Property investing strategies, topics and specialties

• Location, location, location, Hot Spots… Property buying and investing analysis, research and tools

As you’re deciding if, or what property you buy – a home or an investment now or later, where you buy is crucial (you’ll find stuff on what and for how much in other parts here in Property Investing Strategies and Topics and in various BiG Blogs on property).
There’s an endless supply of ‘experts’ ready to advise you on the Top 10 suburbs, best growth areas, demographics and on and on.
Maybe you get advice from friends, other investors or a local agent. Property investing might not seem like rocket science, but one of the biggest mistakes you could make is not doing proper research and getting unbiased and trustworthy advice.
But don’t panic, procrastinate and get so overwhelmed that you end up doing nothing. Stuff like this might help you: Identifying with your future self can help overcome the tendency to procrastinate – Science Of The Spirit [USA], SOTT.net; Inside The Mind Of A Master Procrastinator [YouTube, TED Talk] and The Procrastination Matrix -Tim Urban [USA]: Wait But Why; and the Cost of Procrastination – Jeremy Sheppard, DSRData.
Here are just a few popular analysts and forecasters to choose between, to help you decide your own path (good luck!):

Number Crunching. How to Understand Property Data – Aidan Devine, YIP

• • Peter Koulizos, Property Professor – Property Planning Education eg Podcast: How to spot an up and coming suburb – understanding demographics and statistics (Ep.61)
  • Margaret Lomas, Destiny eg [Vidcast] The Importance of Hotspotting and Top 5 Suburbs for Property Investors in 2019;  Margaret Lomas on investing in today’s changed environment
  • John Lindeman, Lindeman Reports; His course 7Steps2Success
  • Terry Ryder, Hotspotting
  • Jeremy Sheppard, DSRData: Getting hot spots wrong and Bad Financial Advice – Jeremy Sheppard, DSRData Debunking “6 Myths” suggested by others: Don’t wait till you’re ready; Interest rates aren’t low; You’ll never go bankrupt; Nobody’s trying to sell you anything; You can afford it”
  • Michael Yardney, Property Update Here’s why you shouldn’t speculate in property hotspots
  • RealEstateinvestar They claim: “Australia’s Leading Property Investment Platform Easy to use tools and data designed to help you purchase profitable investment property.”
  • Six game changing property investment tools BMT Tax Depreciation, Quantity Surveyor

• Auctions 
  Neil Jenman (Many real estate agents and others disagree with him) has written prolifically about why you shouldn’t sell by auction. His real estate training and business is strongly “no auction”. Here’s some of his work:
           Nine Reasons Auctions Get Lower Prices (watch)
           Free Books for Subscribers and Genuine Sellers

  Pros and Cons of Property Auctions – Yellow Brick Road
  6 times you can snag a property before auction day and 13 tips for buying at a property auction – Michael Yardney, Metropole
  What’s the best way to buy a house at auction? – BMT Tax Depreciation

• Property Buying and Investing Groups and Forums

To help you work out who to trust check out the discussions by investors in the many property investing community groups and forums. They often discuss and share their experiences of ‘experts’ and generously share their ideas, tips and tools, have spreadsheets for analysing property and keeping track of your investment portfolio and more.
Many are free to join you’ll also find businesses with their own devotees and property analysis tools. BEWARE of testimonials and if you subscribe, unsubscribe in time after any Free Trial and before any PAID subscription starts or rolls over.  It can be almost impossible to get refunds.
Some popular groups and sites are:

• • Property Chat (replacing Somersoft Property Investors Forums) see the Forums and threads such “Buying, Selling and Managing Property > Property Information Resources & Tools“
  • Somersoft PIA (Property Investment Analysis) Software. They claim: “Our Property Investment Analysis (PIA) program is an essential decision tool for investors. It will analyse the capital growth, cash flows, and tax implications for any investment property and provide instant feedback on the projected after-tax cost and rate of return. The software will compute cash flow projections for up to 40 years and has facilities for changing more than 100 variables including property price, rent, capital growth, inflation, deposit, loan type, etc. The internal rate of return (IRR) and the cost-per-week are recalculated automatically whenever a change is made.”
  • DestinyLive – Margaret Lomas They claim: “DestinyLive is a comprehensive resource and powerful tool set for anyone investing in property, brought to you by Australia’s leading property investment company, Destiny is a pioneer in the Property Investment Industry and has been in business for more than 24 years. Destiny provide you with the education, support and tools you’ll need to become a successful property investor. Destiny are an advice only company. They do not sell property, promote property developments or act as a buyers or sellers agent. All of Destiny’s Property Investment Advisers are Qualified Property Investment Advisers (QPIA®). Margaret Lomas is the creator, host and producer of the Web TV property investment shows ‘Property Investing Matters’ and ‘Under the Spotlight’ which can be viewed via the My Property TV (mypropertytv.com.au) website. In addition to being one of Australia’s most recognised and respected Property Experts, Margaret is the best-selling author of 9 Property Investment books, including titles such as ‘How to Achieve Property Success’, ‘Investing In The Right Property Now!’ and ’20 Must Ask Questions® for Every Property Investor’.”

• Renovating
  10 Mistakes To Avoid When Renovating For Profit – Real Estate Investar
  Your Complete Guide to Renovating for Profit – Michael Yardney
• Developing
  How to get started in property development – Peter Koulizos
  

  There are many articles, magazines and books that cover property development but I would highly recommend two books written by Australian author,
  Ron Forlee: Australian Residential Property Development: A Step by Step Guide, and An Intelligent Guide to Australian Property Development.
  They are very easy to read and full of useful tips.

  [Podcast] 12 Steps to a Profitable Property Development –  Peter Koulizos, The Property Couch 

• Changing use

• Subdividing, Community or Strata Titling

• Land Banking
  Land banking. A property investment scheme with many risks – MoneySmart (ASIC)
  They say: “ASIC has taken action against land banking schemes run by Askk Investment Group, VKK Investments Unit Trust, Realestate Equity Investment Trust (REIT), 21st Century land banking companies and Midland Hwy.”

Mapping Australia| Housing Affordability

ABC’s …”The Business” Covers ….. “The Bubble” YouTube 13, 16 April 2015

Are Australian property prices heading over a cliff? The Motley Fool

The Drum:
Tread warily in the real estate war of words

No evidence of a Property bubble? Not quite

RBA is blowing the mother of all housing bubbles by Chris Joye

A bit of historical perspective – from 2010!

Is there a housing bubble that’s about to burst in Australia? (video) Alan Kohler

Are we being misled over house prices? by Christopher Joye

Australia’s housing boom leaves others far behind by Christopher Joye

Record housing investment boom accelerates by Christopher Joye

Buy and hold Steve McKnight

Far from the madding property crowd – Margaret Lomas, Destiny – on false media analysis, forecasting and reporting on booms, busts and more.

10 Highly Dangerous ‘Tips’ Investors Get – Margaret Lomas, Destiny in YIP

Bad Financial Advice – Jeremy Sheppard, DSRData Debunking “6 Myths” suggested by others: Don’t wait till you’re ready; Interest rates aren’t low; You’ll never go bankrupt; Nobody’s trying to sell you anything; You can afford it”

Property Doubles Every 7 to 10 years

How long does it take for your property to double in value? By Nila Sweeney – interviews Cameron Kusher, Margaret Lomas, Michael Yardney

MoneySmart (ASIC) Investing and Tax: “Negative gearing is where you borrow to invest and the investment income is less than the cost of the investment. Investors negatively gear as they can generally claim a tax deduction for the investment loss. The aim is for the capital growth to offset the loss in earlier years. If you’re making an investment loss, it is still costing you money. You’ll need to have cash from other sources, like your salary, to cover interest and expenses.”

Should you invest buy for capital growth or rental yield? by Ben Kingsley – SPI

Cash backs and Rebates

Cash flow mortgages

‘No money down’

Option contracts

Instalment contracts/Rent to buy/’ Wraps’ (a.k.a. Vendor Finance/Instalment Sales Contracts)

Vendor finance – An introduction to vendor finance for real estate in Australia by Cordato Partners (lawyers)

Cons:

“We Buy Houses” claims from rent to buy promoters prompts fine” by Jennifer Duke – Property Observer

Property spruikers under investigation by state governments amid rent-to-buy and vendor finance deal concerns

Ask Margaret: Should I buy off-the-plan or an existing property? – Margaret Lomas

Pros and Cons of Buying a Unit “Off the Plan” – FindLaw

Pros and Cons of Buying Off the Plan Apartments (You Tube) and Blog Post – Bryce Holdaway, Empower Wealth Advisory

Pros and Cons of Buying Off the Plan – Mozo

Is off the plan on the money? by Shane Oliver – Chancellor Group

Eight potential pitfalls to watch out for when you buy off-the-plan by Larry Schlesinger – Property Observer

Buying off the plan? Ten reasons why it’s a terrible idea – Select Property Advocates

The Trick To Buying Off The Plan Tim McIntyre – YIP

Buying Off The Plan – What Every Property Investor Needs to Know – Michael Yardney

Investing and tax. How income from your investments is taxed. – MoneySmart (ASIC)
Positive and negative gearing: Comparing the two! – MWC Group

• Negative gearing:

The politics of negative gearing:

• • Governments let oldies screw the younger generations – Ross Gittins
  • Busting the 5 myths about negative gearing – University of Sydney Associate Professor Jamie Alcock says an end to negative gearing will make housing less affordable.

There’s no longer a great tax incentive for negative gearing – Noel Whittaker, SMH
How does negative gearing work? – Peter Koulizos
Negative gearing – friend or foe? – Steve McKnight

Positive gearing

Positive cash flow

See the BiG Directory

Buying a House – 6 Steps to turn your first-home dream into reality – MoneySmart (ASIC) and
Buying and Managing an Investment Property

4 tips to finding the right home loan by Adrian Sheahan Switzer Daily

Bank plan sets scene for next subprime crisis by Christopher Joye

• Rent Guarantees: The pros and cons of guaranteed rent. Why a rental guarantee might not be as reliable as it seems. – Finder

• Apartments (serviced or not)
• Commercial property:
  Beginner’s guide to investing in commercial property; Buying commercial in confidence
• Defence Housing (DHA):
  The Pros and Cons of Investing in Defence Housing – Money
• Holiday homes:
  ‘It’s the worst possible way to invest’. The lure of the Aussie beach house – Domain
• House and land packages
• National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) (C/W):
  Affordable housing at risk as NRAS incentives get cut amid coronavirus crisis. – Domain: Learning from past mistakes: lessons from the National Rental Affordability Scheme – Grattan, Blog
• Overseas properties:
  Don’t invest in overseas property until you read this. Find out how you can make an overseas property investment work for you. – Finder, Guide:

1. 1.  Benefits of investing in overseas property
   2.  What are the risks of investing in overseas property?
   3.  How can I finance an overseas purchase?
   4.  How to maximise your investment
   5.  What are some popular investment locations outside Australia?
   6.  Compare the latest investor mortgage rates

• Retirement properties:
  Your home in retirement. A home that suits your lifestyle and budget in retirement and Retirement income Make the most of your income in retirement – MoneySmart (ASIC)

• Student accommodation:
  Student Housing Australia
• Timeshare:
  Timeshares. A long-term commitment in shared holiday time MoneySmart (ASIC); Trapped in a Classic Holiday timeshare Children to inherit parents’ bad deal that won’t end till 2076 – Choice

Rent or Buy Calculator – Your Mortgage. They say: “This calculator shows you how your finances will look seven years after buying a home or continuing to rent, allowing you to make an informed decision between the two.”

Renting vs Buying. Which is better? – Canstar

Cheaper to rent than buy? The debate continues by David Potts – SMH

Buying Or Renting: Which Is The Right Choice For You? by Property Man APM

Margaret Lomas of Destiny has brilliant free resources – Vidcasts, Podcasts and more covering many of these issues.

• Companies
• Joint ventures (JVs) (see below Tenants in Common)
• Property syndicates (see below Tenants in Common)
• Property trusts/Listed property
• Self-Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSF)

SMSFs and Property MoneySmart (ASIC)
Buying property through self-managed super funds has its pitfalls by Kate Jones “SMSFs are being targeted by sophisticated fraudsters who go to great lengths to deceive, including sending information packs to victims and setting up fake websites to appear legit. In a speech at the Self-Managed Superannuation Professionals’ Association of Australia last year, Australian Crime Commission executive director David Lacey said up to 10 victims a week in Australia were losing savings from $35,000 to $4 million.”

Buying Property With A Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) by Real Estate Investar

• Trusts
• Tenants in Common
  Vidcast – Margaret Lomas Tenants in Common
  Tenants in Common Agreements Pod Property