Property
Buying a house with friends or family
This article was originally published in the LawCentral Bulletin 390 on 7th November 2011 and is republished with permission of the author, Brett Davies. Question Hi Brett. I’m a recent university graduate. I’ve been lucky enough to land a graduate job earning a decent wage. The problem is, with rents so high and house prices [...]
Risky SMSF borrowing advice from real estate agents
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia (ICAA) superannuation specialist, Liz Westover recently wrote of her alarm at some marketing material she received from a real estate agent promoting borrowing within a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) to buy property. Westover wrote: “I was surprised and somewhat alarmed that some of the information provided was [...]
Residential property vs shares since 1926
The residential property versus shares debate is popular and can be as fiery as political and religious debates. So I’m often asked about comparisons of the long term returns. Following is some commentary I came across from Dr Shane Oliver, Chief Economist and Head of Investment Strategy at AMP Capital Investments. (Emphasis added by me.) [...]
Property prices do go down
Do you or someone you know hold beliefs like “property is safe”, “property doesn’t go down”, “you can’t lose money on property” and “property is the best investment”. If so, you may be a victim of our natural tendency to confirmation bias. Read this article to boost your robust decision making.
Guide for landlords
If you have an investment property then you may be interested in the Landlords Pack from the W.A. Department of Commerce. The pack contains many useful guides and links to other relevant information to property investors, including: Renting Out Your Property – An Owners Guide Information on new smoke alarm requirements Information on requirements for [...]
Is residential property over, under or fair value?
Graphs, graphs and damn statistics! There is no shortage of articles quoting one “expert” or another about whether or not Australian residential property is currently in a bubble, ripe to boom again or just fair value. Every article seems to be accompanied by a barrage of graphs and statistical quotations to justify the author’s point [...]
How To Save Up To Buy Your First Home
Owning your own home is one major goal for many young Australians. But with property prices so high a first mortgage may appear out of reach. In this interview on Wake Up WA, Certified Financial Planner professional Matt Hern shares three strategies that first home buyers (especially young people) can use to save up to [...]
Find the right property mentor
One of the messages I teach is to “Do What You Love; Outsource The Rest“. When it comes to direct investment in residential property it can be tricky to implement this due to the presence of too many biased spruikers. Neil Jenman refers to them as “selling machines” in his insightful article, which I recommend [...]
I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll…
…blow your house down. For years I’ve been earbashed by people enamoured with investing in residential property. Apparently it’s THE best investment and “you can never lose money in property”. Out of curiosity I enquire of these people what makes them hold that belief. Sadly most can only regurgitate the words of others and have [...]
First Home Buyers: Don’t Rush In
Many in the media are saying that the latest interest rate cut makes property more affordable for first home buyers. I disagree. Let us remember this is the lowest interest rate in over 30 years. Rates are artificially low to stimulate the economy short term. This is not normal or even an average. So it [...]
Property index changes name
Standard & Poor’s and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) recently changed the name of the S&P/ASX 200 Property Trusts Index to the S&P/ASX 200 A-REIT Index. The name change follows the ASX and Property Council of Australia’s renaming of Australian listed property trusts as Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts (A-REITs) to align with global practice. [...]
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