[StevenParticipant@steven1982Join Date: 2017Post Count: 189]

October 19, 2017 - 3:33 pm

Terryw wrote:

1. Obtaining a financial advantage by deception is a crime so banks would care if that is what you are doing.

Ok, that makes sense, but what about the scenario I described above concerning when moving in with my parents don’t work out well after a few months? such as this example:

1. I move to my parents’ house later this year and apply for equity release.

2. Suppose the application is successful and equity is released in January.

3. I then try to rent it out but the house does not get rented out (Because this was my PPOR, so I am quite fussy about the quality and condition of the tenants, and unfortunately I don’t like the tenants who come to inspect the property and / or I like the tenants but they do not like my home).

4. Then by April I realize having 3 generations living under the same root causes a lot of family problems, and since my own property is still not rented out successfully yet, so I stop trying to rent my own home out and I move back to my own home.

5. All the while I still make my repayment perfectly, timely and fully.

What will the bank do about me if the above is the case?

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October 19, 2017 - 2:46 pm

What really annoys me in this scenario is that:

I went to my bank, sat down together with ANZ’s banker (also happens to be a “senior banker”). Did our calculations.

When he checked my personal bank account’s transactions, it is so bluntly obvious that between my and my wife (we both bank with ANZ), after all the monthly repayment and our spending, we still save additional some $3K per month and put those into our offset account to offset our PPOR home interest.

Even when we do take the equity release and the additional monthly repayment of equity release into consideration, the bank’s spreadsheet shows we can still save more than $2K cash per month after all the calculations…

And yet, the answer I am getting is “sorry, your history statement and your ability to save that much money in reality does not count when we do our assessment. We only use our own figure”. In other words, we have a proven track record of our living expenses in detail, that is traceable in ANZ’s banking system and yet, they ignore that and think our living expenses is at an “assumed figure” that is much higher than what is realistically happening. Makes me wonder why bother looking at our transaction history when they are not using it as a source of truth.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by  Steven.

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October 19, 2017 - 2:14 pm

crj wrote:

1. Deliberately lying on loan application ie saying there is/will be income (rent) that there won’t be. Obtaining money under false pretences.

No, because I will be moving to my parent’s place when that happens.

But what is stopping me from moving back to my own home after say, 1 year or 2? or after 6 months?

I mean people can change their minds about where they want to live a lot. I could be buying a PPOR home, and a few months or years down the track I decide I like a different area better so I rent that home out where I move myself.

Likewise I might buy an investment property and move out myself, but sometime later I decide I still like my original property better so I move back myself.

I don’t have a problem with relocating to my parents’ place, but who knows some time later down the track have 3 generations living under the same roof may not work out very well so I just end up moving back to my own property again.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by  Steven.

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October 6, 2017 - 10:51 am

Alberto wrote:

my partner and myself attended the same course two weeks ago in Melbourne. I had your same doubts. The course is good but we did not go on for 35k….

So at the moment we are continuing searching and studying by ourselves. We are very interested in investing in UK and NZ, at the moment we are looking for good Sourcing agents in both countries.

Ahhh OK, we were in the same class then.

A googling on the Internet actually shows a lot of comments, both positive and negative, about them. However, not sure if you noticed, but I see a “trend” in those negative comments. Basically, the way how I signed up the training is:

1. I saw my friends “liked” their free intro course on FaceBook, so I attended.
2. I think the information presented in the free intro course is good, so I decided to attend the 3 day training.
3. I did debate with myself and my family a bit as whether to attend the expensive mentor program, but in the end I decided to attend.

Now, the negative criticisms on the Internet (mostly saying this is a SCAM), the trend I see is that all the negative criticisms are directed at point 2 above. Even then, mostly the negative criticisms are NOT directed at the content of the training, but rather directed at the way how they marketed their mentoring program and how they sounded a bit pushy to get students to sign up.

And I am yet to see any negative criticism complaining the mentoring program itself is a “SCAM” or “a waste of time”. I am yet to see any comments stating “I paid my 35K AUD and I learned nothing from it” or “I paid my 35K AUD and only to find myself got into a SCAM” or something like that.

This to me, is an indication that students to paid for the expensive mentoring, they actually put effort into learning and practicing, and then subsequently got results they wanted in the end. Otherwise in the company’s 20 years of public trading, somebody’s bound to call out and say “the mentoring itself is a SCAM”.

I personally think a fee up there serves as a way to whit out those who are really serious from those who are just trying to make a quick buck.

My wife was initially against me signing up any further.. however after a few days of discussion, she admits the reason she was against me initially is not because she disagrees with the mode of operation, but rather, she didn’t like the way how they market their mentoring program and tried to push the students in a hurry, but once she sees past that, she actually agrees with how the model which the students will be used to run their businesses.

I also agree that there are less expensive mentoring programs out there, and there are free mentoring programs out there too. And some of those less expensive and free options can get us into where we want as well.

I definitely do not think signing up with an expensive mentoring program is the way to do property investing for everybody. Everybody’s circumstance is different, so we all use different approaches.

So yea, I guess it just goes back to where I started: whether people think it is worth it or not, it is entirely up to each individual. Just like how Ben quoted Henry Ford in class: Whether you think you can do it or not, either way you are right.

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October 5, 2017 - 10:07 am

crj wrote:

Try and find some people who signed up for the $28k and ask them for their experience

I have already signed up myself.

I plan to do some blogging or video along the way, as a way to record my progress so if I am successful of doing it, then this is an example of how it can be done. Or if I am not successful of doing it, then it is a living testimony of why this doesn’t work.

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September 28, 2017 - 10:13 am

Hi Benny

I got the clarification re: tax deductible from them.

Probably irrelevant, but more of an FYI for those who are curious to know the answer.

The Tax Deduction doesn’t happen in Australia, but happens in UK or NZ, depending on the choice of investment.

In UK, it can be claimed from the day of payment up to 3 years, and in NZ, it is 18 months.

So basically those who choose to pursuit further would setup their company / trust from the chosen market and write it off as business cost from there.

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September 28, 2017 - 9:57 am

Hi Benny

Thanks for the feedback.

I could have got the tax part wrong. I thought CGT and personal income tax are calculated separated and they are summed up together.

But I will get that verified.

I thing I forgot to mention is that Victoria government has recently raised the land tax and a lot of investors got a land tax bill from State Revenue Office for the first time last year. meeehhh…. Not sure what is the situation like in other states

Cheers
Steven

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September 27, 2017 - 3:13 pm

Hi Benny

What you said is very true, and this in fact will touch base on the next sharing which I will be typing up.

Without going into any details into that topic, the way how the class room was teaching us is that: we don’t try to time the market, and instead we use a strategy that will work whether the market is going up, stalls or going down, because our cash flow is healthy.

So if we get both equity soar and cash flow, that’s fantastic, its an added bonus for us.
if the market stalls and we don’t get more equity, that’s OK
if the market crashes and our property drop in value… well, let’s say we won’t be too happy about the drop in value but we are not worried due to cash flow continues to be healthy and cash flow is what protects us.

More on that topic in a separate thread.

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September 27, 2017 - 3:06 pm

Benny wrote:

e.g. I think it can work out if one takes out an option, then onsells that option to someone else. In that way, you never do take possession of the property, so you don’t need to pay Stamps – at least, I think that is how it goes(???)

I heard about them to. I think that’s part of what Dominique’s teaching is about.

If someone defaults on their loan, I can pay loan temporally for that person.
Then I can get a caveat added and strike a deal and sign off legal documents with the distressed vendor, which gives me permission to sell that person’s property, and in term we negotiate a way to split the profit.
I then sell the property, and avoid Stamp Duty and Capital Gain Tax.

A bit long winded way and more hassle on the legal side, but can get the job done.

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September 27, 2017 - 2:35 pm

I think 30-60 minutes per day is an OK commitment. Its not like I need to spend hours and hours for 3-6 months. So basically, it is like do 30-60 minutes study, let things slowly sink in, etc… rinse and repeat.

The travel to Auckland for 3 days does not happen until after those 3-6 months. I was told we meet their team on day 2 and potentially for those students who are ready, they can get into their first deal during their trip, but most students are not expected to act that quickly.

Also, the mentor is not there to teach us for 3 days and then forget about us, nor are we supposed to leave our mentors underutilized. We paid to get mentoring for a reason. So if the sourcing agent presents me a deal and I need a second pair of eyes to check things out, I can ask mentor questions. The important thing is to stay in touch with the mentor the keep things going smoothly between us. So in a sense, I’d say this is not that much different from getting an Australian Mentor who lives in Sydney rather than Melbourne (except for the 28K part).

Now the mentor is not there to do my job for me, so if I am not sure about something, I need to put down my thoughts and specific questions I have about deal for the mentor to be come back with specific suggestions.

By the way, I sent you a private message in this regard. Let me know what you think.

I don’t know many buyer agents in Australia, just as I don’t know any NZ sourcing agents for the moment. So there is probably not a great deal of differences in this regard.

I haven’t signed up for the program though, just that I asked for a 7 days extension for me to think about before they shut me out (they gave me the 7 days to think about, and the instructor who presented the class still gave me homework as if I paid my deposit). So I have until Sunday evening to make a decision.

As for being tax deductible, I don’t think they are referring to Australian tax point of view, but more from NZ/UK point of view. ie: a trust will be setup in NZ if I go and this education expense and travel expense gets written off as part of trust cost rather than my personal cost. But I will clarify on that if I decide to sign up.

Based on my understanding, I think the strategy which they use are not going to work very well in Australia. Many students who sign up will opt to use a “buy and flip” strategy to get started, so they can build up their cash stock before they consider “buy and let” or “house of multiple occupancy (where we have property with 6-7 rooms and we rent out individual rooms)”

The problem with flip strategy is that, in Australia, we have the 2 nasty taxes called Stamp Duty and Capital Gain Tax, which neither exists in New Zealand (not now anyway).

This means:
1. When flipping, we need to consider the extra 5.5% as our cost when we sell the property. So less profit for us.
2. If the property is sold within 1 year (which will be the case if we flip), then that’s 50% CGT and if after 1 year, it is 25% CGT. This one is a killer.
3. Once that is over, the remaining profit gets added on top of my personal income and gets taxed again, so if I have a high paid job, that’s even more tax.

This is just not going to work out very well if I need to do, say, 2-3 flips in less than 12 months.

Anyway, I still have 4 days to say yes to them if I still want to sign up by end of this week.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by  Steven.

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September 27, 2017 - 9:59 am

The worst thing that I can think of is that I spend 28K, find that their sourcing agent’s deals are all unfit for my requirement and reject every offer they make.

Can’t think of anything worse than that.

Just before anybody else jumps in and say “the sourcing agents could be faking numbers when presenting you the deal”, well I am not worried about sourcing agents faking their numbers because when the numbers are presented to me, I can verify by:

1. Getting in touch with the local agents to see the value of similar properties in that area.
2. Getting in touch with my connections in New Zealand (ex-work colleagues, uni friends) to introduce the area to me so I can understand the location better.
3. A bit of google around can help out too.

For me, the part that I have the biggest trouble with is to actually find a deal. This is the most time consuming and cumbersome part and the part where I have the least knowledge and the least personal connections. So really, I am not even going to try.

So just let the sourcing agent do that part and I will need to make sure that once a deal is presented to me, I have the knowledge to work out the numbers and the numbers in the deal make sense to my strategy and requirement.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by  Steven. Reason: spelling

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September 27, 2017 - 9:46 am

No, I randomly saw them on Facebook so I attended their workshop.

At least at this stage, I do agree with a lot of what they say.

I mean really, if I personally run into Robert Kyosaki tomorrow, and he would like to introduce his team to me to do Real Estate, then I’d sign up right away. I know that Robert doesn’t pay his team member in the form of a “pay roll”, ie: they are not Robert’s employees, but they still form a good team working together.

So regarding to their team, the way how they presented is that, the Tax agents, Solicitors, sourcing agents, etc… are not Legacy employees, (that is, they are not on Legacy’s Pay roll so Legacy doesn’t pay them salaries to do business together) but people who they make use of.

To be honest, I couldn’t care less who sourced the properties and from where, as long as I keep in my head that:

1. The numbers add up. (do my math)
2. The numbers make sense. (research the area where the properties are sourced to understand if the property is really below market value or not in that area, and whether the area is suited for such investing)
3. I get to free up my time. (I have a full time job, so there is no way I get to do property investing in a full time manner, nor is it possible for me to dig up those under market value properties on my own. So instead of relying on the unreliable myself, why not make use of leverage instead).
4. The cash flow makes sense. (this is the king of everything. If the cash flow adds up and meets my requirement, then who cares if the sourcing agent and Legacy pay each other or not)

I mean looking at my own situation now, I have 2 properties, 1 is my own home and the other is an investment property.

The amount of time and effort me and my wife spend is insane, and even then the investment property is not a good buy. (we bought for appreciation, not for cash flow, big mistake on our part).

Truth be told, I myself have very low confidence in my own ability to find under market value properties, whether in Australia or overseas because: a) I don’t know how to find out whether a property owner is deceased or divorced or defaulted on their loan. b) I don’t have any connections with any agents or otherwise. c) Even if I do, I don’t get the time to do that.

So basically the way how it is structured is:

1. The expensive part is the studying. (think of it as a uni fee)

2. When you do properties with them, each time a property is sourced:

a) you will be charged a sourcing fee. From what I see so far, it looks like usually it is around 4-5K NZ dollars
b) you will be charged legal fee, etc… obviously (I didn’t take note of a figure, but it is quite negligible compare to the rest)
c) you don’t pay stamp duty in NZ (my parents’ NZ friends verified that to be true)
d) currently there is no CGT in NZ. The NZ government are trying to introduce it, but whether it will be successful or not, we don’t know.
e) The assumption is that property management will be at 10-15% of rental income. (might as well assume 15%)
f) Once again, the monthly operation expense (such as insurance, water bill, rates, etc…) will form between 10-15% of rental income, depending on each circumstance. (again, might as well just assume 15%)

——————————————-

One thing that the instructor repeatedly stressed is that we do not want to use our own money to invest. Unfortunately there are 2 fees that can’t be avoided, and they are:

1. they learning fee (that expensive 28K fee)
2. the first deposit for the first property — this one we will have no choice but to transfer from Australia to New Zealand as this our starting money.

However, the important thing is once the first deal is done successfully, we do NOT need to transfer any more money from Australia to New Zealand to do further deals, because we can use the profit we generated from the first deal in New Zealand to keep us going. In other words, we make our initial investment using our Australian money and that’s it, and from this point onward, we are supposed to make more profit by using the profit gained within New Zealand, we should not need transfer money from Australia each time we want to buy our next property unless we messed up. This also means the first deal has to be done very carefully to avoid messing up. Once the first deal is done correctly, not only does it give us the leverage to use our profit in NZ to keep us going, it also gives us confidence too.

If a student has to transfer the deposit from Australia to New Zealand every time that student is trying to buy a new property, the that student is doing something terribly wrong.

The instructor made it very clear multiple times during the weekend: If you need to take cash out of your own saving account every time you want to buy a new investment property, then you are asking for bankruptcy, because the amount of money in your saving account is finite and they increase at a very slow rate if all we have is our 9-5 jobs. So you need to make use of leverage, use the “money in, money out” approach (with Australian property yield at record low, I am not sure if money in-money out approac really works that well in Australia, but then I won’t find out how well they work in New Zealand either until at least I give it a go).

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September 26, 2017 - 8:51 pm

Hi Benny

No, that was it. It was a 3 day workshop, cost $1200. No further mentoring program.

There are purchasable options, but they are very expensive. So most people opted out but there were still 30 or so people who signed up. I want to sign up but I am getting heavy resistance from my wife. (she was even against me attending that $1200 course at first place)

I am sure you heard of the educational entity. It is Legacy Education Alliance.

The purchasable options are:

1. Go onto a New Zealand market program: 28K for 1 person or 35K for 2.
2. Go onto a UK market program: can’t remember the price
3. Do both at 63K for 2 people, but unsure how much for 1 person.

The purchasable options include:

1. 3-6 months of study (materials provided) including Real Estate in the selected market, tax study, law study, etc.. in the selected market
2. Fly to the destination (Auckland if you choose NZ and London if you choose UK) to meet up with your mentors for 1:1 session for 3 days.
3. Meet up with their team including:
a) Solicitors
b) Tax Accountants (they specialize in property tax rather than general tax)
c) Sourcing Agents
4. They will register a trust company for you and open up a bank account for you in NZ, or a corporation in UK. Basically, any Real Estate trading you do will be done under the company rather than as an individual, so you get the benefit of paying company tax rather than personal income tax.
5. Then your investment journey begins.

According to how they introduced the program, it goes something like this:

1. You need to do your own research and study and thoroughly understand what you are doing. Your mentor will answer any questions you can’t figure out on your own.
2. Sourcing Agent will source properties for below market price and forward you any deals that they think are worth investing. You also get to access their portal (Legacy students only) and can pick which deal you want to do.
3. Just because your sourcing agent did all the ground work, doesn’t mean you should blindly go ahead. Instead do your own research and due diligence and see if the deal matches up. If you are not sure, check with your mentor.
4. Do the deal if you think it is worth it.
5. Deals are all done remotely unless you feel like traveling to local market each time.
6. Your fee (28K for NZ, etc..) is tax deductible, so is your travel / hotel / meal expense during those 3 days of mentoring.
7. You can pay yourself an income salary from your trust/corporation to your Australian bank, subject to Australian personal tax. So many opt to do the trading using trust/corporation and bill their living expenses and travel expenses as company trips (need valid business evidence otherwise they can’t be written off as company cost) only pay themselves minimal salary (under $18K, so they don’t pay income tax in Australia).

Basically, you can think of this as “you pay a very expensive fee, but you get to become an inner circle)”.

Whether it is worth it or not, is entirely up to each individual.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by  Steven.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by  Steven.

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September 26, 2017 - 5:08 pm

My father had a friend who had a tenant who lived in his property for free for over 3 months, and yet when going to legal battle, the court ruled that “because the tenant doesn’t have a job and is in no condition to make payment anywhere, therefore the landlord cannot evict the tenant until the tenant finds a job”, and guess what? The tenant happily plays computer game all day without trying to find a job until the end of the lease, at which case my father’s friend promptly paid an eviction squad to boot the tenant out by force, because otherwise the tenant will just keep staying there for free.

I think Australian laws are not very landlord friendly in this regard.

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September 25, 2017 - 2:27 pm

Steven wrote:

Yes and No to that.

They know some sourcing agents, but they are not in a “employer and employee relationship” with the sourcing agent.

Kind of like the real estate agent who sold my property, he knows some good conveyances, but he doesn’t pay the conveyance and neither does the conveyance pay him. They both charge me instead.

Kind of like how Robert Kyosaki writes in his Rich Dad and Poor Dad book, he doesn’t “hire” his lawyers, accountants, etc… but he “pays” them as they do business together. So essentially Robert’s accountants, lawyers, etc… are part of his team, but they are not his employees…

Hope this explains.

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September 25, 2017 - 2:18 pm

Terryw wrote:

My hunch is that they offer buyers agent services

Yes and No to that.

They know some sourcing agents, but they are not in a “employer and employee relationship” with the sourcing agent.

Kind of like the real estate agent who sold my property, he knows some good conveyances, but he doesn’t pay the conveyance and neither does the conveyance pay him. They both charge me instead.

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September 25, 2017 - 2:15 pm

Hi Benny

Sorry, my mistake.

110K for deposit. So 1560 / 110000 = 1.4% per month, multiple that by 12, and that is 17% per year. However, what was not taken into consideration is this is 360 per week of rental income, but the property itself is not positive cash flow.

I am getting 1560 per month, but my repayment is over 1600, which makes this a negatively geared property.

So my apologize for messing up the numbers.

As for an example of good cash flow:
The lecturer brought some of his students over, and one of the students shared a purchase she made in New Zealand (she’s Kiwi herself).

Numbers look like this:

House at Palmerston North (Palmy as they call it)
Purchase Price: 250K
Initial Deposit 50K
Home loan 200K (80% LVR)
It was a distressed property so needed some renovation work. Renovation cost 30K.
So basically cash in = 80K

Rental return = 2362 per month
home loan repayment = 989 per month
monthly expense (water, rates, insurance, etc…) = 523
property management fee 217 per month

That is positive cash flow of over 600 per month, which is 9% ROI

600 / 80K (50K deposit + 30k renovation cost) = 9% positive cash flow.

Missing from the scenario is the sourcing agent fee as this property was found by a sourcing agent, but that’s negligible compare to other costs.

Add on top of that, there is no stamp duty in New Zealand and no Capital Gain Tax either, so if that person is to sell the property rather than rent it out, it is can be sold for quite a hefty profit without having to pay 25% CGT. (of course, since this is a good investment, she said she will never sell it)

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September 21, 2017 - 10:39 am

Hi Nigel

Just visited your website and sent you a private email.

Cheers
Steven

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September 21, 2017 - 10:23 am

I haven’t drilled too much into details and specifics.

The way how I was presented those information is like this. It may or may not add up, but at this stage, I am not making any decision nor am I committing myself to anything. I just thought I’d list down that and share those information, that’s all.

1. When those new apartments are being constructed, she doesn’t buy them, nor does she make referrals to people who she knows, because she knows they will be sold at premium price.

2. But one way or another, some “problematic apartments” come up, and fail to settle. The reason behind failing to settle can vary, but a lot of the time, this is due to either marriage break down or people who cannot get finance in time (such as now Chinese government are tightening up overseas money transfer so that slowed down and that caused many Chinese buyer to unable to settle).

3. When this happens, the “initial” buyer more often than not looks to get rid of them quickly, and that’s where bargain are stroke, and this is when she buys (or pass on the information to people who she thinks will be interested).

4. Whether she makes money in between, I don’t want to guess, but she said for her, it is just a flick of email at her end.

5. Usually when those properties “fail to settle”, they tend to be re-sold by the initial buyer, but at a lower value. To give an example, the initial buyer might have bought it at 500K because that initial buyer bought it in a “conventional manner” at premium price, but due to failing to settle but needing to get rid of it quickly, they may re-sell it for 400K or less, and that’s how much she pays (or how much I would pay if she refers them to me and I decide to buy it).

6. Yes, I am fully aware of apartments in places such as Southbank and Dockland are performing crap. I personally know someone who bought apartments in Dockland years ago and now regret buying it.

7. But then, coming from my personal experience, I know Chinese Students much prefers apartments close to school. I had 2 cousins who studied in Melbourne, 1 went to Melbourne Uni and 1 went to RMIT. They both stayed at my home initially (where I don’t even charge them rent because we are a family) and yet both voluntarily moved out and moved into “student apartments” close to their school despite knowing they pay much higher rent there (they pay something like 500+ per week, which I think is crazy)

8. I also use a Chinese social app on mobile called WeChat, where there are Social groups that are created with 500 members specifically to talk about overseas students accommodation. There are frequently students who lease term is about to expire and look for the next student to move in, and rather than posting them using conventional methods, they use that WeChat group to advertise and usually those apartments / Units are the first to be taken away.

For example, I recently purchased a new 5 bedroom home and after my family moved in, we still had 2 spared bedrooms. So I posted the spared bedrooms in that renting group on WeChat, I advertised them for 170 and 160 per week, and they are taken after 3 weeks of advertising, and now I have 2 tenants living together with my family.

But those advertising in the same WeChat renting group for student apartments close to Melbourne Uni or RMIT or one those universities, they are usually advertised at between 500K – 650K per week (crazy in my opinion), and yet they are always gone in less than 1 day.

So it is very interesting to see at one hand, rooms are taken by new tenants very quickly in social apps like this, and yet “statistically” they don’t perform well.

Basically, Chinese students don’t bother go to real estate agents or anything like that, nor do Chinese landlords. They use WeChat for that purpose when targeting Chinese overseas students market.

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September 20, 2017 - 9:15 pm

Hi Nigel

This is not to say I will do it, but I am trying to put this picture as well as the numbers in my head at the moment.

The way how she describes how she does it, is due to her advantage of her position and relation with who she deals with. ie: she maintains good relations with developers and real estate agents.

So when a new project runs into issues, such as a property fails to settle due to marriage break down or due to the buyer unable to finance, and the property needs to be disposed off quickly at lower price, the developers and real estate agents notifies her of the situation, and she then subsequently either buys them herself or refers to someone who she knows wants to invest, to buy those properties at lower value (sometimes ridiculously lower value than if the property is sold conventionally).

So this way, not only is finance not a problem, but cash flow is also very good compare to if such “student accommodation” are bought in a conventional manner.

Eventually it gets to a point where she really only needs to look at her rental income because she has so many of them as well as due to her buying at a much lower value, her rental income exceeds her cost, to the point of even if the capital growth is low, so what?

Essentially she can retire already if she wants to.

She owns her accounting firm and from what I can see when I was in her office today, her employees are doing bulk of the accounting work for new / random clients and she pretty much only does accounting for clients who have been using her accounting service for a long time (such as my parents, who make use of her service for the past 20 years).

Now today, she mentioned that she’s happy to make referral to me if she knows such scenario happens again (ie: property fails to settle due to problems mentioned above)…

Not to say I will definitely do it that way, but just thought it might be an option if this “buy at lower value” really works the way she makes it sound like.