Yes I agree point taken, I was talking only about my personal risk profile. None of my properties have pools!

Good on you Marc, we should all be living like this. We spend way too much money on take away coffee and water because of a hectic lifestyle and simply just being too out of control to do what you do. Even today we had to stop off and buy bottled water for a picnic lunch because after trying to get 3 kids ready with phones ringing and stuff everywhere it was way too difficult to think where empty bottles could be so that we can fill them up!!! I admire people with simpler lifestyles!!!!

Did they end up selling the  house?

Being licensed and having indemnity insurance are essential.
I would also ask if they are an ivestor themselves and how much of their total income is derived from investments versus from working as a buyer's agent. You want most of their income to be coming from their invstments.

They shoud NOT be a selling agent at the same time, this is unethical and instead of putting in the hard work to find you a property if they are also a selling agent they would just point you to their current listings.

I have a property management company that sometimes does sales my husband is a buyer's agent. He is not allowed anywhere near our sales listings even if they suit the criteria of his clients. Obviously for ethical reasons!

That's Jenman for you always looking on the bright side of life

We have had 6 rent to buy option contracts excercised by purchasing tenants in the last couple of months all with built in equity (the strike price of the option was below the current market due to an upward movement in the market and the ability of options to lock in a price) so not only were the purchasing tenants given the opportunity to buy a house that they did not have anywhere else but they actually build equity in the property without owning it!

But offcourse this type of stuff is not what jenman is looking for it is waaaaay too positive and dosen't result in selling anything for jenman!

I acknowledge that there are scams everywhere and they are not exclusive to rent to buy, I bet there are some unethical jenman agents out there too, but when done properly and ethically, lease options should not be focussing on the poor old ozzy battlers that can't afford shoes to wear, they should actually be focused on employed purchasing tenants that have a great chance of being able to excercise the option in the defined period of time. Investors make millions from buying, trading and excercising option contracts on properties all the time, why is it unethical to extend the privelidge to home buyers?

We have a buyer's agency and I can definatly say that although we look at over 100 properties a week (in Adelaide), we don't come across any that are positive cash flow straight off the bat. You can create cash flow using various investor strategies (see our website below) or if you look in rural areas (I wouldn't touch them), but properties in large cities tend to be poised well for capital appreciation not cash flow.

Why not just own the property in a trust or your individual name? LEVERAGE is a key ingredient to growing a portfolio and super just seems to kill this concept. We have decided not to take a salary through our business and it is structured that we are only investor/share holders. The main reason is that we did not want to throw away money in compulsory super when it can be used more wisely in other capacities. I just don't understand why people do it???????

TS pay property managers for referrals I hope that was disclosed in the management agreement!

In saying that, they also offer one of the best policies because they don't discount down claims by the amount of bond there is for the property. They pay the full amount of the claim and you can use the bond for other things.

Also consider whether you really need landlord's insurance? If it is managed properly and your PM has a very strict arrears control then the max amount of vacancy should be around 6 weeks that they would pay, can you afford a 6 week vacancy?

I have 9 properties and have building and public liability insurance on all but don't have lanldord's insurance on any of them!

Agents are not allowed to refer building inspectors to prospective purchasers, from an ethical point of view. Get your own independent person in you don't know what types of deals they have with agents. I have had a building inspector once give me a whole bunch of business cards while doing an inspection for a purchaser and telling me that they will give this one a favourable report if I agreed to give out his cards to other purchasers!

Obviously I put the cards in the bin and would not recommend him to anyone but this kind of thing goes on all the time.

A comparative market anaysis of houses in the area are also good to have before an inspection. Know what the house is valued at and don't bid anything beyond that!

There is a $20,000 fine in SA for doing this without a real estate licnense and also no one has to legally pay you because you do not have an agency agreement with either the purchasor or vendor!

It breaches section 4 of the land agents act!

People have done it before and rely on trust and honesty from the people they are selling to but legally there is a risk to be aware of!