Property investment forums such as Somersoft and PropertyInvesting.com are great places to hang out with fellow investors – and are a treasure trove of investment stories, tips and ideas. Some really smart investors donate a lot of their time and experience to these communities – and you can benefit from their knowledge for free.

That said, there are many traps that can make it a risky proposition to use forums to guide your investment decisions.

Here are 3 tips that will help you to safely navigate property forums.

1. Limit your time

Lets face it – hanging out in property forums can be pretty addictive.  There’s a relentless flow of new content – new investment ideas, new hot tips and new raging debates. Before you know it, all the time you had set aside for investing has been used up.

Remember, nobody has ever made money from reading property forums.

To limit your time in the forums try scheduling it after you’ve completed your main investment tasks. That way you can still get stuck into some juicy forum threads without stalling on the real actions that will move your investment plan forward.

Another tip is to use the forum’s time saving features such as daily digests and the “subscribe to this thread” button to have content that interests you delivered to your inbox or feed reader – rather than you going back to the forum every 10 minutes to check for updates.

2. Be aware of whom you are taking advice from

There is something about the altruistic community atmosphere in forums that often lowers people’s guards as to whom they can trust. The fact of the matter is that it can be hard to know who is behind the content that is posted on forums – and what their motives are.

For example, it is not unheard of for marketers to buy established forum profiles or to pay someone to build out a mature profile in order to use it as a platform to market their products. Of course, if the forum administrators discover this then the profile will be suspended – but savvy marketers will participate and influence rather than directly pitch their wares.

Since most forums allow for some level of anonymity, the only way you can get a feel for who’s advice you can trust is to get to know a few key forum members over time by following their posts. If their posts are generally unbiased and of high quality then that may be sign that their opinion is worth noting.

And of course, beware of strong direct product/service recommendations from users with only a handful of low value posts.

3. Always back up with your own research

In any case, remember that property forums are just like a digital version of a huge room filled with people you have never met and are not obliged to properly introduce themselves, sharing their ideas and opinions (whether informed, ill-informed or downright wrong) about property investing.

You’ll want to back up anything you read with your own due diligence – which may include consultation with an accredited professional.

Now, back to the forums – I’ve just heard an insider tip about a new Gold Coast highrise property development…

This post is from the Talking Property Podcast

3 tips for safely navigating property investment forums

In this episode of Talking Property, Debbie interviews Mark Armstrong from Property Planning Australia.

In the interview Mark details the steps required to build a balanced property portfolio. Mark and Debbie discuss:

• What is a balanced property portfolio and why it is crucial to securing your financial future
• How long does it really take to build a balanced property portfolio?
• The various types of property investment strategy and how to select the right strategy for your circumstances
• What to look for – and what to avoid – when investing in property overseas
• The characteristics of commercial property investment and some traps to avoid

Mark’s interview runs at about 15 minutes and he shares some very valuable information.

Show length: 14:31

Download the mp3 file

Here is Mark’s bio:

Mark is a Director of Property Planning Australia, a company which develops property and financial planning strategies for local, interstate and overseas clients. He is also a director of The Property School providing university endorsed property education. A CPA and member of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, Mark is a prominent and respected commentator on property issues, with a regular ‘Property Planner’ column in the Sunday Age, and appearances in The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Property Investor magazine and Your Mortgage magazine. He has also recently co-authored a book – Property for Life: Using real estate to plan your future.

If you have a comment or question for Debbie or Mark then please post it below.

This post is from the Talking Property Podcast

Show 007 – Steps to Building a Balanced Property Portfolio with Mark Armstrong

With finance becoming more and more difficult for lo-doc property investors how can we still build a business using property?

We (my husband Chris and I) have been lo-doc borrowers for a number of years since making property our full time occupation. We have learnt property investment the hard way. Looking back it would have been much easier if we had utilised the services of a property coach or mentor.

Nearly everything we have learnt has been through doing. We did the smart thing and joined a property investment group a number of years after we were full time investors. I think that if we had not joined the group we would not be full time in property investment today.

I learnt about finance from other investors and speakers. I learnt about structures, creative real estate deals and even how to be accountable to myself as a business owner.

Something I discovered was the importance of understanding finance. Now, you don’t need to become a finance broker to understand finance but purely to take an active role in your financier’s finance choices for you.

If your financer comes back with another question for you, find out why they are asking. If you get knocked back for finance find out why. If your financer puts your finance with a certain lender find out why.

There has never been a more important time to understand what is going on with the finance industry. It is important to understand who you can borrow from and what kind of loans are available to you. You also need to know how to change from full-doc to lo-doc borrowing if you are purchasing on a regular basis.

I recommend a finance strategist, someone who can look at your position today and help you understand how to take your borrowing into tomorrow.

We purchase our property in a corporate entity. That is a company as trustee for a trust. We also use lo-doc loans. The amount of lenders available to us right now can be counted on one hand maybe even on one finger!

One of our most used strategies with property has been to renovate, revalue and keep, or renovate and sell. Considering we have only sold a couple of properties in the last 3 years, the revaluing has become a big part of our strategy. The revalue part of the strategy has now become a little more difficult so we have to move with the times or go broke. The options we are considering now are:

1. Purchase in our own names or in a Discretionary Trust, taking out the Company as Trustee. This opens up more lenders.
2. Going back to selling a number of properties to assist with cash flow.

In reality we will do a bit of both.

Be careful to move with the times and remain in touch with the reality of the market. This way you won’t be left behind with an outdated strategy.

To find out more about finance listen to our podcast with Mariana Disanto.

And if you need help with your property investment contact me at debbie@equityfinder.com.au

This post is from the Talking Property Podcast

Property Shopping in 2009 – Part 2

In this episode of Talking Property, Debbie interviews “The Property Professor” Peter Koulizos. Peter explains what makes a suburb good for property investment.

In the interview Peter shares a lot of great tips and insights on how to find the right property in the right suburb to maximise your investment returns.

The interview lasts just under 15 minutes and is crammed full of actionable information.

Show length: 14:31

Download the mp3 file

Here is Peter’s bio:

Peter is currently the National Coordinator of the Property and Share Investment courses at TafeSA, Gold Coast TAFE and The Property School in Sydney. He also teaches in the Property degree program at the University of South Australia. He holds a teaching degree, Graduate Diploma in Property and Masters of Business (Property). He has been teaching in real estate and investment for over ten years. Peter also personally invests in property.

Peter has the ability to combine the theory of property investment with the practical aspects so as to teach people how to make money for themselves from investing in property, whether they be buying, selling, renting, renovating or developing property.

Peter also researches property markets around the nation, looking for the best suburbs to invest in each capital city. He has recently published a book titled “The Property Professor’s Top Australian Suburbs”.

If you have a comment or question for Debbie or Peter then please post it below.

This post is from the Talking Property Podcast

Show 006 – What Makes a Good Suburb with Peter Koulizos

In this post I would like to draw your attention to some important issues around council development plans.

If you are considering contracting a property for development please be sure to carefully read the relavant council development plans. Speaking to a council representative over the counter is not enough. You may speak to someone forward thinking and pro development – but if they are not the person that makes the final assessment and the project is not compliant then you could find yourself in a very tricky position.

Also, just because the kind of development you are looking to do has been done 50 times before does not mean that yours will be approved. Development plans often get updated, making developments that were compliant yesterday not compliant today!

I spoke to someone at Brighton (Holdfast Council) who owned a property that he was sure could be subdivided based on his knowledge and experience of the council development plan. Unfortunately this particular development plan was updated 1 month prior to putting in his application. The council would not approve his development and the gentleman kissed away thousands of dollars!

If you are unsure how to interpret council development plans you have a few choices: 1) speak to a property specialist 2) speak to a Private Town Planner or 3) speak to a Council Planner to find out where to look for the information you require.

Learning how to do this is crucial to consistently making money through property development.

Update from my Property Shopping in 2009 post: How many offers did you put in last week? Remember you will never have an offer accepted if you do not put one in! Even if you think the agent will not accept the offer it doesn’t matter, what matters is that you throw your hat into the ring and show your interest.

Remember to ask someone you trust if you need help.

This post is from the Talking Property Podcast

Council Development Plan Headaches

Here are some things to remember when shopping for property:

• The asking price has NO bearing on what you are prepared to pay, it is a guideline to what the vendor’s dream price is.
• Research is the key to knowing the market and being able to spot the good deals.
• Think outside the square, I have found a very exciting property that has subdivision potential. It probably hasn’t been spotted so far as the land would come off the front of the house not the rear. Also it is on a corner and the minimum land size reduces from a standard allotment size. The buy in price is still pretty high considering the values in the area but how do you put a value on a huge character home? This property is also very poorly marketed, I couldn’t find it on realestate.com.au or on domain.com.au and I had heaps of trouble even finding it on RPData! It was only because I drove past it that I did more research on it.

My observations of the market so far are (and feel free to contradict me) a relatively slow start to 2009, but still with quite a bit of interest in properties that are priced well and/or highly sought after e.g. character homes, western belt (in Adelaide) etc.

Finance is still the most dominant hurdle with purchasing so consider the finding of the property to be the easy bit, but with most people’s finance being full doc it shouldn’t make too much of an impact.

One of our coaching clients has had a brilliant purchase, congrats! Land at Moana (SA) with close to the ocean and views to the city, subdividable and a long settlement all for $205K. Land across the road settled recently for about $70K more. A Bargain.

The finance approval took longer than the council planning approval to subdivide even though it was a on-merit approval (non-complying). Yet again people thinking outside the square. This property had been on the market for more than 12 months, the block has a stack of fill and to build retaining walls would cost more than $30K but the purchasers are going to have the fill removed for around $7,000 the land subdivided, and each block will be worth around $180K. There’s a quick $100 profit for less than 3 months work! That’s more than 6 months income for this professional couple.

Remember to win contracts you need to put in offers. Aim for 5 offers this week. And remember to get advice from someone you trust if you are having trouble.

This post is from the Talking Property Podcast

Property Shopping in 2009