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Conversations with your bank manager

October 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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If you are lucky enough to be invited to a cup of coffee or lunch with your Bank Manager, don’t miss this invaluable opportunity to educate yourself about how the finance world really operates.  Try and resist the temptation therefore of acting like the prettiest girl in the class at school who is being courted by the captain of the football team.  Keep your ego in check and refrain from over talking and telling the Bank Manager about your life’s experiences and goals.  Today is the time to be a lot better listener than you are a talker.

Take this occasion to ask the professional about transactions that come across their desk in this current market place.  Ask them for examples of good and bad applications, ones that were approved and others that were declined, and why?  Be humble and know that there is a lot to be learnt from this individual if you just seize this moment. [Read more...]

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Selling through mulitple agents

March 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you list your property with more than one real estate agent, make sure you don’t become liable for more than one commission.

A young client showing wisdom far beyond her years called me to seek guidance about how to protect her investments on a sale of a unit she had listed with three agents.

One of the agents had submitted an offer… [Read more...]

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You can run, but you can’t hide

February 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Small mistakes can often snowball into larger problems when it comes to property transactions.

Sometimes as a property investor you can make a mistake, pay the price and then just move on.  Other times the problem hangs around to haunt you.

A case in point is an investor made was to neglect to ask for a list of exclusions that weren’t included in the sale, only to find out following settlement that more than $5000 had to be spent on a number of matters to bring the property up to scratch to keep the tenant happy.

Readers will recall that the investor hit the developer up to pay for these costs and do the work itself and at its expense.

Hallelujah, the developer agreed to do the right thing and carry out his work.  But this wasn’t the end of it. [Read more...]

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Legal loopholes Part 2

October 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Last month, we pointed out five possible ‘escape hatches’ for buyers wanting to legally exit the contract.  Here are seven more. [Read more...]

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Legal loopholes part 1

October 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever signed a contract and then suffered from buyer’s remorse, this article could help you find a way out.

In a past life when I was a young man, just before the outbreak of World War 2, I taught night classes on real estate law at the local TAFE College.  One evening I finished a segment on the legalities of real estate contracts, outlining the six essential ingredients of a legal contract. [Read more...]

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Dealing with town planners

September 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

This article was first published in Australian Property Investor Magazine and is copyright and reproduced with their permission.

Frustrated with the lean pickings of suitable properties in the suburbs surrounding Brisbane, an investor decided to try his luck in some of the country areas in regions past Beaudesert.

He was surprised to find that owners of properties in these areas were becoming more accustomed to approaches from city buyers and were “playing hard to get”.

He found that after a number of attempts to buy properties in this country town, subject to due diligence or development application approval, he was unsuccessful. [Read more...]

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Make paperwork your friend

April 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

This article was first published in Australian Property Investor Magazine and is copyright and reproduced with their permission.

How can preliminary agreements save investors time and money?

Many thousands of dollars in lawyers’ time and countless hours of investors’ time are burnt everyday in the property world in failed attempts to negotiate real estate contracts.

“Is there a less frustrating, more time and cost-efficient way to go about negotiating real estate deals?” one jaded real estate client asked me recently. [Read more...]

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Improve your negotiating nouse

April 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

If good negotiating skills help cut $5,000 off the cost of buying your investment property or your next house, it can save you much more in the long run.

John Edwards of property forecaster Residex says that if you pay just $5000 too much for a property, borrow the monies from the bank and pay them back over the usual 25-year term, you will have paid back the bank an additional $50,000. But what if you pay $20,000 or $30,000 too much? If you think about it this will leave you with that lingering and sinking feeling in your stomach that will put you off playing the property game.

It is therefore no exaggeration to say that negotiating is the most important skill of all for a property investor. I personally like Robert Kiyosaki’s philosophy that “if you can’t negotiate then you will never get rich and you will never get laid”. Think about it – it doesn’t get much worse than this – no money and no sex.

So let me follow on with this theme and see if I can make you a better negotiator. [Read more...]

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Negotiating along the property highway

September 20, 2007 By Leave a Comment

When buying real estate, knowing what you want means at what price and on which terms you wish to buy the property. But more importantly, what is your “bottom line”?

For the purpose of this article I’ve assumed that you have carried out all your research on past growth, future growth potential, vacancy rates, how much money you’re able to borrow, etc., and you now know what you’re after. Write out your goals before you start and make sure you stick to them.

This preparation is essential and without it you undermine your own efforts. However, not only do you need to have done this preparation, you also need to know, before negotiating on a property, more information on the property itself, the sellers’ agent (if there is one) and the sellers themselves. [Read more...]

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Don’t Get Caught

January 23, 2007 By Leave a Comment

We’re all born wet, naked and hungry and uneducated.  Our parents supply food, shelter and clothing but we personally are responsible for our own education as we continue our journey through life.

Therefore  I would like to examine some of the issues of the day about which investors should educate themselves.

As an investor you need to be the best generalist you can possibly be.  Let me help you with your continuing education. [Read more...]

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