The Property Couch | The Insider's Guide to Property Investing

This week on The Property Couch podcast, Bryce and Ben talk about planning ahead and have an Exit Strategy when investing in property. As Stephen Covey once said, “Begin with the End in Mind”. We think this concept can be applied to property investors as well. Now, there are a few exit strategies out there and as we’ve always emphasized, each household is unique and hence each investor’s exit strategy would be different. But generally, there are two main categories; either you buy and sell or you buy and hold. Under these categories, there are sub-categories and different scenarios where it’ll suit you better. Bryce and Ben will be discussing about these exit strategies today so make sure you tune in! Also, the Money Magazine Cover Story that we have been talking about is out. Grab one off the Newsstand today and let us know what you think!   If you like this podcast: “Exit Strategy in Property Investment”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

Its Questions and Answers time! Thanks for all the suggestions on new topics to cover in this podcast. For today’s episode, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be addressing questions from: * Building and Pest Inspection question from Mark : How do I find a good quality building and pest inspector and with the property market being so hot with auctions at the moment, how do I ensure I don’t burn through my deposit money when constantly missing out at auctions?  I could end up wasting thousands on inspections until I actually win at auction! Should I try doing it myself and find a friend or family member with some building knowledge or use one of the smartphone apps? * Rentvesting question from Ryan : What are your thoughts on the property investor him or herself to buy and live in their own PPR or to rent? Obviously both have advantages, a place to call home or the ability to keep investing with out loosing potential borrowing capacity. * Next Wage Growth Hotspot from David : As mentioned on previous podcasts, investors will want to avoid “glass ceilings” in terms of capped wage growth in certain areas.  Given the changing Australian economy (more knowledge-based), are there particular areas of Australia in which you expect to see wage growth occurring?   If you would like to access The Property Couch’s media kit, please email us here: info@thepropertycouch.com.au.   Resources mentioned in this podcast: * When should you Conduct A Building and Pest Inspection? * What is Rentvesting and Is It For You?   If you like this Q&A episode, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

The debate on negative gearing and how it impacts the Australian Property Market is ongoing but when the RBA suggested that negative gearing might be up for a review last week, the debate got hotter. This is further fueled by the controversy about property bubble in Sydney and how property investors play a role in it. So this week on The Property Couch, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley decides to tackle this debate head on and discuss about the history of negative gearing, why some people are against negative gearing and how will it impact our economy if it’s being scrapped off. Start listening to this podcast to learn more.   Also, The Property Couch is hoping to get nominated for the Investor’s Choice Award 2015 for the category: Property Educator/Mentor. We would like to spread the word out on the podcast so that we can help more people avoid making bad investment choices and avoid buying the wrong asset. So if you think we are doing a good job, please do nominate us here. Our details for nomination: Name of the Organisation: The Property Couch Name of the Person you deal with: Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley Suburb: North Melbourne State: VIC Phone number: 03 9326 8900 Email address: info@thepropertycouch.com.au   If you would like to access The Property Couch’s media kit, please email us here: info@thepropertycouch.com.au.   Resources mentioned in this podcast: * Negative Gearing vs. Positive Gearing – Which is Better? * Victoria shoulder biggest tax burden in the Nation (Article on The Age)   If you like this podcast: “The Negative Gearing Debate in Australia”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

There is a high chance that when you are looking to buy an investment property, you would already have a few factors to consider. This time on The Property Couch Podcast, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley discuss about these factors and how it can be a framework or rather the Science of Asset Selection which they called: The Buyer’s Decision Quadrant. The whole concept is quite simple and most investors would have gone through this decision quadrant in one way or another. But the secret is understanding which part of the quadrant can be compromised and which part is absolutely non-negotiable. One thing to bear in mind is; finding an investment property that fits all the pieces of the quadrant is really slim and most of the time, you would need to compromise slightly. Listen to the podcast to find out more.     Also, The Property Couch is hoping to get nominated for the Investor’s Choice Award 2015 for the category: Property Educator/Mentor. We would like to spread the word out on the podcast so that we can help more people avoid making bad investment choices and avoid buying the wrong asset. So if you think we are doing a good job, please do nominate us here. Our details for nomination: Name of the Organisation: The Property Couch Name of the Person you deal with: Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley Suburb: North Melbourne State: VIC Phone number: 03 9326 8900 Email address: info@thepropertycouch.com.au     Resources mentioned in this podcast: * Money Magazine – Earn $2500 A Week at Retirement   If you like this podcast: “Science of Asset Selection – The Buyer’s Decision Quadrant”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

Last week on Episode 18 | What is A Buyers Agent and Do You Need One, Bryce promised that he would talk about the Four Ways an Investor will Pay. So this week, he and Ben listed them out. The first is Buying the Wrong Asset. We’ve mentioned about this many time before; Asset Selection is crucial. It is the whole reason why you want to invest in property because it would provide you with the best returns. If you start your portfolio with the wrong asset, there is a high chance that the rest of your portfolio would be affected. But sometimes, when an investor is exposed to different opinions and when they are under pressure or assumption that they need to act now, logic tends to get out of the window. It happens to a lot people but it is not something that is unavoidable. Listen to Bryce and Ben in this podcast to learn what’s the other three ways a property investor will pay. Also, The Property Couch is hoping to get nominated for the Investor’s Choice Award 2015 for the category: Property Educator/Mentor. We would like to spread the word out on the podcast so that we can help more people avoid making bad investment choices and avoid buying the wrong asset. So if you think we are doing a good job, please do nominate us here. Our details for nomination: Name of the Organisation: The Property Couch Name of the Person you deal with: Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley Suburb: North Melbourne State: VIC Phone number: 03 9326 8900 Email address: info@thepropertycouch.com.au     Resources mentioned in this podcast: * Summary Video – Four Ways a Property Investor will Pay * RBA July 2015 Announcement   If you like this podcast: “Four Ways an Investor will Pay”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

We’ve all heard about real estate agents before but how much do you know about a Buyers Agent? Although this role is getting increasingly popular in Australia, not many investors are using one and some may not even know why they should use a buyers agent to start with. So this time on The Property Couch, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley help our listeners understand what is a Buyers Agent, what do they actually do, how do you find a good one and do you need one when you are buying your investment property?   A great analogy that Bryce used in this podcast is an investment property is like a bricks and mortar bank account. It doesn’t need to be pretty and all. It only needs to be investment-grade. And one of they key advantages of using a Buyers Agent is that you leverage on the skills and experience of a professional to help you find the best possible property for you. Both Bryce and Ben are experienced, qualified and licensed buyers agent in multiple states across Australia and in this podcast they share some of their recent stories – the successes and the challenges they and their clients face. They will also be discussing about the role professional bodies such as REBAA and PIPA play in this space.     If you like this podcast: “What is a Buyers Agent and Do You Need One?”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

This time on The Property Couch, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley drilled down a little bit more on one of the Four Pillars of Mastery: Borrowing Power. The theory of getting your finance right is to think about two to three properties or loans in advance whilst you are setting up the current one. But a lot of people won’t be able to do that simply because they don’t have the knowledge or experience to do so. Instead, they go to a bank or lender and hope that the banker will sort it out for them. They assumed that the person they dealt with will be their personal banker.  But that’s not necessarily true. The banker works for the bank and probably doesn’t have the capacity to conduct a thorough analysis on your loan strategy and structure. It’s something like going to the GP and asking them to perform a knee surgery. You wouldn’t do that. Listen to this podcast to find out who Bryce and Ben thinks should be your personal banker instead. They will also be discussing about cross-securitisation, stand alone lending and more.   Resources mentioned in this podcast: * Free Report: 7 Common Mistakes when selecting a Property Loan * Beginner’s Guide to Property Investment Webinar   If you like this podcast: “Who’s Your Personal Banker?”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

In Part 1 of the 5 Essential Steps to Property Investing in Australia, Bryce and Ben talked about the Clarify, Evaluate and part of the Planning stage. To recap, Clarify is collect information about yourself and to set your goals from the next five years up to retirement. Some of the questions that you need to answer are why invest in property, how much are you spending each month, how much savings do you have, how much do you want to retire with and so on. Evaluate is to analyse these information and numbers that you’ve collected and pinpoint the shortcomings and identify the opportunities. Think about how you can save more, what is the status of your cash flow management, can you adjust your lifestyle choices to buy an investment property, is it time to refinance your home loan and more. In this part of the 5 Essential Step to Property Investing in Australia, we move on to Plan, Implement and Manage. We all know that Planning is not easy especially if you are planning 30 years ahead. But if you don’t have a plan, you plan to fail. What’s more, you need to be able to implement your Property Portfolio Plan confidently and make sure you arrange regular review to determine how you are faring.   Resources mentioned in this podcast: * Four Pillars of Mastery series * Beginner’s Guide to Property Investment Webinar   If you like this podcast: “5 Essential Steps to Property Investing in Australia – Part 2”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

In this episode of The Property Couch, our hosts think it is unfortunate that money management and smart investment planing are not part of the curricular in Australia’s school system. Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley re-emphasize the importance of understanding the fundamentals of money management and Property Investment. For those who have just stumbled on this property investing podcast, we strongly recommend you to check out our previous episodes especially the Four Pillars of Mastery series  because that’s where we discuss about the basics of this type of investment. In this episode, Bryce and Ben extend from that series and explains the Five Essential Steps to Property Investing in Australia. All professionals need a process to follow and for Property Investors, in our view, this is the process to follow. Start listening the podcast to see how you can apply this process to build your own property portfolio. >> Continue: Part 2 of 5 Essential Steps to Property Investing in Australia   Resources mentioned in this podcast: * Ep 3: Cash Flow Management * Ep 4: Borrowing Power * Ep 5: Asset Selection * Ep 6: Defence   Thanks again for all of our listeners out there. If you like this podcast: “5 Essential Steps to Property Investing in Australia – Part 1”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

As promised in our last episode (Ep 14 : Should we buy in a boom and are we in a property bubble?) this time on The Property Couch, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley talk about a new topic suggested by Aaron, one of our valued listeners. He has provided us with a case study and we think it’s a great chance to discuss about real life property investing stories in Australia. Here’s a summary of the question: “Why does some apartments that seem to tick all the boxes just don’t appreciate in price overtime? This block at Brunswick is close to the public transport, schools, cafes and lifestyle but based on the comparable sales, the apartments have only achieved very little if any price gain since 2010. Your podcast have been saying “Location First, Property Next”, but I’m confused with this property. Why is this place so cheap? If it’s because of the property itself, does it mean the location is not always the biggest factor? And finally, should investors seriously consider properties like this or stay clear?”   Start listening to the podcast to find out why this block of apartments is not appreciating in value and why they are not investment grade properties but more like investment stocks. If you are interested in investing in apartments, check out Episode 7 as well where we talked about investing in One Bedroom and Studio Apartments.   Resources mentioned in this podcast: * Top 10 Suburbs in Sydney in 2003 and what happened to them in 2007? * ABC News 24 – Property Bubble in Sydney and Melbourne?   Warning: This podcast is longer than usual but we promise you that it is jam packed with good quality and independent advice and point of view. However, remember that you should always get professional property advice before making any decisions. Thanks again for all of our listeners out there. If you like this podcast: “Real Life Property Investing in Australia : Case Study”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

This time on The Property Couch, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley talk about the hot topic of the month! Should we buy in a boom and are we in a property bubble? It is undeniable that there’s definitely a boom in Sydney and Melbourne is not far behind and we often received enquiries on how to buy in these two state. Well, the question should be more around is it wise to buy in these states? Bryce and Ben has spoken before about buying Counter Cyclical and this time they explain further why they don’t think it is good to join the bandwagon of investors and home buyers in these areas. Bryce and Ben will be discussing about the new changes implemented by APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) as well. This is especially crucial for investors that have done a pre-approval. The final topic discussed today is whether Australia is in a Property Bubble. A great analogy by our hosts is we are not in a bubble, perhaps more like a balloon. Interested to know what they meant? Listen to this podcast to learn more.   Resources mentioned in this podcast: * Should you be a Borderless Investor * How To Spot A Property Spruiker? * Renovation does not equal Riches * Top 10 Suburbs in Sydney in 2003 and what happened to them in 2007?   Thanks again for all of our listeners out there. If you like this podcast: “Should we buy in a Boom & are we in a Property Bubble?”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

Thanks to all our listeners questions about Property Investment in Australia! They are great point of views and we are glad that the podcast is inspiring you in different ways. So for today’s episode, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be addressing questions from: * Dan and Ryan : Should we buy an investment property in a high growth location and keep renting, or move a bit further out and get something we can afford? * Leah : Do you think the tax rules around negative gearing will change in the future, so as not to benefit those investing in multiple properties and how do you diversify your portfolio? * Mark : How do you identify high disposable income suburbs and if you’re buying in a block of units, how do you work out if there are more owner occupiers than renters in the building and area? Also, what do you think about dual living homes ie: granny flats?   We are hoping to answer all of our listeners questions in time. If you like this podcast: “Why Invest in Property?”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

It comes as no surprise that Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley are huge advocates to investing in property. As property investment advisors and buyers agents, they’ve come across many different platforms of investment and have chosen property as their preferred vehicle. But, why invest in property? This is the main topic that Bryce and Ben will be discussing today particularly in terms of investing in residential property. They won’t be debating whether property or shares is a better option because both type of investments can be used depending on the investor’s circumstances and preferences ie: cash flow position, tolerance to risk, years to retirement and more. Instead, they will be sharing their own personal property investment stories, why they themselves, chose it and what kind of research do they conduct when investing in property.   In this podcast, Bryce and Ben also mentioned that not all investment properties generate profit and based on this report by CoreLogic (Pain and Gain), one of the thing we notice is properties held for a short period are much more susceptible to loss. Click on the image on the right to start downloading the report. For more information on CoreLogic, RP Data CoreLogic   If you like this podcast: “Why Invest in Property?”, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/      

Property Spruikers’ activity in this industry is not a new topic. It has been going on for a while and ASIC is trying its best to find and penalise these parties.  However, despite being a well known issue, there aren’t much else being done about it and at the end of the day, innocent investors are the ones getting hurt. Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley have seen many cases like this in their day-to-day role and unfortunately, they’ve a lot of experience in fixing bad property investment advice. It is an issue that they are very passionate about and it highlights the importance and the crucial needs for more regulation and education in this industry. Hence they are keen to share with our listeners on how you define a spruiker, what’s their classic tactic is when trying to win an investor over and how can you distinguish them. Start listening to the podcast now to find out more. Also, the RBA has just drop the official cash rate this month! Check out Ben’s commentary on the rate cut here.   If you like this podcast, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/

It’s common to hear people saying things such as , “This property would give you heaps of depreciation benefits!” But do you know how does Tax Depreciation Schedule works when investing in property in Australia? This time on The Property Couch, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley is joined by the Managing Director of BMT Quantity Surveyors, Bradley Beer to explain what tax depreciation actually meant and how does it work. It’s important to understand that depreciation benefits should not be the prime reason for investing in property because depreciation amount will eventually deplete. Hence, it is more important to select the right location and an investment grade asset and to regard the depreciation that follows as a additional benefit. Brad Beer had prepared two case studies for this podcast. The first is a $600,000 – $700,000 period home with a rental income of $22,880 per annum and the second is a $400,000 – $500,000 older villa with a rental income of $21,060 per annum. For access to the Case Studies mentioned in the podcast, please click here. If you like this podcast, don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://www.thepropertycouch.com.au/topics/