Sunday Blog - Expert property investment insights

It felt like a switch had been flicked yesterday when I was out in the trenches. Managing private sale negotiations and two auctions, this week felt different. Competition felt stronger, buyer willingness to stretch harder seemed obvious and the change in sentiment since our COVID numbers have reduced feels palpable. Could it be the media’s…

We negotiate about how the negotiation will go. Often. This blog was prompted by a conversation I had with a prospect yesterday. He, (like many do) asked me about my negotiation ability. I decided it would be a good illustration if I could share my past three negotiations which span the last five days. For…

So many people think about investing long before they invest. For some, the doing part can be precluded by an enormous emotional or mental barrier. Mindset is a term often used by property advisory professionals when it comes to helping people take action, and this is for good reason. Mindset can make or break a…

Just this month, the Commissioner for Residential Tenancies in Victoria released our first report, titled Renting in Victoria: Snapshot 2020. The report is not only a great snapshot of current rental statistics, it’s a valuable clue to some serious issues and a wonderful resource for landlords and agents to be better in this space. The…

Earlier this week we shared some easement-related due diligence on social media after we rejected a property on the basis of this issue. Most buyers broadly understand the concept of an easement, but for those who either disregard this concept or neglect to understand any easements affecting the property they are considering purchasing, the upset…

Our newsfeed headlines have done a bit of an about-face in recent weeks. Bank economists have all stepped down their predicted price falls for our markets, both capital cities and regions, and even for those who held dire concerns about the Melbourne market, updates from the coalface seem to be flying in the face of…

“Cashflow property” is investor-speak for a property which is cashflow positive, or in other words a property that generates a rental income great enough to eclipse all of the costs of holding the property. There are plenty of misconceptions floating around when it comes to cashflow property, and as an experienced investor, property investment adviser…

We’ve been busy during COVID-19 Stage Four lockdown with some demographic research. We have focused on some interesting socio-demographic measures, rates of change of some key measures and in particular, some financial indicators that spell change for some suburbs. Over the coming weeks we will be preparing a paper on our findings and we will…

Melburnians have been in Stage Four lockdown since 3 August. Many industry categories have been completely shut down and as such, some businesses have been grounded during this time. Specifically, the restrictions on the real estate industry have completely halted all campaign inspections. The only permitted activity has been in relation to contractual final inspections…

This concept confuses so many, yet it shouldn’t be confusing. Perhaps we over-complicate it, or perhaps we associate it with detailed tax calculations. Whatever the reason, it isn’t complex and below will describe it in clear, simple terms. Gearing is a word that refers to the ratio of borrowings to owners’ equity in a business…

A special levy is a capital raising exercise that is coordinated by an Owner’s Corporation (or Strata company) when funds are required for something that wasn’t budgeted for. The levies can sometimes be demure, but more often than not they signal something more serious or sinister. Special levies can be a once-off surcharge, a series…

Last week on our podcast, The Property Planner, Buyer and Professor we each shared our greatest property mistakes. I’ve written about mine before, in fact it’s the very first chapter of my book. I asked for advice from someone I trusted and I didn’t take it. As a cautious and relatively impressionable young adult, I…