Property Spruikers Archives - The Property Couch

Episode 259 | Q&A: A Tax-Saving Hack For An Offset Account, The Simplest Way to Keep Track of Your Properties and How To Distinguish “Emotional Value” from “Property Value”

By The Property Couch November 21, 2019 in Podcast, Q&A

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This Q&A session (brought to you by The Stig) features everything from the BEST benefit of an offset account that most folks don’t know about to build your own home from scratch. We tick off a few new topics and cover…

A Tax-Saving Hack For An Offset Account
How To Distinguish “Emotional Value” from “Property Value”
Why Building a “Forever Home” Is NOT The Same Thing As Investing
The Simplest Way to Keep Track of Your Properties
Property Software Solutions for Existing Property Investors
Multiple Offset Accounts: Why It’s Not Something We Recommend!

All four questions we answer today are listed in full further below — and a special mention to Brodie, Emily, Alan and Chris for contributing today’s epic Qs!! As always, if you want to be featured on a future Q&A, ask us your question here.

Free Resources Mentioned…

Property Investors Council of Australia (PICA)

The Questions Answered Today…

Question from Brodie on Building a New House

“Hi guys, love the insights I have gained and I feel you have saved me thousands. My question is around new property. I understand buying off the plan is a bad idea as an investment etc. however, my partner and I would like to buy a house for the next 10 or so years to raise a family and everything that comes with that. I am a building designer so I am a bit more bias towards building so my question is would building a house with an outlook to live in it for an extended period (10 years+) stack up to buying an existing property?”

Question from Emily on Property Investment Software

“Hi Ben & Bryce, I love your podcast and only recently discovered it since finishing your book. I’m currently up to Episode 70 and can’t get through them quick enough! I am 25 and just finished university in an accounting degree and now have 3 investment properties with a forth due very soon.

I have a question regarding property investment software I hope you can answer. I am wondering what software you recommend for keeping the administration side of your investment properties in check? From what I can see from my Google searches, many of the software packages already available in the market are for the DIY property manager, which advertises its features to do with the collection of rent, scheduling inspections and communications with the different types of tenants etc. However in my personal experience, hiring qualified property managers is the best/most reliable way to go, so these features are useless to me as this is already taken care of.

My question therefore is, is there any software available like MYOB or Xero tailored to property investing that we can input our property costs including regular maintenance, scheduled bills and buying costs. Ideally I would have a different ‘project’ or ‘account’ for each property so that in 30 years when/if I choose to sell, the cost bases for each property are easily worked out to determine the capital gains liability. I love your work and love listening to your podcast every day. Thank you for making such a huge difference to the lives of the little guys on the ground.

Question from Alan on Offset Accounts & Loan Structure

“Dear Ben & Bryce, big fan of your show. A question in terms of offset accounts. I have an offset account on my investment property. Currently, I am living at home and am looking to purchase the second investment property. I am wondering, do I need to set up another off-set account? I don’t want the loans to be inter-linked/cross collateralised. Your faithful listener, Alan.”

Question from Chris on Affording Offset Accounts

(We also went “Live” on Facebook when we answered Chris’s question! You can watch it here.)

“My current home loan is $350,000. Property value sits around $400,000. This is not our forever home and we bought to get on the ladder. We would like to buy our next “forever”” home in the next 4 years and rent out my current home. Current interest rate is 3.23% on a standard home loan, no offset with Bank SA. Current savings for me and my partner sits around $45,000, which currently earns us around $500 in interest a year in an online Rams saver account. That goes up around $20,000 a year with a goal of reaching $100,000 by 2022.

I spoke with my mortgage broker and he came up with the following change in home loan to add an offset: Bank SA, 3.28% interest (0.05%) higher with an annual fee of $395. With $45k in the offset that should work out to an annual saving of $905pa, I think.

Everyone tells me to get an offset but am I getting ahead of myself? I feel once I add on the annual fees and take into consideration, I won’t be making any interest on that 45K, I will actually be costing myself money on my current situation. Or can anyone recommend a better home loan that I should look into. I would love to have multiple offset accounts but they seem to have higher interest rates. If we add all our money in all accounts it would sit around $50K.”

Episode 258 | WARNING: The Unconscious Mental Triggers Property Spruikers Use To Trick You

By The Property Couch November 14, 2019 in Podcast

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Property investors who get seduced into Off the Plan and house and land packages are often seduced through a marketing process that targets universal, emotionally-driven mental triggers.

And after heaps of folks wrote in about last week’s episode where we spoke of the perils of investing in these types of properties, we’ve decided that today we’re going to lift the lid on what exactly these mental triggers are. So people can spot the spruiker from miles away! Because there’s a VERY big difference between marketing for marketing’s sake… and simply being sold into buying dodgy advice & dud properties.

Full disclosure: you will notice that some of these we actually do ourselves… and, yes, we’re being very explicit in this. The reason why we use them is simple… these tactics get people to take action. But getting people to take action on something that will ultimately help them… versus taking advantage of human psychology so people buy an asset or invest in bad advice that only the Spruiker will profit from…... well…… it’s about time we even the playing field here, don’t you think?

And folks… Property Spruikers do NOT want you to know this stuff. Full stop.

… ‘cos once you learn this stuff… you won’t be tricked quite so easily!

Free Stuff mentioned…

Last Webinar of The Year – How to Build a Property Portfolio in 2020!
Free Book– Make Money Simple Again
PICA Webinar with Bradley Beer
PICA Membership – Become a Member for $5
Like us on Facebook (even better… share our page!)

The Unconscious Mental Triggers

13:36 – Mental trigger #1
16:25 – Mental trigger #2
20:46 – Mental trigger #3
22:45 – Mental trigger #4
25:50 – Mental trigger #5
27:05 – Mental trigger #6
32:11 – Mental trigger #7
39:51 – Mental trigger #8

Episode 257 | The Exception To The Rule When It Comes To Off The Plan Properties & House And Land Packages

By The Property Couch November 7, 2019 in Podcast, Q&A

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Recently, ABC’s podcast The Money ran a very poignant episode on the financial risks of unregulated property investment advice (which we highly recommend you check out – details below folks)… which revealed the pitfalls of buying Off The Plan properties and getting snagged on the end of “one-stop-shop” spruiker seminars.

As well as interviewing two unlucky folks who learnt about investing in Off The Plan in the worst way possible, the episode also features a property ”sales person” … and the look from the other side… is… well… let’s just say we’ve got something to say about it!

‘Cos as you know folks, we hold a VERY strong view on these types of investments — and we’ve been very vocal about this since we first started croaking out this podcast — so why then … would we have an “an exception to the rule”???

Well… that’s where today’s episode comes in! ‘cos if you’re going to go there….. (and many of you STILL write to us about investing in Off the Plan properties AND House and Land packages.… then we want to make sure you stay FULLY informed.

AND we’re also going through a Q&A on this tackle this exact topic, so you might get the answer you happen to be pondering right now!

CLICK HERE to Listen to ABC’s The Money podcast episode — The financial risks of unregulated property investment advice

Other Free Resources Mentioned In This Episode

The Questions…

Question from Brittany

Hey guys! Absolutely love your podcast. Wanted to share something I found. The offer is – buy an off the plan apartment, and get a free Mazda 2. Reeks of a buyer beware scam! Is this even legal? I have never seen anything quite like it and had to share it with you guys.

Question from Alana

I have been listening to your podcast, I have invested in a house and land package in Tarniet, I will be owner occupier . I will be investing with a friend, therefore half the debt will be mine we will be investing around 450,000 total. There are proposed schools next door and a shopping mall and train station going in. Everything in your podcast leads to don’t buy a house and land package… have I stuffed this up already?

Question from Juan — Is It ALWAYS A No To Buy Off The Plan?

Hi guys, First of all – thanks for your great material! It’s great, ‘specially for someone like me who is new to Australia, understanding the way everything works here is gold. I have heard most of your podcasts and also done some research online and I wanted to ask a question around Off-the-plan investments that I still can’t understand. Everywhere people say it’s a big NO-NO. I understand the risks involved (delays, not seeing the finished product beforehand etc) but my wife and I have found an OTP property in a suburb we like (Bentleigh, within the Mckinnon School zone) and we think it’s a good place to live. The developer has done at least 3 different developments in the area all of which we like the finishes and have built it in perfect timing. I wanted to ask why would this be considered a really poor investment? Are OTP properties definitely a NO? I understand the case of Docklands and closer to the city suburbs where you had thousands of developments which made the price go down but in Bentleigh I don’t think this is the case. I have subscribed to locationscore.com.au and the score is relatively well considering that I will live in this property and it’s within my budget. I just wanted to get a sense of your thoughts around this as I am a true follower of your words of wisdom. Hopefully you have some words for me. Thanks in advance and keep up the excellent work of empowering people like me with information. Juan

Question from Phoebe

Hi Property Couch,

I have a question for you. My partner and I recently signed a contract for a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment in Camp Hill, Brisbane. It is a brand new apartment building (small block – only 7 apartments). We plan on living in the apartment (for now but would like to rent it in the future – roughly 3-5 years time). The developer originally wanted $569k, dropped it down to $539k and we signed a contract for $529K. When applying for a home loan, the property was valued at the property $29,000 less than the purchase price. Their report considered market direction, volatility and segment conditions to be of medium to high risk. This is very concerning for us as first home buyers. We don’t know whether the banks are just being overly cautious. What are your thoughts on this? I know you mentioned in your very first podcast, if you are buying new, you are most likely paying too much. We think the apartment is really good quality and ticks a lot of our boxes. Help! Thanks for your time.

Episode 251 | What’s NOT Going To Change in Property Investing?

By The Property Couch September 26, 2019 in Podcast

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We all love questioning what the future holds and speculating on what’s in store for us. And, of course, investing in property is no different. But the thing is… is it helpful to put all that emphasis on the things we can’t control?

See, today’s episode is all about looking through the lens of this quote by Amazon Founder and one of the richest men in the world, Jeff Bezos…

“I very frequently get the question, ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ And that is a very interesting question; it’s a very common one. I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon Founder

Folks, when we ask ourselves “What’s NOT Going to Change in Property Investing?” we are actually asking ourselves a higher quality question. And this higher quality question not only helps us to see things more clearly and make smart chess moves, but also, it empowers us to remain the ones in charge despite what future changes occur.

So… what’s always gonna be the same in property a decade from now? Or 20 years from now? Or 40? What are the things that’ll always influence property prices?

Well, tune in folks… and we’ll tell you exactly what’s NOT going to change in property investing!

Free Stuff Mentioned…

The Top Highlights…

Realistically, will property prices always grow?
What type of infrastructure coming into an area does NOT always mean gentrification?
Which human behaviour traits will always occur, no matter what?
What’s going to happen to Property Spruikers with their “get rich quick schemes”?
What specific things are NOT going to change in property investing???

Episode 210 | John Hartill – How to Recover from Making Every Mistake Possible in the Investing Game

By The Property Couch January 8, 2019 in Podcast, Real life stories

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Folks, our Summer Series continues with ANOTHER ripper guest! And not only is today’s guest a very special TPC listener (!!) but also…. he is a REAL LIFE INVESTOR!

But there’s a problem…

John Hartill has learnt a lot of things the hard way. Unfortunately, he made mistakes along the way that, if we’re being completely honest, have cost him a small fortune. Over his property investment journey (expanding a couple of decades now) John has been spruiked to, sold to and, sadly, bought really bad properties.

The fact is… He’s tried every property investment strategy under the sun — buying house and land packages, developing property, renovating, investing in positively geared property — you name it folks!

And as a result, John’s had to learn the true cost of holding property and what’s at stake if you get your advice for free, buy Off the Plan or jump in without the correct education to support you.

And he’s here to share his personal story so that YOU can avoid making the same mistakes.

Here’s the gold…

How did John get into property in the first place?
What was the first mistake he made?
And how much is that property worth now?
What interest was John paying on his loan for his first property?
How was his cash flow management affected?
Could he continue investing while also being self-employed?
Why is location so important in investing in property?
What were the costs of selling property?
What were to costs of holding onto poor performing property?
What Spruiker tactics were used on John?
What would John do differently?
How is his portfolio performing now?
Is he using the Money SMARTS system?
When does he want to retire?
In all likelihood, was John’s profit a real one or a “paper profit”? Why?
What were the other property investment mistakes John made?
How can you fix bad property investment decisions?
Why isn’t free advice a good idea??

Missed our earlier episodes in The Summer Series?

P.S. Don’t forget,

DOWNLOAD our Free Binge Guide Here – The First 20 Episodes

This 80-odd page document is the vault containing all the foundational tips and insights you need to be a successful investor.
Want a Free Copy of The Golden Highlights? You can get it here.

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