No Worries.

Hi Wayne

You will usually find that in every suburb, there will be about 2 agents that usually undersell by about $30-$50,000 compared to other agents.  Hint.  They'll usually be the major franchise brand names.  The reason is their focus on volume and turnaround, rather than better prices for their clients.

Get your name on their books and their databases because most of the time, the really good properties don't even get advertised on the internet.  Most agents send the "coming soon listings" to their database first and in a hot market, these properties are usually under contract the same day they were listed.  Call those agents regularly and get on top of their minds. 

re: finance – don't bother with a mortage broker. 

Do the legwork yourself. 

Ask for a personal banker if you end up going with one of the big banks.  (They work harder for you and build up a relationship for future purchases. )
 
Let them know you intend to do a lot of investing. 

Have a plan to show them your strategy and let them know there's more business for them. 

If either of your parents will go guarantor for you, that always helps aswell. 

If you're looking for an owner occ property, look for some companies that offer vendor finance and some that will lend to anyone but with a high interest rate.  Don't write them off.  If you can get the loan with them, do it.  Get your property refinanced in 6 months, (with the capital growth), and then refinance.  The money you would have lost on the higher interest and refinancing will be more than made up with the capital growth if you buy right. 

When you're getting your property revalued, call the banks you're wanting to deal with and ask who their panel of approved valuers are. 

Get one of those valuers to do the valuation privately at your own expense, and submit the valuation to the lenders.  That way the valuation is in your favour and not the banks and will have a higher value and the bank will approve it because it's one of their panel valuers.

Hope that helps.

Tanya

The advantages of a SMSF are many, however, there is a bucketload of paperwork and record keeping required and the legislation changes frequently. Tax is the main advantage of super, and govt co-contr. if you’re a low income earner.

At your age, setting up as a company or a trust would hold more advantage because you then have the advantage of being able to borrow funds to purchase the property and take advantage of leverage, and you have immediate access to the assets.

Being a Pty Ltd and acting as a director allows you some legal immunity and the advantage of company tax rates of 30%ish. By doing it under that structure, you pay yourself as an employee, and only the amount you chose to take in the hand gets taxed at your personal tax rate.

A trust has other advantages similar to a company, but adds another layer of legal protection and limited liability depending on the structure take – ie, discretionary trust, family trust, unit trust etc. Nick Renton’s got some good books on the topic or a chat with a good solicitor and accountant would point you in the right direction too.

I’ve worked 10 years in the banking industry, I’ve got my Diiploma of Financial Planning and own my own real estate agency.

Real Estate is by far the most exciting and rewarding of all 3.

From the Diploma of Financial Planning, I learned that it’s really a salespersons licence. The course is designed to teach you to recommend reatil products to clients -(ie. managed funds, insurance etc) collect commissions, and shift your liability. Unfortunately, since the Financial Services Reform Act, came to be, you will be hard pressed to find a decent financial planner who will tell you honestly where the best returns are because they increase their liability to get sued if you don’t take the responsibility to use that advice wisely.

From my banking experience, I learned that everything is negotiable. I always recommend that when you are shopping for finance, don’t go through a broker. Get a copy of “Your Mortgage” magazine and make some calls directly to the loan providers. By dealing directly with the finance company, you can negotiate a better deal for yourself as far as getting fees waived, better products, honeymoon rates, fixed rates etc. It’s all negotiable, but with a broker, they only have access to certain products and offers, and will usually push you to the one that pays them the best commissions.

Before applying for finance, go and get a free copy of your credit report from baycorp. Every time you apply for finance, the institution asks for a copy of your credit report and it appears on your credit file regardless of if you get the finance. If you give them a copy upfront and shop around to several institutions, they don’t need to order a copy and it then doesn’t mess up your credit file.