The accountants that post a lot on here are some of the cleverest too – check them out.

First: Revisit your goals – clarify your vision of where you want to get to. Write down your desired portfolio.
Second: Pursue good finance and tax advice – to make sure your next steps are ok
Third: Do the refinance as soon as you have enough equity
Fourth: Purchase 2nd IP and try to repeat what worked (ie purchasing under market or into a rising market or with value add potential. Ideally all 3 of those things!)
Fifth: Improve your ownership systems so you can handle more property. Make sure your property manager, other team members are all top notch.
Sixth: Go back to 1 and repeat the process.

Denis wrote:

Hi Zen,Have you attended your meeting with Spring FG and if yes, can you please share your experiences? We have a session booked with them next week and I would appreciate your feedback before we decide whether to see them or not.Thanks,Denis

As per the answers above please proceed with caution and read the old posts in this thread there is a history there. Anyone who claims to represent you as an investor but gets a commission from a builder/developer is a double agent and you are not the client you are the stock on the shelf being sold to the true client (the one who pays the fee).

Sub 2% vacancy – easy
6% gross yeild – not quite so easy but may be possible – do you mean for houses only or include units?
10-20% cg – no one can guarantee this. There are plenty of indicators for potential growth that can be measured but I never promise.

More info about your brief, your goals, and your willingness to do things to achieve this outcome are needed. Most of the properties I have bought for myself or clients that ticked all these boxes were problems. IE they needed some cosmetic work, or they were in rough but gentrifying areas, usually both.

@retireyoungfree somersoft was the original ozzy property forum it is where many of us got our start (including me back in the early noughties) and from memory Nathan B was also first educated there. This forum and the somersoft current replacement are still amazing locations full of knowledge, learning communities with helpful people sharing their experiences and wisdom with each other. It seems from your posts you have done some of your own research but are still unsure how to proceed. I would suggest to clarify what questions you a really wrestling with, rather than just asking “is guru x ok?” as with someone like Nathan you will get all kinds of different responses I have had clients who came across who were unhappy but many others are happy with the outcomes. If you know what you know, and you know where the gaps in your knowledge are, then you will know how to find the missing info and take action. Its the action that makes the difference in the long run.

Wct01 wrote:

Hi, Just wondering what does everyone do to conduct their own suburb due diligence? I focus on renovations/developments and I find myself spending a considerable amount of time doing up a big spreadsheet in an attempt to track trends in supply and demand for that suburb. Is there an easier or quicker way? I know there are companies (eg: RPData, AMP, SQM & Residex) and commentators who sell this type of research but as a professional property investor, should one take their research as the gospel truth? Thanks in advance.

There are loads of moving parts to my system. It has been developed over more than a decade. There is no quick easy way to just magically understand everything and know all. Regarding Data – there is no gospel except the gospel, so you need to accept it is good but not perfect. There are several paid options which are debated and reviewed on the forum (see group Pricefinder access thread or PM me if you want to pursue that software). Measuring all your own sales records manually is just not feasible unless you have loads of time and covering a small market.

First question: How does Patrick Leo get paid? If they get a sales commission from the developer/builder of new stock BE VERY CAREFUL. This means you are not the client, you are the stock on the shelf being sold to the real client who is the one paying the bills.

Learning the jargon and the who’s who in the industry is vital if you want to avoid sharks and rip offs. These guys may be good at what they do or may not, but my problem with buying brand new properties for investment (for most people) is that there is no opportunity for value add or negotiating discounts to market, so it is the slow boat to china in terms of capital gains usually. There are times where new makes sense but this is primarily for very high income, very busy execs who want to soak up tax and have zero effort/time/input in the journey. Average punters usually do better with 2nd hand property bought at fair or slight discount to market, plus some basic cosmetic value add strategies like minor renovations. It all depends how fast you want to grow your equity.

Secondly, if you are considering locations and markets generally, there are loads of things to consider, but it would seem you need to actually go back a few steps. What are you trying to achieve with this property? In what timeframe? Start with your big picture goals, then you look for markets that have the right metrics to fit that. There is no one perfect property or market for everyone. It all depends. In general hunt for proximity to infrastructure, jobs, major projects, lifestyle destinations, areas with limited land supply, close to water etc etc. Low vacancy rates are essential but there are heaps of other metrics to consider too. Just my 2c – All the best!

I cement bagged my own place – it was easy but messy and cheap as chips. I would not however render it is an art and getting a really good result that lasts is the difference, so I would personally pay a pro to render, or consider doing it myself if just bagging.

I agree with Terry see a good property accountant and lawyer. (he is one of the good ones btw) But I had an investment for a few yrs ago and did this and I didn’t get taxed at income, I got to use CGT discount and apportion the amount of profit based on the percentage of the property that I sold (ie around half). It was a few yrs back not sure they have changed any rules recently but my brother got the same advice doing same thing with different accountant so look into it.

This might help, at least for background reading.
http://www.bantacs.com.au/booklets/How_Not_To_Be_A_Developer_Booklet.pdf

What type of property is it and what approx price range?

Terryw wrote:

Consider a buyers agent?

:) But make sure they are not bad dudes too. PS great post benny.