Answers to “Where to Find CF+ Deals”

I know a place for sale today with a 3 year lease in place rented for $350/week and cost is $149K. Interetsed email me and I will take a spotters fee of $500 [email protected]

Hi KR,

I have used them. I found them last year via a friend of mine already in realestate (who has purchased through them and is a multi millionaire property investor – on paper anyway) I personally bought my first ever IP from them. I found them of great assistance. I am looking for my 2nd at the moment and I am going to go through them again with this. I have goals set …

See my post.

https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forum/topic/25100.html

My first IP has even had some capital growth already (6 months) and best of all I am covering all expenses, so I am more than happy with my first ever IP purchase. Actually estatic I finally did it. Like I suspect a fair few people on here, I have been looking myself for a few years but I know if I left it up to myself I would still be looking.

I suspect if you have the resources, time and energy to find an IP they may not suit you as they charge between 1-2% of the final purchase price. So you may not want to pay a fee – but saying that my final purchase price I reckon they negotiated off the price of the property anyway. So to me I got all this great service of finding a property, expertise on how to setup a contract to protect your self, made sure that the rentals that were suggested were exactly as stated at time of purchase (they do all this for you) etc etc. If I had tried negotiate myself I may not have got that low with the final price anyway. Who knows?? ALl I know is I got what I wanted and I am more than happy I found them.

I didnt have the time, energy or resources to investigate locations and find something myself. I was just going around in circles. So I am probably bias but I will definitely recommend them to anyone who asks.

Like I read somehwere the worst mistake you can make in realestate is sitting on your hands and not doing anything. (Obviously there are bigger mistakes but you know what I mean )

Good luck.

Caz

Hi all,

To all those frustrated cynics who believe CF+ properties are impossible or too hard or can’t be done – there is no such thing as a magic button to press and BAM instant easy money. You really have to work out what’s important to you. It’s not impossible. It’s not even that hard. It just depends on what your mindset is like right now.

So here’s a couple ideas to help those frustrated cynics start thinking about some opportunities that are right under their noses.

ONE:
I’m 35, female and I work full-time-plus in my own business – which includes plenty of evening work in client’s homes. I also have a cute little part-time e-commerce business going on the side (I love my hobby!). I also have 6 investment properties – all cashflow positive and am currently building 4 more.

I hate hearing how people don’t have enough time to invest because they work “Full Time”. That’s eight hours a day. You also sleep eight hours a day. What do you do with the other eight? [angry2]

Turn off the TV. Turn off the computer. You’re not missing anything anyway (except maybe some great deals).

TWO:
What’s your aim? Cashflow positive income or capital growth to reinvest in more CF+ properties? You need to know where you’re heading with each deal before you can get anywhere!

Example: I am currently building four new homes on two blocks I subdivided. Two of these will be sold (because the capital gain is worth my while! I’ll reinvest the profits and do another project). The other two are immediately CF+ so I’ll keep these.

To anyone else the deal above would have looked like an old 40’s crusty on a semi-disgusting block of land on two titles. It’s now 4 beautiful courtyard homes.

I spent $7,000 of my own money to make the above deal happen, so don’t give me negative feedback about how you can’t afford it.

THREE:
Look outside the square. Following everyone else only makes you a sheep (or a lemming). Do your own thing.

Example: everyone I know is into flipping or renovations. So in May 2006 (not the 80’s like everyone is ranting about), I decided to buy a cheap little block of land in a new estate 25 minutes south of Adelaide that the agent couldn’t sell. The asking price on the land was $78,000. I offered $67,000 and got it. I set a six month settlement date on it and went shopping for a house to put on it. After haggling hard, I was quoted $89,500 to build a very nice courtyard home. Closing fees: $3,967. During the settlement period, the land values shot up (I love to be first in before the ‘rush’).

At land settlement date, the bank valued the entire property at $245,000 (it cost me $160,467 remember). Rental appraisal from agent = $250 per week.

Gee. Am I happy with this deal?? You bet.
Is it CF+? Not quite. Not yet…
The mortgage payments are fully covered by the rent. I have to cover the rates and insurance – but only until the rent goes up in April this year [biggrin]

FOUR
Just to prove that CF+ properties CAN be found easily enough and that it’s not impossible, I did a simple search on realestate.com.au to see if I could locate any 10%+ deals or not. After reading all those negative posts, I thought this would be a little harder than it really was….

These are not ideal properties and I probably wouldn’t shop this way personally – but the question from the frustrated cynics was “Where can I find any properties returning 10%+ ?”

Here are some I found with no effort on a Sunday morning from EACH state

South Australia:
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103724486&f=30&p=30&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=18947880&s=sa&tm=1171156984
2 bedroom cottage in regional SA within township (around 2 hours from Adelaide) rents for $100 per week on TWO titles. Asking price $47,000.

I wonder what else I could do with TWO titles and two street frontages….

Queensland
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=101882768&f=60&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=70937157&s=qld&snf=rbs&tm=1171158861
3 bedroom cottage in regional QLD within township rented at $120 per week. Asking price $47,000
Curious.

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103410824&f=40&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=70937157&s=qld&snf=rbs&tm=1171158861
Cottage rented at $70 per week in regional QLD within township. Asking price $35,000. Curious again.

VICTORIA
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103104684&f=10&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=67497325&s=vic&snf=rbs&tm=1171159366
2 bedroom double-brick unit in regional Vic within township rented at $80 per week. Asking price $50,000.

NEW SOUTH WALES
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103104684&f=10&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=67497325&s=vic&snf=rbs&tm=1171159366
2 bedroom cottage regional NSW within township. Asking price $45,000. Rented at $90 per week.

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103661049&f=100&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=86707227&s=nsw&snf=rbs&tm=1171159594
2 bedroom, 2-storey cottage regional NSW on outskirts of town. Asking price $45,000. Rented at $85 per week.

TASMANIA
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103668333&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=2442981&s=tas&snf=rbs&tm=1171160402
Really cute cottage in Queenstown. Asking price $39,000. Rented at $85 per week.

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103739146&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=2442981&s=tas&snf=rbs&tm=1171160402
Regional TAS – 3 bedroom home. Asking price $40,000. Rental $85 per week

WESTERN AUSTRALIA
http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103605707&f=10&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=3446667&s=wa&snf=rbs&tm=1171161040
2 bedroom house on large land in regional WA. Asking price $47,500. Quick phone call to agent confirms asking rental of $95-100 per week easily.

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103748637&f=10&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=3446667&s=wa&snf=rbs&tm=1171161040
3 bedroom house regional WA. Asking price $50,000. Rented $100 per week

WHEW!! That was a really exhausting 25 minutes worth of work. What a shame I have to go to the office now. Imagine what I could have found if I was really looking HARD instead of a quick state-by-state search.

Next time you hear yourself saying “It’s impossible” – close your yap. Turn off the TV. And do something about turning that negative attitude into some really nice investments

Have a lovely weekend!
[biggrin]
Lea

Loved your enthusiasm and positive attitude Lea. Glad you have done well in your investing.

Must take you to task about the property in Victoria though. I’m tipping the other properties in the other states are in the same bracket as the Vic property too.

My brother lives 10 mins away from Ararat in Great Western. He and his wife work in Ararat. They grew up in a country town and have no airs and graces. My sister-in-law works for a Mortgage Broker and spends her day trying to get loans approved for the local townsfolk.

I have seen the place several times and from my (and theirs) observation, Ararat is a town that will not enjoy any decent cap growth in my lifetime, and is a hive of welfare recipients, single mums with a half doz kids… you get the picture. There is very little employment and the town is dying slowly.

My point is; yes there are areas that will provide a 10% return, but at what cost? Hi chance of tenant default, damage, vacancy, no cap growth – not my idea of a good investment; I would want 20% return from a place like Ararat to even think about it.

Simply showing the other forumites such properties is at best misleading – the newbies may think this is a good investment and jump in on your recommendation, when it is most likely a terrible investment.

At worst, this is reckless and dangerous advice.

I could get on the net and find a few of these myself in 5 or 10 mins too, but I would never even think about telling someone else about it – if they find it themselves, then they can make their own decision.

I know you are trying to illustrate how easy it is to find a good returning property, but that is only one aspect of a good investment.

Cheers,
Marc.
[email protected]

“we get sent lemons; it’s up to us to make lemonade”

Hi,

I wonder why Marc thought mine was a negative post? I aimed my post at providing the frustrated cynics something to perhaps turn their negative thoughts into something a little more positive and constructive.

I quote from my own post:

Someone asked a question. I answered it. Nobody asked about potential capital growth or the percentage of populace on welfare, so I didn’t answer that question.

You wrote:

Once again, the question was “How do I find any CF+ properties returning 10%+?” I answered that question only.

The question was not “Is this a good investment” or “How do I attract professional young couples with no kids or pets who aren’t on welfare?” or “How do I achieve 425% capital growth in 6 months?”. They are different topics.

The question was “How do I find CF+ properties returning 10%+?”. A search on RealEstate.com.au provides that simple answer. Next question.

It’s not advice at all. It’s simply showing that the negative nay-sayers really don’t have an argument – unless they are looking for more reasons to avoid beginning with investing.

I made it clear in the previous examples in my post that I don’t advocate shopping this way – in fact my own investments are derived from either sub-division/demolition and/or construction. I prefer new homes. I prefer to create equity where there was none before. But that’s my own personal investment choice. Where in my post did I ‘advise’ anyone to do the same?

Every home (or block of land) is different. No two investments are alike.

I also made it clear that following everyone else’s investment decisions makes a person into a sheep or a lemming. I strongly advocate investing for your own circumstances and your own personal tastes in the state in which you have chosen.

I am sorry you found my post to be negative. I do hope others out there may see by my examples that investing is not as simple as doing a quick search on the net – or just reading a book/forum post and copying the results of others.

Have a lovely day
Lea

My 1st post here.

Quite a few from Adelaide here – me too. I am a newbie, just starting looking. I am working but would love to get out of it and start replacing some of my work time with lookign after prioperties, seeking deals, renovating… I would get more satidfaction out of that than my job currently. I have about 75% equity on the place I’m in at the moment, and I have established that I can borrow at least $200k+ (probably closer to 300) based on that.

I considered commercial – but I am not sure as I’m not experienced and don’t know the pitfalls or obligations – yet. Maybe thinking of getting a place cheap (there must be some venors desperate to sell who will consider low offers!), maybe an ugly duckling kind of place that needs work that is mainly in my skill set.

I would love to find CF+ off the shelf but I know it takes a bit of work. I need to start fairly small at this stage due to finances and time.

I did see a commercial property on realestate.com.au that is tenanted at 225pw and is selling for offers over 125k. That’s not *too* far off the 11 second rule, and it’s off the shelf.

Anyway, good luck to you all, and I will get back to researching – maybe get out on the weekend and do some legwork.

PS – what do you Adelaideans think of Elizabeth? It’s touted for capital growth due to the job growth in the area, Northern Expressway, etc. Not sure about its CF+ potential – I may have a look and a think.

I have bought properties ‘sight unseen’ and did a LOT of research via internet, phone, fax and email before hand to get to know my area.

If this is your first purchase I don’t recommend it though. Make the time and make the trip to the area and do the research by foot and car. You need to learn on the job first in my opinion, just so you can buy sight unseen at a later date with the right knowledge and experience.

Read the latest book by MARGARET LOMAS – her website is DESTINY FINANCE to order the book/s. In the latest book she lists 20 ‘must ask’ questions for this purpose. Excellent. read all her books before buying anything.

Cheers,
Marc.
[email protected]

“we get sent lemons; it’s up to us to make lemonade”

Ok try this for an exercise

Get off the computer, get in the car and go for a drive and do what Martin Ayles recommends ins his “turn left theory”.

Keep turning left, obeserving as you go and if you come across an agent’s sign then stop the car and ring them, if the property is sold then ask them how much for if it isn’t then devise some questions to ask them more about the property, should it be renovated, what is the likely selling cost once complete, what needs to be done to the place etc, etc, etc most of the people I know who are buying stuff are not necessarily getting it from the internet or the papers, but are rather developing the relationships with agents and getting to know their chosen area as a “area expert” if you like, once you have done this enough, you will understand an area and then you will be much more capable of spotting bargains that crop up.

I have moved from being a newbie to playing the “property game”

Most of this has required sheer determination and NEVER GIVING UP on the search for the elusive positive cash flows. If you are sitting there expecting to just “happen upon them” via the internet or the newspapers you are missing a major part of all this. Many people I know are getting far in excess of the elusive 10.4% if you are looking at their returns from a Cash on Cash Return perspective.

Learn also to network with like minded people, join relevant groups that are already doing this stuff. At the moment there are several that have sprung up all over the country. Find out where they are and go to the meetings. PM me if you want to hear more about some of these.

If this all seems to confusing then join Steve’s next RESULTS program and all will be revealled on the course of the journey down that path. I can highly recommend it having been part of the Premium RESULTS 1 Program

I encourage you all to think “outside the box” and “expand your context “as Robert Kiyosaki would say. If you are not sure what I am talking about, ask yourself is your glass so full of negatives that there is no room for the positives? If so, tip it up and try again.

It is all out there for the taking, you just gotta know how to ask the right questions

That’s all from me.

Warm Regards
Sue

Here’s one for the synics:

http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&id=103831583&f=0&p=10&t=res&ty=&fmt=&header=&c=61520285&tm=1172637653

Hi all – i am a newbie to this site but have been investing in property for a while now. I have just about made all of the mistakes anyone could claim so I am not a milionaire yet.

With repsect to the cashflow + properties it is definately research which is the key. Get out about and know the area you are interested in – Steve’s first book mentioned that he spent time in Ballarat when he first cottoned on to his “formula for success”.

Make up your own mind and do not listen to the naysayers. A personal example, we bought two 1 bedroom units in Withers in Bunbury WA in 2002 princely price of $ 59 and $62 k, we spent about $1500 furnishing them and have rented them for $110 wk + since that time. Yes there are strata fees and these can be a bit of a negative when large expenditures come through but recently these units, not the bedsits in the same complex, were listing for about the $150k mark. Not only have we seen stellar cap growth but the units have been neutral to positive geared since we started.

We invested time with our realtor, our property manager, the strata manager and have at times served on the strata management council.

How did we find these little Gems? It was Christmas holidays we were visiting family in Collie I was reading the paper and noticed a small add for a unit renting at $100 wk for sale at less than $60k. Thought it was too good to be true but picked up the phone and called the agent, the property was already sold, but there were others in the complex for sale did we want to come and see them? Interrupted the holiday and went to Bunbury met the agent and went to see the properties negotiated on three and bought two (should have paid the xtra bucks for the third but hindsight is a wonderful thing)

Had some challenges to over come
1) the naysayers – oh that area is a bad one there is an element there that will ensure you loose money, strange the numbers stacked up
2) the detractors who said you are a fool the vacancy rates will be too high and you will always pay too much maintenance because the tennants will be crap and damage your property – tennant selection is the key …get a good property manager and if you get two bad tenants from the same manager get a new property manager.
3) The Bank, – I had a great relationship with Bankwest, in it from the start had been with them for 10+ years, told them what I wanted and they said you cant have it, its against the rules. Funny Commbank and St George didn’t play by the same rules. Get a good mortgage broker and stick with them. Have been using the same guy now since the Bankwest debacle

The upshot, CF+ properties bought in my wifes name who has no income except the rental income from the properties, mortgages solely in her name, tax on additional income is low, income good and growing.

The bank really likes us and yes we do cross collateralise so our borrowing power for the right property is high. We have a structure which keeps our names seperate on the deeds and mortgages.

It is important to understand that what is a good property investment for me may not necessarily be a good one for my wife so do your own numbers and be creative if you have too. If you can think of a way to arrange it dont assume that it wont be allowed ask for help and don’t just listen to the first repsonse. If I had we wouldn’t have these two little gems in our portfolio

Do you own work….. and smile