Young Australians who would have once been locked out of homeownership are increasingly relying on the so-called Bank of Mum and Dad to get a deposit or to guarantee a bank loan. The Bank of Mum and Dad has become so large as a home loan enabler that the Productivity Commission says if it was…
Are you interested in property development? While many properties make good homes, fewer are “investment grade” properties and even fewer are potentially profitable development sites. In a recent blog, I outlined why I choose the suburbs where I undertake developments very carefully. Now it’s time to find the “right” property in that suburb – one that could…
There’s no real ‘secret’ to property investing success, but as I’ve said many times before, there is a strategy. There are so many articles around about how to make sure your property investments outperform the rest of the market. The right location, the right price, the right plan… Searching for the ultimate path to guaranteed…
It’s now two years since the RBA first started to raise interest rates resulting in the biggest tightening cycle since the late 1980s. Rates have gone much higher and stayed high for much longer than I thought would be the case as Australian households proved more resilient than expected thanks to a combination of a…
As we edge towards the end of the financial year, it’s the time that you need to crunch some numbers to make sure you have all your tax obligations right, so today I am again joined by Rob Thompson, Assistant Commissioner of the ATO to dive into the world of taxation, specifically targeting tax time…
People have a pretty intuitive sense of what is healthy – standing is better than sitting, exercise is great for overall health and getting good sleep is imperative. However, if exercise in the evening may disrupt our sleep, or make us feel the need to be more sedentary to recover, a key question emerges –…
Since 2004, I’ve devoted a significant amount of my time to researching habits. One of the questions I get asked by the media often is: Are there differences between the habits of men and women? The answer is always Yes. From my research, I’ve identified certain habits that separate men and women. Here’s a sampling…
Books, blogs, and magazines are full of great tips on what to do to become a successful property investor. However today I’d like to look at a number of things successful investors don’t do. 1. They don’t concern themselves that the markets are unpredictable. Successful investors are comfortable with the reality that their future can’t…
In the current property markets where capital growth will be subdued for some time, more sophisticated investors are considering getting involved in property development to enable them to “manufacture” capital growth. However, embarking on property development isn’t as simple as it might seem and unfortunately, too many investors begin their property development journey on the…
Have you ever wondered why some locations that could be labelled as ‘secondary’ outperform the established blue-chip suburbs? What drives this unexpected surge in property value, and more importantly, is this a trend that savvy investors should be paying attention to? Should you be looking for these suburbs, or should you stick to blue-chip locations?…