Ah, the emotions involved in buying your own dream home
Some great tips so far, so I really can’t add much except:
Know your walk away price, try to exercise some patience, don’t give any ultimatums to the agents unless you mean to act on them, and remember that there will be another dream later on down the track!
Good luck and keep us posted as to the outcome

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

Should you wish to go down the self management path (which I wouldn’t recommend for your first property) consider reading Suzi Bilosh’s book: THE AUSTRALIAN LANDLORDS HANDBOOK as it’s fairly straightforward. Keep in mind that legislation does change and so you’ll need to be aware of the current legislation regarding tenancies.
Look that info up here if in NSW: http://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/realestaterenting/agentsmanagers/agreement_manageofresidentialproporrural.html

You can buy a Residential Lease Pack from most newsagencies and post offices which allows you to set up for your own management.
Be aware, however, that some landlord insurance policies may not cover you if you don’t use a PM. Just double check when you’re shopping around for this type of insurance.
Good luck!

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

A BA shouldn’t be considered a waste of money by investors! After all, they save you considerable time by doing all the legwork. They can also save you their fee and more, depending on how capable they are at negotiating. Would you be willing to spend $5K or so for someone to do all the looking, analysing and negotiating for you? They are out in the field all the time, and can get to know the market as well as sales agents, so can evaluate a property probably far more efficiently than you could by yourself.
They also have access to agent only databases such as RPData and Residex, which aren’t available to the public, and also often have several and useful contacts within the RE industry itself.
As per the US, I believe that independent BA’s will become more widely accepted and known as the time poor buyers in our community start to employ their services.
Representing the buyer is just as important as representing the seller, and it’s high time that the buyer got both a good deal as well

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

Hi Shade
Real estate sales agents won’t manage your property- property managers will. However, as most of these are employed within RE offices, it’s easy to confuse the two.
PM’s are specialists in renting and finding tenants and will be able to provide you with more specific information than a REA can about current vacancies, tenant preferences and likely rents. Choosing the right one is paramount to having a much more smoothly running IP, with less hassle for you
Coincidentally, I’ve actually recently written a complete article on the site I’m involved with (see below) about the best questions and issues to consider when employing an effective PM.
They really can make an enormous difference to your investment and you should interview more than one participant, for the important job of looking after your precious property.
By the way, fees do vary, depending on state and region. Where is your IP?
My fees range from the cheapest 6% to 8.5%. Watch out for other fees, however, including postage/petties, inspection and report fees.
Good luck in your quest!

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

I would be employing the services of an experienced, local and enthusiastic PM close to completion stage, to help you in your quest.
Make it easier for him/her by supplying plans and as much information as possible about each unit (including proximity to amenities etc) so that tenants can easily see what the completed product will look like.
Don’t forget that you also need to organise the strata setup as well, so allow enough time for this too.
Happy developing- hope it goes well!

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

Set your goals.
Where do you want to be in how many years?
Be specific about what level of income you need to have when you finish work.
How much can you afford to put into investments now?
What investments suit your personality and your level of risk?
Get educated about investments overall, not just property.
Read all you can about what financial independence means, how to invest, where, what, how. Books are a great start, as are forums like this one (and others!) for chatting to and learning from fellow investors. Also great are mags like Personal Investor and API.
Diversify.
Know your comfort zone when it comes to risk.
Find yourself a good financial planner if you want to go down that road.
Stay motivated and, above all, enjoy the journey!

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

Hi Jenny
Sorry to hear about your situation. Unfortunately, however, it’s all too common when investors have flooded the market and created an oversupply. Even though this may only be temporary, you still have to be able to afford to carry the losses.
My suggestion would be to hire a really good pro-active PM (ask the right questions and make sure you pick someone with great local knowledge and experience) and get it rented asap, even if you have to drop the rent. It’s better to have it rented quickly at $20-$30 less than leave it vacant for weeks on end, as I’m sure you’d know.
Make your ad stand out, offer something different (as has been suggested) and stay on top of your PM. Ask if they can put it in their window as a feature eg Rental of the Month with a sweetener such as free garden care (mowing) for first 3 mths or free paper delivery for life of lease, movie tickets every mth, cable tv connection, broadband etc.
Assess the other rentals yourself and see what you can add. Sometimes, it’s all about you doing your own homework and finding something unique yourself that tenants will go for.
Can you add something else such as a/c, an alarm or auto garage.
Good luck with it all and sorry for the ramble- in a rush tonight

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

http://www.residex.com.au

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

LifeX
At least you’ve learnt from your experience, are ready to admit it, and have moved on.
Congratulations! You’re on a lot further than all those other investors who are blind to the thorns.
And Quiggles is spot on when he discusses the importance of updating your team. It is truly an evolving and ever changing process of getting the right people as your support network.

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au Australia’s premier Investor Education site

Hi Erwanjg
It can be very frustrating, can’t it? You learn about all these ways to make money through investments, yet you can only save so much.
As hard as it may sound, I would recommend, at this point in time, that you ideally need to save more, particularly if you’re wanting to invest in property. There are more effective ways and tips about how to save (in fact, our site currently has a terrific article on just this!) which is important for you to get a toehold into the market in the first place.
You could also consider putting your savings into a managed fund with a good track record so that it has the capacity to grow, or even consider a short term bank deposit. I’m a big fan of funds where the manager is only paid on performance (a la Steve Navra style see http://www.navrainvest.com.au for an example) as it means they aren’t paid basically unless they perform better than the stockmarket average or similar.
Keep plugging away at saving more, and remember that good things come to those who wait!

Cheers,
Pro-Active

http://www.invested.com.au