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190 | Q&A – Addressing Media Alarmists, Investing in Your 50s and The Truth About Lenders Mortgage Insurance

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If you’ve heard the latest media reports, folks, you might have reason to believe the property market is all bricks and slaughter… but is that really the case?

Today on the couch, we’re addressing media alarmists — the recent noise shouting out alarm that there will be a total housing crash in Australia! So… is there any truth to the doom and gloom?

PLUS, we’re deep-diving into investing later in life and what this really looks like for people in their fifties, including the ramifications investing in property can have on pension allowances.

And, of course, Lenders Mortgage Insurance… let’s run the basics, and work out when too much is WAY too much!

Before we kick off the Qs… guess what??

 

If you want a 30% discount on our new book Make Money Simple Again you need to join our waitlist BEFORE 11:59PM TOMORROW  (Friday 21st September 2018)

Yes, this is a limited-time only discount, folks!

Note: This discount has since expired, but you can get the FREE e-copy here >>>

 

And before we jump into the questions, here are some recommendations from Stiggy to help you go through this episode:

  • Do you want the recording on the VIC Residential Tenancies Act Amendments? PICA will be sending out the slides AND replay to their members next week. Not a member yet? Click here to join.
  • (Spoiler Alert) And finally… Here’s the link to the Granny Flat that we chat about on today’s show. Make sure you consult a qualified and experienced Financial Planner before making any investment decisions folks! 🙂

 

Alrighty, let’s get to today’s questions!

Question about Investing in Your 50s from Darren

Me and my wife made a mistake late in life. We bought a house and sold it back in 2000, so we’re not first home buyers. We’re 50, looking forward to getting on the property train and have a good income of about $180K per year. We have about $4.5K in disposable income that we can put into property. Given everything I’ve heard from you guys, how could a couple, now 50, with that available cash, make their way through to give themselves a passive income by mid-60s, earning $80 – $100K per year in passive income?

We were thinking of buying a house for around $450K, perhaps on the north side of Brisbane, around Petrie and Kallangura area, and we could smash out as much as we could in a year and a half, build up some equity and buy, then move on to the 2nd house with a maybe a bit of renovation between. So my question is: how do people of our age group get onto the property ladder and make this happen for ourselves?

 

Question from Steph the “Serial Coucher”

We’re looking at purchasing a home from my father in law over a period of time. Essentially, he is an asset rich, cash poor retiree who is living fortnight-to-fortnight on the pension. Yes, it’s certainly an emotional driver, but the asset does stack up. So my question is: how does something like this work? Can you acquire traditional financing, or is it a specialty class of financing? And what specialist should we look to engage? I want to get as much info as possible before even bringing up the subject with him. Thanks guys!

 

Question about Lenders Mortgage Insurance from Alasdair

I’m looking to increase my portfolio from 2 Investment Properties (IP) to 3 IPs, and possibly a 4th. I’m sitting at around about 90% when I get my loans. I read somewhere that around the $1 million mark it gets difficult. And I’ve heard that the global portfolio is impossible to get over $2.5 mil. Can you speak to that idea?

 

189 | Q & A – Vic Residential Tenancy Changes and “Legoland” in a Good Location

By in Podcast, Q&A

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Folks, today we’re tackling your questions around some tough topics!

Because chances are, you’ve heard about the amendments that’ve recently been passed on Victoria’s Residential Tenancies Act — laws that allow tenants to keep pets and make ‘minor’ modifications to the property, regardless of the landlord’s wishes.

So we’re going to give our take on this, as well as take a deep dive on “Legoland” and whether or not these properties are worth considering if they’re sitting in a good location. Plus a certain Donald Trump gets a mention, as does the interest rate rise we’ve seen from the big banks right here on our home turf!

And why the tough topics now?

Well folks, it’s pretty simple… we’ve sweated out our brand new book, Make Money Simple Again (Get 30% off here), and now that it’s off to the printers… we’re ready to take on some of your other challenges!

 

Before we kick it off, just a shout out that PICA’S holding a limited-seating event on Tuesday 18th September at 6pm — to discuss on the amendments to the Victorian Residential Tenancy Act…

This is an exclusive event (only 60 seats available) with Yvonne Martin and will take place at Madgwicks Lawyers, Level 6, 140 William Street, Melbourne.

Register Here: PICA – Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act

 

And yes,

WE FINALLY FINISHED OUR BOOK, Make Money Simple Again!!!

Get 30% OFF IF YOU JOIN THE WAITLIST
(AND get it before anyone else!)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DETAILS: Make Money Simple Again

 

But back to the tricky Q & A….

 

Question — Chris on Tenancy Changes

I’m disappointed at your quick video overview regarding proposed rental tenancy changes in Victoria. I have no problem with most of the suggested changes but, how can you not be alarmed at tenants being given the right to have pets and make modifications deemed ‘minor’ – whatever that means? We are not just talking about picture hooks here! After investigating further, this may include security measures and air conditioning! Who pays for these? You flippantly dismiss the pet comment with a remark about ’tiles’. Are you serious??? What about carpets and polished floorboards taking a pounding from pets’ claws and their excrement! I will tell you from experience that any sort of steam cleaning and fumigating of carpets etc….even at the tenant’s expense is not the answer. I’ve had to on at least two occasions (where both urine and faecal matter was so prevalent) had no choice, but to change the carpets! Forget the floorboards – too damn expensive to re-sand and polish!  Please tell me that these abovementioned points are also concerns for you?

 

SpeakPipe Question – Emma on Rate Statement showing a Decline

I have a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 car spot investment apartment in Maribyrnong. I’ve just noticed on my new rate statement that the Capital Improved Value and the Site Value have decreased. It is a long term investment, should I be worried? Or should I just enjoy the lower rates this year? Thanks!

 

SpeakPipe Question — Lucas about Trump and IO Loans

… As we know, America runs at huge deficits, and Trump’s now starting trade wars with a whole bunch of economic blocks and their interest rates are going up so it’s going to be harder for them to service their debt. Deficits are going to become bigger & in case that backfires, and causes another GFC situation, what impact will Trump have on the Australian housing market? And, also, we’ll probably have another compounding problem with tougher lending criteria and people having less opportunity to roll interest-only with banks. So I’d like to know what you think will happen to the property market if these things happen, which is the worst case scenario. Thank you.

 

Question — Nick on History of Sales

Hi, I am a casual listener of the podcast and a first time buyer looking for a place to live in Melbourne. We have found a townhouse in Thornbury, a property that ticks all the boxes for us and looks like a good price. However, the property is selling for only a fraction over that which it was purchased in 2014 and is amongst about 50 of other similar townhouses — the property next door is also for sale. It is probably the best located/nicest property we can afford that we have found in Melbourne but those seem like red flags from an investment point of view. I thought I might just ask and see if you might be able to point us in the right direction as to how much we should read into previous sale prices and also about what saturation means in the townhouse market? Thank you and keep up the rad podcasts!

 

 

186 | Q&A – Should You Pay Down the Principal Loan When Interest Rates are Low? Are Multiple Offset Accounts a Good Idea? PLUS The Step-by-Step Process to Buying an Investment Property!

By in Podcast, Q&A

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“The people’s podcast” is EXACTLY that today folks! Because here’s the deal…it’s a full-on, gold-packed Q&A Day!!

And we’re diving headfirst into…

  1. Offset accounts — is it a good idea to have multiple offset accounts? And should you offset your highest loan or the oldest loan?
  2. Investing in outer suburbs versus inner suburbs
  3. The step-by-step process of buying an investment property
  4. Buying a home (PPOR) versus an investment property (IP)
  5. Lending — should you pay down the principal of an investment property when interest rates are low?
  6. Why should you join PICA?
  7. TWO amazing Life Hacks from our community!

Oh folks, we don’t want to pick favourites — but even we’ll admit it — these are some solid questions from our listeners!

From start (Mindset Minute) to “Knowledge is empowering, but only if you act on it”…this episode is ALL YOURS!

Before we jump into the questions, click here to download Ben’s Data Dive on Better Price Point, Better Location and Better Returns.

 

Questions from Kyrillos:

  1. If you’re purchasing more than one property, can you get more than one offset account? And if so do you split all the cash between them, or is it wiser to pour in all the cash in the offset against a larger loan?
  2. To do with LocationScore — I’ve gone through and created a spreadsheet of all of the suburbs within 50km of Brisbane’s CBD and found that most of the better-scored suburbs are actually quite far, in terms of the asset selection criteria you guys talk about. I understand that LocationScore is more of a demand versus supply score, so if you’re a Buy and Hold investor, at a suburb level, is buying in a better location still the better option?
  3. Would you be able to run through the process of buying a property? Could you run through a quick, step by step process of what happens when (research, when should you get building and pest inspections, etc.)?

Note 1: Looking for the link to join the Property Investors Council of Australia (PICA)? Learn more about their membership here!

Note 2: Keen to watch Ben’s Data Dive on Better Price Point, Better Location and Better Returns on Investment? Just click here to get access to it.

 

Question from Cam:

My partner and I are wanting to buy our first home. We are 27 years old, have $100,000 saved and are in our 3rd year of full time employment with a combined income of $150,000. Should we be stretching ourselves to buy in the area we love FIRST, or should we be buying an investment property and hope to build equity and use it to purchase our Principal Place of Residence (PPOR) down the track?

 

Question from Sonya:

Hi guys, love the podcast. There’s a lot of talk out there about the risk of Australians switching from Interest Only to Principal & Interest loans. I’m currently paying Interest Only, with no interest to refinance as I am starting up my own business and currently don’t have any other income coming in. Half of my loan is fixed; the other half is variable. My question is: Should I pay down the principal of my investment property while the interest rates are low to control the risk of a high interest rate at a later date and the Principal and Interest I would have to pay when my loan switches over? I’m less interested in the tax advantages, and am more interested in controlling risk and reducing my overall repayments. I know that the longer my Interest Only repayment is, the higher my repayments will have to be when it switches over — and that doesn’t sound great to me. I’m sure this, and the impact of Interest Only lending, is of interest to other listeners, so I hope you can provide insight. Love your work again. Cheers!

 

Data Dive! Better Price Point, Better Location and Better Returns

Fill in the form via the link above and we’ll send it to you right away! 😉

 

173 | Q & A – The BATTLE ROUND: “This” vs “That”

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It’s a “BATTLE ROUND” Q & A Day, folks!!

In other words… This vs That.

Yep. After 4 solid weeks of some seriously special guests interviews — starting with Alan Oster and ending with Stuart Wemyss — we’re finally in the ring for a good ol’ Q & A Session!

The Battle Round includes…

 

Resources to help if you’re battling a decision right now…

Demand vs Supply…

 

But before we hear the crowd roar (Stig stay silent) as we battle it out…

… we need YOUR answers!!!

For our brand new book coming out, we want to help as many Aussies as we possibly can!! So before we put the sprinkles on the icing of the cake/book… can you help us out?? (Especially if you’ve implemented The Money SMARTS System!)

  • What are your “Money Temptations”?
  • Where do you feel tempted to deviate with the Money SMARTS System?
  • What do you struggle most to manage with money?

TELL US your Money Temptations here.

 

And finally, don’t agree with Labor’s policy on Negative Gearing? Sign the PICA Petition here.

 

Question from Mal:

My question to you is about growth, and buying either into the Melbourne and Brisbane markets given their different position at the moment in the property market. If you had $650K to spend, in terms of growth on a house would you buy a smaller property further out of Melbourne or a larger property closer in Brisbane? With a buy and hold strategy of 15 – 20 years. Thanks, looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

Question about Costs vs Gains from Jennifer:

Hey Ben and Bryce. I’m a huge fan of your podcast and The Armchair Guide to Property Investing, and am very much looking forward to your new book. I’ve recently read another finance book, and their recommendation was that investing for the long term wasn’t a good investment because, although property prices do almost always increase, the costs associated with property investment like interest, property management fees, repairs and renovations are so high that it makes for a poor investment. And you’d likely get a better return with something like a shares portfolio. I’d just like to know your thoughts. Thank you.

 

Question about House vs Beach Apartment form Dennis:

Hi Bryce and Ben, my name is Dennis, living in Melbourne with my fiancée, in our early 30s. We are fans of your podcast, very informative. I have some equity from my family home I co-paid with my parents and after borrowing, our budget is about $500k.

First consideration is a 3 – 4 bedroom house in Ballarat because the Ballarat West Economic Zone is up and coming, aimed to create 9000 jobs.

Second consideration is a 2 bedroom beachfront apartment within 10 min of Apollo Bay/Lorne central area. We plan to rent it out as an Airbnb?, however our concern is the long vacancy periods during the colder months. What are your thoughts on both options? Which is a better first investment property? We are looking to hold it long term, unlikely to sell within 5 years.

 

Question from Steve:

Hi guys, my question is, “When do you know when the right time is to sell in an area?” Like they say in the stock market, no one rings a bell at the top … and I wouldn’t expect to be able to pick the top… but how do you decide when is the best time to sell? Is it data driven? Where yields are low and it’s had years of growth and now there isn’t as much affordability when mortgages are say 40% of the average income loan? Or is more of a sentiment-driven thing where the market’s now too crazy … people are bidding way over reserve, so you should just sell into that? The reason I’m asking is because I bought a Gold Coast 4×2 house for $350K in 2014, worth around $420K now, and at some stage the Goldy’s run will end and it will level out and this may be one earmark to sell. I mean, it’s very easy to look back and chart the price growth to see where you ”shoulda, coulda, woulda” sold; but it’s much more difficult when you’re in the middle of it. I think Geelong and Hobart are good examples of strong markets now. And they’d be optimal studies to see when would be a good time to sell into. I worked in Perth for 10 years, go the Dockers and (more footy talk!)

 

172 | The 5 Rules for Mastering the Game of Building Wealth – Chat with Stuart Wemyss

By in Podcast

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Ever wanted the formula to winning the game of building wealth?

Well, folks… you’re in luck! Because today we have a very special guest who’s going to hand you the GOLDEN RULES of building wealth that are founded in logic, calculated using simple math, and supported by historic evidence! (Sounds alright, huh?)

Joining us is Stuart Wemyss, author of the newly-released book Investopoly, and Founder of ProSolution, who has over 20 years’ experience in financial services. Plus, he has a Bachelor of Commerce, is a Chartered accountant and is a repeat guest on the Couch — you might recognise his voice from Episode 81 when he brought his wisdom to long term investing!

So, his new book — again, it’s called “Investopoly” — discusses the 8 Golden Rules for Mastering the Game of Building Wealth… and Stuart’s sharing five of them today, and many other hacks to excel at property investing.

Stuart’s also kindly giving you the chance to pick up Investopoly for 30% off!! Just click here, select a physical or an electronic copy, and enter your exclusive TPC listener discount code: COUCH

 

And, folks — PICA NEEDS YOUR VOICE!

PICA has started a petition to campaign against Labor’s poorly thought through Negative Gearing and Capital Gains policy positions. Although Labor is not in Government at the Federal level, they plan to take this policy to the next election.

PICA has serious concerns about what this would mean for the economy, jobs and property prices across Australia.

We are calling on all Australians who don’t want to see the value of their property fall, or who don’t want to see our economy potentially falling into recession, to put your name to this petition.

PICA’s goal is to reach 100,000 signatures before the next election to help Labor understand that this policy is dangerous to the property market and the economy as a whole.

Please sign PICA’s Petition here to stop Labor’s Negative Gearing Changes.

 

Today’s reasons for listening:

 

Oh, and before these skip our mind…

  1. You can access Stuart’s blog here (well worth the read!)
  2. If you missed this week’s Facebook Live: catch it here.
  3. And for our new book on Money Management….
    • If you’re having challenges with our MoneySMARTS System — either implementing it, sticking to it, or anything in between — please let us know so we can fix this and help more people better manage their money (any feedback is seriously welcome).
    • If you’ve implemented our MoneySMARTS System and it’s really helped you and/or your loved ones… do let us know!

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