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Investing in Real Estate – A How To

If you are just getting started with real estate investing, there are some important things you should consider before taking the big leap. Buying a property can be a daunting idea when you More »

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Using a Mortgage Broker

Researching the type of loan you need to get to buy an investment property can be a time consuming task, especially when you don’t understand all the features and restrictions contained in More »

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How Much Property Do I Need to Retire With?

If share markets make you nervous with their volatility, then investing in property is a valid alternative for building a retirement income. And let’s face it, money in the bank experiences very little More »

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What is Rental Yield?

Before I start, I should mention my easy Rental Yield Calculator here so you can verify any investment property yield quickly. Whenever you are researching an investment property to buy, it is important More »

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3 Ways to Increase Your Rental Return on a Residential Property

While it would be nice to charge our tenants whatever we like for renting our precious investment property, in reality we can only charge what the market is willing to pay or More »

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Investing in Boom Towns

A boom town is traditionally a low demand area that has been revived by a major industry.  Examples of this are a regional town that has had a new mining operation started More »

Investing in Real Estate – A How To

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If you are just getting started with real estate investing, there are some important things you should consider before taking the big leap.

Buying a property can be a daunting idea when you realise all of the things that need to be done.  Looking, researching, negotiating, losing out to someone else, getting finance organised, getting legal advice, getting inspections done (building, pest, strata etc) and finally, draining your bank account to finalise the purchase!

Here we will discuss a few things to think about to help lessen the burden.

Energy-Efficient Investments are Hot Property

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If you are just considering investing or are already a seasoned property investor, improving the energy efficiency of your buildings can lead to benefits in the long-term according to the property news experts at Zoopla.

Let’s face it, the world is going green, but can you get a better return on your real estate investment by improving energy efficiency?

Is Property a Good Investment?

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The question of “is property a good investment” does not have a simple yes or no answer.  A better question to ask might be, is rental property a good investment?

Property is simply an investment vehicle that can give good returns if you do your research.  It can also be a horrible investment if you get it wrong.

For a property to be an investment, it generally means that you will not live in it but will rent it out to other people.  For the sake of this article, we will be referring to residential investment property.

Investing in Houses

Investing in Houses

A standalone house on its own title is often considered a reliable investment, hence the phrase “as safe as houses”.  But buying a house as an investment property does not guarantee you will make a good return.

When looking at buying an investment property, the old adage “Location, location, location” is probably a better indicator to use than the type of property that you end up buying…

How to Find Tenants for your Commerical Property (Part 2)

Finding Tenants for Commercial Property

..Continued from Part 1 (How to Find Commercial Tenants)

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You can place advertisements in various local publications and on boards around town when you are considering how to find tenants.  Of course, using a commercial real estate agent is one way of getting the word out that your property is available for lease.  This is definately wise when you are trying to fill a large or multiple spaces.

How to Find Tenants for your Commercial Property (Part 1)

Finding Tenants for Commercial Property

Do you own office space?

Maybe a retail shop or a warehouse?

When looking at how to find tenants for your commercial investment property you need to think in the long term. Making in-roads with companies that look to have the potential for expansion as well as a long-term goals for the area help ensure the safety of your investment and the security of your overall income.

Investing in Australian Real Estate

Real Estate Investing in Australia

If you live outside of Australia, you may not have heard of the opportunities to invest in residential Australian property.  If you are an Australian, you probably already know that the aussie property market has performed well over any given 10 year period in the past few decades.

To Buy a Home or Rent a Home

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An age old question for real estate investors is: Do I buy my own home to live in, or do I rent a home?

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, it is more a matter of where you are in your life and what your financial goals are.

Depending on where you live and the current state of the property market, renting can be a cheaper short term option.

Renting is very suited to the younger generation as they are just starting out in their careers and haven’t had time to save for house deposit.

What are Vacancy Rates?

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What are vacancy rates and why are they an important indicator in property investing?  The vacancy rate is a measure to show how many rental properties in a given area are without tenants (vacant) over a defined time period.

Buying Investment Property in London

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London is home to a lot of great features and is a great location for buying investment property. As the capital of England, London is the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom.

London is divided into five sections; North, East, South, West, and Central.

This is a great advantage for people looking to invest in real estate in London. The famous key to real estate “location, location, location” really applies in London due to the vast amount of options you have to invest.

If you’re considering buying investment property in London, you will almost be like a kid shopping for candy in a candy store!

Investing in Residential Property Versus Commercial Property

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There are substantial differences between investing in residential and commercial property, but it is a good idea to have a mix of both as you grow your property portfolio.  

Residential properties are the ones which are mainly for people to live in and commercial properties are the ones which are intended for businesses to operate from. Though these two are totally different kinds of properties, determining the affordability is important for both of these types. It is important for you to ask yourself and maybe a financial consultant “I want to buy a new house how much can I afford” in order to decide on your affordability.

Buying Investment Property in Logan City

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Warning: I may be biased towards Logan, as it was where I grew up!

Logan City is located directly in between Brisbane (to the North) and the Gold Coast bordering its southern end.  Whilst Brisbane and the Gold Coast receive most of the attention when it comes to property in Queensland, Logan has sat quietly delivering outstanding capital growth in the past 10 years.

5 Property Investment Mistakes to Avoid

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It can be easy to follow misinformation and rumours when it comes to real estate investing.  You have to find information that suits your needs and sounds intuitively correct to you.  The aim is to avoid mistakes, but sometimes making a mistake is necessary in order to learn the lesson.

Here are some mistakes that I’ve learned from, or seen others make.  Now that you understand them, make sure you don’t make them too!

Renovating for Capital Gain

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Renovating a property is a popular past time, especially for owner occupiers.

It is also popular for investors as making a property more liveable and with extra facilities can add value and command a higher rent.

In this article we will look at renovating for capital gain, but under the assumptions that we have a house that will be rented to tenants for a few years and therefore we will not sell it off after the renovations.

Choosing a Lender for Your Investment Property

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When you are ready to start looking for your next investment property, you will most likely also be ready to start evaluating loan options for the purchase.

Whether you use a mortgage broker or not, it is still useful to research what possible loans will be available for your purpose.

It’s also wise to have your finance organised before making offers on a property.  If you already have a few properties with loans, you may be comfortable with sticking to your existing lender, especially if they already know your financial situation and can offer up the finance easily.

NSW to Remove Stamp Duty Discount

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The new Liberal government of NSW, led by Premier Barry O’Farrell, recently released their first budget for the state of NSW.  As part of cutting spending to help fund long promised infrastructure, the state treasurer Mike Baird has ditched stamp duty concessions for first home buyers of established properties.

Buying Investment Property in Melbourne

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 Melbourne is the capital of Victoria, Australia located in the south eastern tip of the continent on Port Phillip Bay.  It is the second largest city in Australia with a population of around 4.1 million, about half a million less than Sydney.

Melbourne consists of inner city suburbs such as Carlton, St. Kilda, Richmond, Brunswick and Collingwood.

Moving further out into the suburbs we see Sunshine, Broadmeadows, Frankston, Dandenong, Werribee and Glen Waverley.

Using a Buyer’s Agent

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In the real estate world, there seems to be a never ending list of brokers and agents that can help you out with the buying and selling of property.  It is very common to use a real estate agent to help you sell a property but what about when you are buying?

At first, it might seem a little crazy to hire someone to purchase a property for you, especially if you are paying them a fee or commission.

But can a buyer’s agent add value to your purchase?

Top Property Investing Forums

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This website is just one small resource available to the thousands of property investors out there.  However, if you get stuck or want to ask questions, then using one of the many property forums out there can help you out.

Why Join a Forum?

Well for one thing, since it is mostly anonymous, you need not feel embarrassed or hesitant at asking any question you like.

Participating in an online forum puts you on a level playing field with many experts in the industry and allows you to get quick answers for issues that you are having in your investing career.

Buying Investment Property Interstate

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It is common for the average investor to want to buy an investment property not too far from where they live.  There are many reasons for this, one being convenience and another being a sense of security of being able to drive past their investment now and then.

That’s not a bad thing and I’ve certainly done this myself.

But just because you may have more knowledge of your local market, does not mean it’s a good place to invest.  Just because you want to (or need to) live in that area that does not mean other people want to as well.

What is Flipping?

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In general, flipping is buying something and reselling it for a higher value.  When it comes to real estate, this is also true and normally requires a renovation to get the higher resale price.

If you don’t quite follow, let me break it down:

 

  1. You purchase a dumpy or run-down property
  2. You fix it up, renovate and improve it
  3. You put it back on the market after fixing up for a higher value (the flip).

The idea is to make a good profit in a relatively short period of time.