Q&A Archives - Page 22 of 25 - The Property Couch

069 | Q&A – Where is that sweet spot between Growth and Yield, investing in metro or regional and more

By The Property Couch June 23, 2016 in Podcast, Q&A

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It’s Questions and Answers time! This week, Bryce and Ben looks at the questions below. Thanks again for submitting your questions!:

Question on Growth and Yield from Steve: Anyhow, a question for the podcast. Growth and yield are like a sea saw. As one goes up, the other goes down. Where I wonder is that sweet spot? Where both balance nicely and their feet dangle without touching the ground? For example, the best growth may be on Sydney Harbour with a view, but you may be negative $1,000 a week. So you go one suburb back, negative $800 a week. So you go one more back negative $600 a week. At some point you must hit a spot where you say, that’s the best growth I can afford. How do you decide that sweet spot? Is it different for all investors? Even if James Packer said to you, “Get me the best growth you can, income is not a problem” would there still be a point where you think, “Geez, even if we buy him a house on the harbour, the growth still won’t cover that massive shortfall over time.”Great show, keep it up. You are both a shining light in a dodgy, unregulated shark-filled industry. After all, my experience with people who talk very confidently but don’t know what they’re doing, (the enthusiastic amateur you effectively call them) I came up with my own saying, “Confidence does not equal competence“. Unfortunately, all you need is a little doubt in your own abilities and you default to the more confident person, who you may well know more than.

Question on Metro or Regional from James: I am looking to invest in my second property with my partner, we live in a rural area (Albury/Wodonga) and have around $100,000 in equity in our current owner occupied dwelling and good incomes with a maximum borrowing capacity of around $700-800k. Do you suggest trying to break into a Metro market (i.e. Melbourne) with a property in an investment grade suburb, which will in turn max out our borrowing capacity, or alternatively buy 1-2 properties in a major rural city?

Question on forecasting capital growth from Kayne: Just have one question in regards to forecasting Capital growth. I know you are conservative with your vacancy and interest rate assumptions (7.5% & 10% respectively) in your models. Are you also conservative in your CG assumptions (e.g if historical growth was ‘x’ would you round down a percent or 2 or keep it the same?) if you’ve covered this and I’ve missed it sorry for the double up, if not I look forward to your answer.

Question on active investing from Brian: Hi guys love the podcast immensely! If possible could you discuss views on being able to be an active investor to essentially create an income while still passively investing through leverage? Is this a possible scenario or what would someone need to look into to be able to do something similar…. I’m a tradesman so majority of the work I could do myself. Thanks very much!

Some of the resources mentioned in this podcast:

Report from CoreLogic : A profile of the Australian Investor – Who, Where and What? – Download here
Episode 37 | Understanding the Scarcity factor in Property Investment – Listen here
Case Demonstration: 4% Growth and 6% Yield vs. 6% Growth and 4% Yield – Watch here
Episode 51 | Will Labor’s proposed changes to Negative Gearing policy be good or bad for ordinary Australians? – Listen here

If you like this Q&A episode (Where is that sweet spot between Growth and Yield, investing in metro or regional 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/

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

By The Property Couch May 26, 2016 in Podcast, Q&A

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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

By The Property Couch May 19, 2016 in Case Study, Podcast, Q&A

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

By The Property Couch May 12, 2016 in Podcast, Q&A

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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/

056 | Q&A – Exiting a contract, crowdfunding, what’s the impact of global events on Australia Property Market and more

By The Property Couch March 24, 2016 in Podcast, Q&A, Real life stories

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It’s Q&A time! 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!

Exiting a contract question from Alex: Hi, Just looking for some advice as the more I listen to the podcast (and read your book), the more I think my first IP buy could be better. I’m currently on a defacto visa so can’t buy anything but new properties which led me to an off the plan development in Brisbane. While its marketed very well and made out to be a great buy, it goes against all you talk about- high rise, buying through a unqualified salesman, no room to improve, rental guarantee, and high strata. At the time it looked good but the more I understand what makes a good investment, the more I think I could do with the $40k deposit I put down. My question is, is there any way out of the contract that won’t cost me? It’s not due to be built for another 2 years so wondering if I could ask the developer to renege on the contract without penalty or even onsell it for cost price. I’ve started putting away some cash every week just in case it comes in undervalue but would rather not be in the position of ‘hoping’ this doesn’t happen. Would appreciate any advice to help!

Crowdfunding questions from Carol: I have heard people talking about “crowdfunding” being the next property investment strategy. What is “crowdfunding” and how will it work?

Ownership questions from Rob: What property ownership structure should investors use when buying an investment property? Individual, trust, company etc. Is there a need to balance tax advantages with long term asset protection on this issue?

Global events question from Cookie: I have an economy/finance related question and would like to hear your discussion on it. As we step into 2017, the market has been flooded with negative sentiment news. Lots of countries are under the water as oil and other commodity price plummet. China economy slowdown and share and currency tumbled. In the middle-east you have ISIS terrorist and European country have migration crisis. The central federal government around the world response to the crisis with more and more quantitative easing money printing. I feel like 2008 all over again and this time the crisis is on a global scale.The question I want to raise here is what will happen to the property market and banking policies if the crisis come in the near future? Few friend of mine thinking that the property price will go down like during the great depression. Am I best to wait until the crisis come and then purchase undervalued asset? But if there is a crisis and bank run, will interest rate raise to double digit and banks tighten the lending? What happen to my home loan if there is a bank fail? European central bank is doing negative interest rate already, will Australia heading to this direction one day? How should I position myself now so to be prepare for the day to come?

Case study question from Chris: Brief Bio – 33 yrs old. married with one child, live in Sydney, workfull time. have three properties. two in Townsville (both rented) building one in Melbourne currently. Currently renting in Sydney as units where we want to live sell for $800 k to $1 million. However we can rent and invest. We put all our money into our offset and pay out the credit card at the end of statement period. We also have a full functioningPAYG withholding variation in place.
- Question 1 – with the house I am building in Melbourne. Will I ever be able to claim back the GST I have paid in the build contract?
- Question 2 – With one of my properties in Townsville I am concerned that our body corporate fees are way to high. We pay over $5k pa for fees. No lift, no pool in complex and it is a three story masonry construct building. How do I compare if this is the going rate in our market?

References:

Episode 8 – Investment stock vs investment grade
Episode 37 – Understanding the scarcity factor
Episode 48 – Different property investment structures
Bryce on The Today Show – Double trouble for the property market
If you are interested on the 2016 Outlook for the Global Economy, do check out our videos here.

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