Michael has been once again voted Australia’s leading property investment advisor by the readers of ‘Your Investment Property Magazine’, but he’s not a theorist… He has been successfully investing in property since 1971 and is a leading property commentator and Australia’s most widely read property investment blogger. Join over 115,000 others who get their updates from Michael and his group of expert guest bloggers and benefit from their perspective.
In the fourth instalment of my series on development, I’ll walk you through each step of the development journey. Becoming a property developer, even dabbling in the idea of development as an adjunct to a more passive property investment career, is not as simple as it seems. New builds require extensive legwork and preparation, and…
When you’re buying property in this market you need to move fast. Days on the market are short at the moment (although they are starting to stretch). Property prices are still rising, although the pace is slowing, and if you’re sifting through the available properties when you find “The One” you need to be ready…
The monthly CPI indicator showed inflation increasing in the year to May, with the ‘trimmed mean’, annual inflation measure lifting to 4.4%, up from 4.1% in April. While the monthly CPI indicator isn’t as complete a measure as the quarterly inflation result, there is concern that inflation is back on the rise, which could necessitate…
It feels like we are living in busy times. According to the OECD Better Life Index, 12.5% of Australians report working at least 50 hours a week, higher than the OECD average. Many Australians are also working more than one job to buffer against cost-of-living pressures. Psychology has long been interested in our goals –…
Today, I look into an issue that’s causing ripples across the Victorian rental market and beyond. It’s the exodus of landlords. Joining me today is Mike Mortlock, Managing Director of MCG Quantity Surveyors, who recently wrote a detailed report about this. Not surprisingly, the problem isn’t just confined to Victoria. In general, many property investors…
In today’s fast-changing property market, one of the common questions I’m asked is “How much is that property really worth?” Obviously, that’s a good question – no property investor or homeowner wants to overpay. For products that are plentiful, transacted often, and largely the same as each other, determining market value is really easy. But…
Australia is becoming a more litigious society with more people considering suing and more lawyers opting to take on their cases for no upfront fee. While the number of lawsuits in Australia is growing, we’re still a fair way from the situation in the USA, where people have a 33 per cent chance of being…
The average individual performs far below their abilities. They do what they have to do to survive; to get by. They avoid taking risks that could disrupt their lives. True success is the byproduct of unleashing your innate abilities; exposing them to the light of day for all to see. But this requires risk. That…
Be careful – observing the change in median property prices may not be as useful as you think. So here are the main things you need to understand before you draw any conclusions from the regularly reported changes in median prices. How is the median house price calculated? The median house price is essentially the…
It is generally an accepted investment principle that diversification can reduce your risk and improve investment returns. The common vernacular is, to spread your eggs amongst various baskets. I would agree with this principle, so long as it doesn’t result in the deterioration of investment asset quality. Sometimes property investors should not diversify. That’s because…
