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099 | Q&A – Tips For Investing Late In Life, Selling Your Home, Fixing A Downward Portfolio Spiral and more

As Bryce puts it today, we’ve made it to “99, not out!” and with just 1 episode to go before the big 1-0-0, we’re back to provide you with another Q&A Session. In today’s episode, Bryce and Ben give advice on whether to sell your home, tips for investing later on in life, what to do when your property portfolio is falling into a downward spiral, and more. Today’s questions are from the following listeners:

 

  • Fernando on whether or not to sell his home: My wife and I moved from SYD to MELB four years ago without not even knowing where its north was. We rented an apartment in the beautiful East Melbourne for a year as we wanted to enjoy this beautiful city life style but also knowing that we needed to buy a property after that time so we were not building someone else’s future. So we bought “with our hearts” a 3 beds, 2 bath, studio + man cave OLD house out in Donvale with the “vision” of slowly renovate it while starting a family, be surrounded by green, live the Australian dream and on top of that, generate a good growth on the property in a medium term. We love the area BUT… Now, after 2 kids, our cash flow is quite dry and we need to do something about it (classic isn’t it).

Our first bet is to sell as Donvale is not a good suburb from a rent perspective (Yield), put whatever money we can make from the sell – We bought at 520K, the median is 650K and we’ve been slowly renovating a few things, but again, without enough cash to finish it, we are not expecting making a huge profit – into an investment property and then became “Rentvestors”, we wouldn’t mind to sacrifice moving out to a suburb where rent is half what our current mortgage is. In our raw calculations, in 3 – 5 years we could be saving enough to buy the second investment property.

I believe the best things Australia has to offer are for free (parks, security, culture, etc.), so for now, not living in the suburb we’d prefer is not such a big deal when thinking on our medium-long term goals which are given to our kids the best that we possible can and start a passive income strategy for our future ASAP. On the other hand, if we keep the property, we’d need to put a considerable amount of cash on top of the rent in order to pay the mortgage, so our savings wouldn’t be enough to think in buying a good investment property any soon. We will regret not keeping this property… I can guarantee you that but we don’t see any other immediate solution.

  • Monique on whether or not to sell her home: Taken your advice, but what now? Given the projected apartment oversupply, should we sell our inner suburbs 1bdr flat to put towards our next home? Or is it still a good investment worth holding on to?
  • James on interest only loans:Part 1: 2 years ago my wife and I purchased a property 5km from the Brisbane CBD for $530,000. Unfortunately we only spoke to 1 bank, didn’t seek advice and fixed the whole loan for 3 years at 5.05% so have no offset and no way of paying more off the loan than prescribed fortnightly payment amount. After listening to your podcasts and just starting to read your book just this week, we have since found a decent mortgage broker and are considering refinancing and setting up the money smarts structure. We are considering an interest only loan, as discussed in your podcast, to give us the flexibility to purchase another property over the next 2-3 years, but currently we are getting conflicting advice from our financial planner who is against interest only and our mortgage broker who is telling us ‘cash is king’ in your offset account and we should consider it. The idea is to pay the same amount as we are paying now with our P&I loan but go onto interest only 100% variable (4.3% int rate) and let the cash stack up in the offset. What are your thoughts on this?
  • Ronie on investing late in life: Hi Guys, Loving the podcasts. Only started a month ago and am devouring them. Ben, I don’t know if you’ve been told this before, but when I’m listening to you, I can’t help but associate your voice to radio celeb Fitzy. Anyway, my question is, how to start in the property investment after 40. We are self employed, and although have a few savings, is not near enough the 20% asked for a deposit. We don’t even have our own house. Should we work towards that first? Thank you guys!
  • Lyell on the next steps to take in fixing his property portfolio: : I bought my first property at 22 in Kalgoorlie WA. I know i know, mining towns are dangerous. We bought that property is 2010 and have see no capital growth what so ever. Property was bought in 2005 for $197k and we purchased it for $340k in 2010. Not a bad profit for the previous owners. As soon as we bought it, growth stopped. We are however getting 7% gross yield (leased at $460pw). We then bought a house on a big block in Ballajura in the north eastern suburbs of Perth. We bought that for $450k in 2014. Unfortunately that house has dropped by around 7%. We now love in this home. But we leased it at $435pw. We are now at 90% LVR. Both properties are 3 x 2’s with the Perth property on 760sqm. This house was bought for $128K in 1998 prior to us. Very disheartening for a young couple. Could i get a rough idea on what you would do in the situation (in a completely general sense)?
    Also, could you guys discuss ways to get yourselves out of sticky situations like this? I think a lot of people will be feeling this kind of pinch right now (especially WA).

 

 

 

If you like this Q&A episode (Tips For Investing Late In Life, Selling Your Home, Fixing A Downward Portfolio Spiral and more), don’t forget to rate us on 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/

079 | Q&A – Underquoting, New Developments Next Door, Fixing an Overly Negatively Geared Portfolio and more

It’s the first day of Spring and a perfect time for a Question and Answer episode! Bryce and Ben started off with some of their auction stories on underquoting and a general market update.The property market had been rather cold this winter but with that over, what will we be expecting these coming months?

 

Here are the questions for today’s podcast:

  • Question on new developments next door from Jesse: My question is regarding to the current development boom that has exploded all over Melbourne as it relates to my property in bayside Melbourne. My wife and I bought a town house in Cheltenham about 8 years ago. It is on a reasonably busy road that goes from Nepean Highway down to the beach in Sandringham. We have been diligently paying it off as quickly as we can in order to give ourselves some freedom (we are both freelance) and now we are looking to buy our first investment property. This week the house next to us and the next seven houses along have all got ‘For Sale’ signs up in front. Our understanding after a brief chat with the next door neighbours is that they have all been approached by a developer who wants to build a large mid level apartment block right next to our house. Our concern is what impact this will have on our property value. We are now planning to move out and ‘rent-vest‘ as we don’t want to stay there through this construction phase.
    Our main concerns are:
    (A) How this will impact the value of our property when it comes to us getting a loan for an investment property.
    (B) The impact this will have on our ability to rent out our townhouse if this new development goes ahead. In light of this are we better off trying to sell now and cut our losses or stick with it as a rental.
  • Question on cash flow from Sonia: Hi Bryce and Ben, I am a big property fan and have been listening to every single episode of the property couch. I have a few investment properties in the Sydney inner city suburbs. Besides that I also have a decent amount of savings in cash. I just quit my job to study interior design, hoping to set up my own business later on. I am a typical rich in assets and poor in cash flow example. Just wondering what is your investment advice for people like me. Thank you. Sonia
  • Question on property portfolio fromKhai:
    • Q1) Is it better to pay off the mortgage or keep buying Investment properties?
    • Q2) I have forecasted passive income of $60,000 (as a couple) in next 10 years (assuming 5% annual price rise and if I sell down my 6 properties to fully own 3 including PPOR). How do you increase this to 100,000? Keep buying 3-5 more properties in next 5 years.
    • Q3) How do I fix a severely negative cash flow portfolio (minus $25k annually for 6 properties)? Options I have in mind are: building a granny flat, refinancing to lower interest rates, raising rents, converting car space in townhouse to LUG (costs probably $10,000 per townhouse but increase rents $1k per year), converting car space in townhouse to LUG (costs probably $10,000 per townhouse but increase rents $1k per year)
  • Question on develop or buy from Adam: I own a positively geared corner property in North Sunshine in Victoria, I am ready to take the next step in building my portfolio, does it make better sense to develop my existing property into three town houses, or to go and buy another investment property keeping in mind that property price growth will most likely exceed building costs ?

 

If you like this Q&A episode (Underquoting, New Developments Next Door, Fixing an Overly Negatively Geared Portfolio and more), don’t forget to rate us on 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/

075| Q&A – RBA Rate Cut, Planning for Reduction in Income and Bidding Tactics at Auction

This week on The Property Couch Podcast, we are going through some of our listeners’ questions. But before that, Bryce and Ben will be discussing the 25 basis point cut passed on by the Reserve Bank of Australia early this week. How will this impact the Australian Economy, how much have the banks passed on and will there be any flow-on effect on the Australian household?

Here are the questions for today’s podcast:

  • Question on planning for a reduction in income from Matt: How do you plan for a reduction in income when you are still a reasonable distance from retirement and would it be wiser to maintain current income for long term potential or is there a process that could be applied?
  • Question on bidding tactics at auction from Adam: I was hoping in your next Q&A perhaps Bryce might be able to address the topic of bidding tactics at auction. Most of the tips and strategies you read amongst the property press propaganda are ridiculous things like dress in a suit and pull up in a sports car out the front. In your experience is there any value in these sorts of image approaches? or concepts such as ‘knockout bids’ and bidding late, or are auctions pre-determined events going to whoever was always going to pay the most. I know you will say the gold standard is to employ a buyers agent but I’d be interested in your tips for someone keen to DIY.

 

Some of the resources mentioned in this podcast:

 

If you like this Q&A episode (RBA Rate Cut, Planning for Reduction in Income and Bidding Tactics at Auction), don’t forget to rate us on 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/

53 | The Money SMARTS System

By now, our listeners should understand the importance of good money management habits. It is the core of building a successful property investment portfolio and has been reiterated multiples times throughout this podcast.

Since episode 3, as part of the Four Pillars of Mastery, Bryce and Ben have talked in various occasions about Cash Flow Management and the flow of money in your household. This includes where money comes from, types of spending and types of investments for your surplus. In episode 41, they talked about the moving parts of cash flow management otherwise known as the money and accumulation model. This model looks at variables and assumptions to consider when you’re modelling sophisticated money and wealth outcomes.

Ep 53 Money SMARTS system - which account do I use - picOn page 58 of the Armchair Guide to Property Investing, they introduced the money SMARTS system. It’s a money management system and the name stands for Surplus, Mindset, Application, Resources, Timelines and Strategy. The book provided an overall summary of each section and also some tips on how you can set up this account structure yourself. But we’ve received some feedback that our readers would like us to explain this little bit more so that is exactly what Bryce and Ben have done in this podcast.

As an extension of the money SMARTS system, we are also sharing a “cheat sheet” on which account to use for different types of expenses. Just fill in your details below and we’ll send you the link to download it.

 

 

 

NEW Update:

Since this episode was produced, we’ve published a Free Online Platform and a Book (now a best seller) to help our community implement Money SMARTS better. If you’re interested, simply fill in the form below to create a free account and download a free e-copy of the book!

Already have an account? Log in here.

 

 

 

 

041 | The Moving Parts of Cash Flow Management (Money & Wealth Accumulation Model)

Money & Wealth Accummulation Model - FinalThis week on The Property Couch, Bryce and Ben discuss about the moving parts of a cash flow management strategy. As compared to Episode 3 (Four Pillars of Mastery – Cash Flow Management) where we talked about the flow of money, this podcast is mainly about the Money and Wealth Accumulation Model. It includes the variables and assumptions to consider when modelling sophisticated wealth outcomes. As this topic can be fairly detailed, we strongly recommend our listeners to have the diagram open while listening to the podcast.

We will also be answering this question from Bradden:
You often refer to paying down debt during your talks as a means of creating passive income. Is there a strategy of paying down debt on your rental properties? Is it just as simple as paying P&I? Do you only start paying down debt once you have finished your accumulation phase? Does this only happen when you start to sell one of your properties? I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on paying down debt.
PS: Ben’s not a bad bloke for a Collingwood supporter.

 

This topic is also discussed in Part Three (Section 10) of our book: The Armchair Guide to Property Investing. For those who have the book, you can also refer to page 219 for additional reference. And here’s the video mentioned in the podcast:

 

 

Free resources mentioned in this podcast:

 

If you like this episode, 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/

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