you attain the drive, focus and resolve needed to:
*find deals where none seem to exist
*find finance when you are always told no
*explore new options
* etc. etc. etc.
This concept is even lost with the some (perhaps many?) of the MAP people I work with. But it is early days and hopefully I’ll get the point across sooner rather than later.
Life is passing us all by and we need to do the best we can.
Thanks for having your input on this matter. I’ve enjoyed reading the answers.
Warm regards,
Steve McKnight
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We are always looking for people who want to help out and act as moderators.
However, what’s required is someone who is happy to enforce the rules, even to the extent that it offends in order to keep this investing forum ticking over.
Anyone who wants to do this – please, help us out!
The existing moderators do a fantastic and much appreciated job. It’s often a thankless task and sometimes you even get abused… but then every umpire imposing the rules of the game has to cope with that.
Bye,
Steve McKnight
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Remember that success comes from doing things differently.
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