Do it yourself or get professional do it for you ?

Hi Wiwin – you are right.

If you were to take as gospel some of the property investment tales you read then your expectations might be a little unrealistic. However, the keys are equity and of course income. Waiting for capital growth is a slow process and to move quickly you will need to buy below valuation. ( The hardest thing to do in investing ).

On the question of DIY or get a professional my take on it is make sure you know enough to ask the right questions. Get others to do it. You will get the best out of your professionals when you can ask “why” with confidence and “what if” with confidence.

Wiwin, i would contact Jamie (above) if you want to get yourself a good broker. Very knowledgeable and reliable.

Oscar

Wiwin wrote:

I don’t really understand how people can buy 14 ip in a year’s time.

Hi Wiwin

You’ve hit the nail on the head with that sentence. Generally speaking it can be done one of three ways:

Assuming a bank is happy to lend to you on 14 properties (which may not necessarily be the case if they are not satisfied your day job income could support the mortgages if there was a problem with tenanting), you could fund deposits either by :

Using cold hard cash for each deposit (you would need quite a bit of cash for 14 properties)
or
Using equity, which comes about through buying below market value, forcing growth through renovations, or natural price hikes in the area.

Be very sure that if you are apparently buying below market value, that the price you are paying is indeed below market value. The same applies to valuations. Be sure that the valuation a valuer puts on your property is realistic. It’s all well and good to pull out equity to fund subsequent property purchases, however if you ever needed to sell a property, it would be very very unfortunate if its resale value was less than what you owed the bank. This is what is known as negative equity. It would mean you essentially could not sell because you would crystalize a loss. Or you sell, accept the loss and find the money to pay the difference to the bank from some other source. Since it is unlikely you’d have a big pile of money to bail yourself out of such strife, it’s really important to be sure you are either paying fair market value for property, or below. Not above. Same with valuations.

Hi, where are you located? People can then recommend (or head you in the right direction) with some groups.

I’ve met a lot of people that have built portfolio’s very fast but none of them have done it without help.

I went to a few seminars that wanted to charge $5,000+ for mentoring etc but I did not feel comfortable with them. There are many, you do gain some insight at them and you often get free books. I have met some long time friends at these. But don’t bring your credit card. If something sounds enticing come home, ask on here, then decide.

In the end I found someone I could trust and bought a few through a buyers agent. I then started buying on my own as my confidence increased. I never would have the portfolio I have today without that initial boost (and reassurance that I was getting it right). Who would have thought you could buy property that actually puts money in your pocket from day one? (not me when I started). That iks also how people keep buying. If you aren’t losing your wages to buy and you gain equity you can keep buying.

It definitely helps to be around like minded people. Networking is THE key.
Go to meetups, chat with people.

If you go to meetup.com and type in property and your local city there will be meetups where you live. Most are just informal meetups where people chat. Some have guest speakers etc.

You have made a great start. Good luck to you.

Everyone is time poor.

But at the end of the day we make time for what’s important. You know the saying- if you want something done give it to a busy person.

Financial security is pretty high on my list of what I’m prepared to sacrifice time for.

It’s taken a few years of endless time on the computer and looking at houses but I’ll be retired soon and will have all the time I want.

Hi Wiwin,

lots of info here about how to buy, who can help, not much around what is right for you and whether it will help realise your outcome. Mostly because this different for everyone. Expectations are pretty important, as your first step into property needs to be a positive one in order for you to stick at it and build your portfolio.

What do you expect property to do for you? Are looking to build a base to yield income, or turning over stock for short term gains, there are lots of paths yielding varying returns.

Any approach to market needs to be formulated. Concentrate on the outcome, and work backwards to the appropriate product to achieve this result.

Professional support can provide this clarity, help define the required team, and give you the direction you need to channel your effort.

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by  Richard.