Last week’s podcast had been quite an interesting one! We strongly recommend you to listen to it twice to make sure you don’t miss out on Dr Andrew Wilson’s outlook on the Australian Property Market. This week, we are going back to Question and Answer episode and Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be discussing:

• Question on a career as a property professional from Hayden: To the Property Couch, I have a couple of career questions to ask but firstly I just wanted to share my investment story so far and why I think what you are doing is so important. If I had your advice earlier, my circumstances would be much different. I am currently 25 years old; I began my investment journey when I was 17. My father suggested using the money I had saved for a car to use it instead to buy a house. This was in 2008 when the Rudd government was handing out the huge first home owner grants, when I had my first meeting with a mortgage broker (not even knowing what a group certificate was) they were suggesting I buy an off the plan unit. So put signed up for one in Frankston, Victoria from a company thinking they were giving me good property advice. This purchase eventually fell through due to the bank evaluation not coming through at the correct price. Then I signed up for another off the plan unit in Langwarrin, and after two years they had not even begun construction because the council was saying there was endangered fish in the creek near by. So I pulled out of that one and tried to purchase one in Carrum Downs 6 months later and this one fell through because the bank wanted 20% of the loan. Friends and family were telling me to give up by this point because of how upset I was getting, but I stuck with it and purchased one in Langwarrin. This time, a 2 bed 1 bath unit. This then turned out to be a very poorly built unit and eventually I received an insurance claim of $20,000 to fix the poorly built unit. After 4 years, this property has not delivered any growth at all and doesn’t look to in the near future either. Then I purchased a 1 bed 1 study 1 bath unit in a high rise in Ipswich, Queensland and this property has a lift, pool, spa, sauna, underground car park and a concierge.Even though I have made nearly every mistake you could make and still haven’t made a cent off property, I’m still obsessed with it and read and listen to every book and podcast and attended any event I can. I want to work in the industry to try to prevent this from happening to someone else but I’m not too sure what exactly I want to do. I was wondering if you would share some in-depth insights into mortgage broking and being a buyers agent. As much detail as you could would be helpful such as their daily tasks;
  (A) The pros and cons to each and how much they get paid?
  (B) And your thoughts on mortgage broking franchises or are you better starting off on your own?

• Question on new developments from Brad: I realise that you guys are biased towards investing in established homes, usually with a short disclaimer on how you may have invested in new developments at some stage in your lives. In the interest of a more balanced argument, I feel it would be beneficial to offer someone in the industry who focuses on investing in new developments the chance to put their views forward. Just as there are good and bad established homes the same rings true for new or off the plan developments.

• Question on next step in property investing from Damien: Love the podcast, learning so much each episode, feels like I’m completing a degree for free so thank you so much.
  I recently purchased my first property under market value (purchase price $420k, my banks value $540k) 3-bed townhouse on 452m2 in Kenmore, Brisbane. I had to use LMI ($18,000) due to only 5% deposit which basically brought my loan up to $420k. I want to continue to accumulate good properties. My financial decisions i.e lifestyle was poor in the past but over the last year I have turn that on its head. I have $20k in cash now and I’m wondering what would be your advice for my next move. I’m making sacrifices to get ahead. I live in the townhouse with 2 tenants getting 360 a week for cash flow. I have an interest in renovation also and I’m looking in the Ipswich area. Should I hold off or move again swiftly?
  Thank you for your help.
  Go the Lions 🙁

• Question on cash flow from Ben: Hi guys, love the podcasts! I stumbled across one of your podcasts when I was searching for investor information and enjoyed it so much that I went back to the beginning and listened to every single one in the space of about 3 weeks! I’m 21 and working part time whilst also studying. I am planning and on track to have a 20% deposit on a 400k house saved up in the next 12 months. However, due to the nature of my work (personal trainer) my weekly pay can drastically vary (anywhere between $300 and $900 per week, with an average yearly earnings of around $25,000) and the fact that I will still be studying and unable to work full time to increase cash flow for the next few years, I visage that I would have next to no chance of being successful in getting a loan to match my deposit. I want to do whatever I can to get into the property market as soon as possible, but considering my circumstances and my end goal (early retirement on 100k+ per year) is there anything that I can do to get into the market sooner rather than later without substantially increasing my cash flow? Or should I just keep saving and wait it out until I have the cash flow to match my deposit?

• Question on investing in newly developed areas or established suburbs from Stephen: Would you be better to build in an area with established housing nearing the end of its development life where you know the quality of the area. Or in a new development with no housing as yet but a big blueprint for long-term development? Would you get a bigger capital gain in the new area over time vs potentially small capital gain in established as the capital gain has already expired?

If you like this Q&A episode (Investing in Newly Developed Areas, Getting into the Property Market, Career as a Buyers Agent 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/