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065 | Q&A – How will technology impacts the property market, investing in strata properties and more

Today’s episode starts with a recap on the AREC16 Conference (ps: Bryce refused to talk about AFL). Bryce and Ben also discussed about the possible impact of technology to the property market for example, what would happen if we don’t need to drive a car in the future anymore? Would car spots still be a considerations in asset selection?

They then moved on to answering a couple of the listeners’ questions below. Thanks again for submitting your questions!:

 

  • Asset selection question from James: Love the podcast! Just wondering if there’s a big difference between investing in a 2 bedroom house or a 3 bedroom house. Everyone is telling me ‘the more bedrooms the better’ however others have told me that for an investment it doesn’t matter. Thanks!
  • Next step question from Mat: My wife and I are on the move from Newcastle (Whitebridge) to Coffs Harbour on the NSW mid north coast. Our house in Whitebridge is our first home which we purchased in 2011 for 365k and is currectly valued at 490k. Ideally we would like to keep our house in Whitebridge as an investment property and look to buy in Coffs Harbour. The rental return will be $420 which comfortably covers the mortgage at interest only. I see the house as being a good investment grade property and ticks the boxes that you both talk about in the podcasts. What should we do?
  • Question on strata properties from Sarah: I’ve got a question about strata properties. We have two townhouses, one is in a smaller complex with 8 townhouses & the levies are reasonable, there is rarely any issues with maintenance etc. The other one (our first purchase!!) is in a complex with 30 townhouses/units, the units have lift access/underground parking & we’re paying about $985 a quarter in levies.We are constantly getting correspondence from the strata company with owners having maintenance issues, leaking toilets/tiles, graffiti removal, underground car park issues…. We’ve committed the property, it will give good growth & should be neutrally geared in the years to come (held for2yrs to date) so selling is out of the equation.Would love to hear your thoughts on strata, when is it a good idea, when is it a bad idea. Should I be religiously sending back votes for meetings etc? When I read the strata documents that require owners response, it’s all dutch to me, can you explain how to respond to things I can vote on & making sense of the minutes etc. Thanks guys, appreciate any advice you can give on strata.
  • Question on timing the market from Leighton: I’d love to hear Bryce and Ben’s thoughts on the property cycle and the part that it plays in investment decisions and how the cycle ties in with “timing the market”. It seems that different parts of the country operate in different phases of the cycle.

 

If you like this Q&A episode (How will technology impacts the property market, investing in strata properties and more), don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. Any questions or ideas? Feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/

064 | Case study: mid 30s couple, combined income of $150k p.a, existing PPOR and two IPs

It has been quite some time since our last case study so this time on The Property Couch, Bryce and Ben will be discussing one the case studies that we’ve received from our fellow listeners! Here’s what Tom wrote to us:

 


 

After listening to Episode 56 where you discussed various other case studies I thought I might write in to see if you were interested in discussing our situation. I’ll try and keep it short!

Basically, my partner Kirby (30yo) and I (32yo) are both teachers on a combined income of about $160k. 3 years ago we got the bug to do something with our money but weren’t exactly sure how. Our simple goal is to have choice whether to work or not. If we had no loans to service we imagine a passive income of $80-100k would be more than enough, and any more is a bonus!

We had a PPOR property valued at a tad over 300k with a mortgage of ~200k, limited other expenses and a disciplined approach to spending. Property sounded like a great avenue so we went about increasing our knowledge. Unfortunately our naivety led us to a property investment ‘education’ group where although we have learn a lot we have made what we think are two poor investment decisions. We overpaid for both to fatten the developer’s margins.

Our first was brought using the above equity in our PPOR and was a House and Land duplex in Dakabin, Qld for circa $500k. Although the yield is decent there were many costs that the property investment ‘education’ group failed to mention/understand that we have been left with, and there is little scarcity or owner occupier appeal to make growth a good prospect. We have always had tenants in both sides which has been great. We borrowed 90% on interest only terms.

About 18 months ago we signed another contract, this time on a 4 bed H & L in Doolandella, 18kms out of Brisbane for circa $400k. After a long land settlement this was completed yesterday and will be advertised for rent tomorrow. Looking at about a 4.9% yield. Again, this is on an interest only loan at 90%. Deposit and costs were paid from our savings – I know, huge mistake!

Right after we signed this contract we found your podcasts which have taught us that there are so many fundamental errors in our property selections, and if we had our time again would have purchased existing properties with scarcity and owner occupier appeal.

We have just had our first child and Kirby is now off work. We have a ~$45k buffer in our PPOR offset and somehow are still managing to save, even though Kirby is off work, although receiving maternity leave payments.

We use a credit card to pay for 95% of our spending, and repay at the end of every month to ensure no interest payments.

So, we are still very keen to use property as our investment vehicle and have learned so much in the last year but are now stuck as to our next step. We doubt we would have enough equity to purchase again now and the fact Kirby is off work will severely hamper our serviceability. She will return to work at the start of 2017.
Questions:

  • Do we sell both/one of our current properties? We’d like to keep if possible as I am a firm believer in buy and hold, although will they hamper us moving forward?
  • Where to from here?

Any information from you would be extremely appreciated. I’m sure there are a number of people who have used ‘property spruikers’ such as these to purchase less than ideal investments.


 

If you like this case study episode (Mid 30s couple, combined income of $150k p.a, existing PPOR and two IPs), don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. Any questions or ideas? Feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/

63 | Q&A – What’s the next step to building a portfolio, size of the portfolio, IP or PPOR and diversifying wealth strategy

It’s Q&A time again! This week on The Property Couch, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be answering the questions below from our fellow listeners. Thanks again for submitting your questions!

  • Next step to building a portfolio question from Derrick: I was listening to your “tips for FHO’s” episode where you advised a gentleman to think about getting a one bedder in a desirable suburb (like Bondi) as his first place. Coincidentally I pretty much did that 4.5 years ago…buying a 1 bedroom unit in Woollahra. So you could say that I am that guy four years later! The only difference is that my apartment wasn’t part of an investment strategy at the time, I just liked the apartment! I am at the stage now that I want to get into property investing but at the same time I’m conscious about finding my second place of residence for my wife and I in about three years…preferably living in a similar area. So I’m trying to tackle two thoughts at once: how do I invest in my long term future while figuring out how to afford my next home? What should someone like myself be thinking? Should I be looking to invest and build more equity for our second place? Should I sit on our current property and save, while looking to use my current place of residency as a future investment property? Or is there another route? Thanks for your advice and thanks again for the show!
  • Size of portfolio question from Jason: Started to listen to podcast recently and love it keep up the good work. I just wanted your guys opinion on the ability to build large portfolios now in this current lending environment. I have heard you guys mention that you only need 4 to 5 properties to have a passive income and live into retirement but what if you want to have larger portfolio say of 10 or 20 properties is this achievable for people on average incomes like previously? Or has the APRA changes stopped this from occurring in the future?
  • Question on leverage from James: I’m 27 and looking to make a good go at property investing. I have recently sold my first investment property and now have a lot of capital from the sale. My investment now is a new property being finished in 12 months . My question is after selling down the 1st investment property, am I better off paying for the new one in full (using the rental income to service another investment property afterwards), or should I purchase a few more properties while i have a large sum off money and spreading the cash around to gain more houses for a larger passive income later down the line. Bearing in mind my age and goals. Thanks guys! and keep up the great work.
  • IP or PPOR question from Karla: Hey guys. I love the podcast and the sign offs too Ben! My question is, if you are renting and have the ability to purchase a property. Is it better to buy an investment property or a principle place of residence (IP or PPOR) first? Which would set you up better for the next step? It feels like a bit of “chicken or the egg”. I’d love to know hour thoughts! Keep up the good work and I can’t wait for footy season to hear your commentary!
  • Case study question from Deanna:  I am 22 yrs old and am convinced of the benefits of property as along term wealth building strategy, for now I am trying to develop as much understanding as I can. My questions are as follows:
    • Do you recommend that the first property that someone buys is for PPOR or can it sometimes be an IP? For example this may be relevant for young people currently living in Sydney who are renting but would also looking to be a border-less investor. In what/ if any scenarios do you think this could be a smart plan?
    • What is your opinion of young people utilising the first home buyers grant. I understand that in majority of discussion that you advocate for established buildings rather than new dwellings, however when I read a case study you wrote for Money magazine the 20 something year old strategy included using the first home buyers grant for their first property (PPR).
    • This is a broad question and may potentially be outside you scope of practice but I was wondering what your opinion was in diversifying wealth building strategies. For example do you observe in your successful clients that they are involved in property investment only or do they often also include other investments such as a share portfolio to their strategy.

 

References:

  • Money magazine – Special Real Estate Edition – Buy here
  • ABC News article: Who uses negative gearing in Australia? – Read here
  • RP Data: Weekly rents have continued to fall over the past year – Read here
  • 2GB Ross Greenwood chat with Roger Montgomery – Listen here
  • Qantas in-flight radio: Alan Kohler chat with Bryce Holdaway – Listen Here

 

If you like this Q&A episode (Exiting a contract, crowdfunding, what’s the impact of global events on Australia Property Market and more), don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. Any questions or ideas? Feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/

62 | Does the Great Australian Dream still exist?

What a week in the property industry!

It started off with ABC’s Four Corners Monday night segment called Home Truths. This episode focused on housing affordability and negative gearing and they’ve interviewed a few parties for this segment.

Following that, we have the Cash Rate announcement at 2:30 pm on Tuesday. As widely expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia has dropped the cash rate by 25 basis point to 1.75%. A few factors contributed to this decision but one of the main reason is the deflation recorded in the January – March 2016 CPI data. Although most economists have forecasted this movement, there aren’t many who talked about the changes that lenders would make. Would they pass on the full rate cut? What other changes would they implement following RBA’s decision? How will this affect the current mortgage holders?

Finally, on Tuesday night, we’ve got the 2016 Budget announcement by Scott Morrison. With so many speculations surrounding the negative gearing policy, what would the Government propose? Hence, this week on The Property Couch podcast, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be talking about all these discussions and how will it affect The Great Australian Dream. Tune it to start listening now!

Resources mentioned in this episode:

  • RBA May 2016 Cash rate announcement – Watch here
  • 2016 Budget Announcement – Read here
  • ABC Four Corner’s segment on housing affordability – Watch here
  • ATO’s Taxation statistics 2013–14 – Read here

 

If you like this podcast: “Does the Great Australian Dream still exist?”, 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.

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