Australia

What a transformation!

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2So in September of 2013 I published a post talking about the difference between Company Title and Strata Title. The example that I used to illustrate this was a one bedroom apartment located in Potts Point in Sydney. This time capsule of a property had been boarded up for over 20 years and was in largely original condition. Whilst that post was talking about the restrictions that may be in place with Company Title, today’s post is quite different. The apartment itself was snapped up quickly (for a value of around $435,000) and someone’s been pretty busy over the last 8 months!

By the looks of the sales pictures the unit was taken back to its bare bones and given a new lease on life. With only 53 sq m to work with it’s a pretty small canvas but what a result! Who would have thought that in less than a year the same place would be showcased with descriptions such as beautiful polished hardwood floors, a streamlined Caesar Stone kitchen with integrated stainless steel appliances and a stylish designer over-sized bathroom (over-sized for 53 sq m I’m guessing). They even managed to squeeze in a concealed laundry.

As with the first sale it came on to the market and was under offer in no time, this time at $610,000! Click here to see the agent’s listing. Although I’m not a professional renovator I think we can safely guess that the renovation itself would not have cost $175,000 so there is a tidy profit in store for this savvy flipper. The catch with this property though is that it still falls under company title so landlords looking for a good investment would have no luck as leasing is not permitted in the building. I’m guessing that it will make a nice pied-à-terre for an executive on the move! Check out some of the before and after images below.

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The cutthroat world of property management 

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MonicaYou wouldn’t be wrong if you said that property investment and the subsequent property management that goes along with it can be a competitive business. It can take a good amount of research and experience to decide on what your criteria is that makes the ideal property manager for your requirements. Whilst my property manager Jamie and his team always do a great job, it’s also interesting to see some different approaches that property managers may take. Coral Sea Property Management in Townsville, Queensland, have certainly gone down a different path with their recent advertising of properties to rent and it’s caused a bit of a stir in the community. Whilst it’s given me a good laugh I’m not too sure if I’d want Monica out the front of one of my rental properties, what do you think?

Shining

TwerkClick here to view their complete range of rental posters, full marks for creativity!

 

What’s on the horizon for negative gearing?

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symbol-upward-arrow-house_002So it’s federal budget night in Australia and there have been rumblings for some time now that the government might be looking to reform their negative gearing policy for property investors. The most frequent suggestion that I have heard is regarding the possibility of introducing grandfathering arrangements for current property investors whilst restricting any future negative gearing to newly constructed properties. Whilst this has the potential to save the government billions of dollars, there is still plenty of debate as to the flow-on effects that it might have. Whilst on one hand there are those stating that negative gearing has done nothing but escalate property prices for those wanting to purchase their own home (Check out the beer coasters here that encourage abolishing negative gearing), others view it as a key strategy in encouraging investment and maintaining a healthy supply of rental properties on the market. Time will tell after the budget announcement tonight and you can rest assured that whatever happens it won’t please everyone. Check out the links below to read some of the recent commentary on the potential impact on negative gearing in the 2014 budget. Stay tuned!

Negative gearing is on the chopping-block

Budget Night: What’s Going To Happen To Negative Gearing?

Queensland luxury for $25,000,000

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted an ‘in your dreams’ property and a lot of those in the past have been from the USA. It’s great to find a good local one and this one hits just the right spot. Located a stone’s throw from the Great Barrier Reef in Airlie Beach you’ll find the amazing Mandalay House and it can be all yours for just $25 million AUD. What do I get for my hard earned millions I hear you say? Well once you fly in to your private heli-pad or sail in to your own personal marina with space for a 24m yacht as well as your 2 jet skis you can casually stroll up you your 2629 sqm (over 28,000 sq feet!) luxury home. Even before you get inside you will have passed your massive pool, huge outdoor entertaining areas, caretakers cottage and personal water desalination plant (some would say the desal plant is excessive but you can’t go washing your diamonds in salt water). Once inside you have the choice of 6 king size bedrooms (the master bedroom covers 144 sqm with lounge room & separate 52 sqm walk in dressing room) , 9 bathrooms, cinema, gymnasium and pool room, a climate controlled cellar with dining space for 12, your own internal elevator and car parking for 6 or your luxury cars if you didn’t get the helicopter here. Top all of this off with breathtaking views out over the Whitsundays and you’ll be rushing off to get your checkbook from the glove box of the Aston Martin. Still not convinced? Just check out the marketing video below…butterflies appear to be included with the price.

Julia’s place goes under the hammer

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A few weeks ago I posted about Julia Gillard’s house being on the market for sale. Well yesterday was auction day and I think our former Prime Minister would be pretty pleased. Considering the median house price for Altona is $560,000 the sale made it all the way to $921,000! Not a bad little earner considering that she purchased the place in 1998 for $140,000!

Festive Finances!

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ChristmasClubbagfullofmoneyThe article below appeared today in the news.com.au real estate section and is a timely reminder of the financial drain that some people can find themselves in over the Christmas period. When it comes to weighing up between the many costs of surviving Christmas or paying rent on time the landlord can often be the loser ending up with a nasty new year surprise! The key lesson mentioned in the article and one that I fully support is to ensure that you utilise the services of a professional property manager, they are are worth every cent when something goes wrong and they know exactly what to do about it, after all, that’s their specialty. Read on below or click here to go to the original article –

THE festive season is a danger period for property investors, and real estate experts are warning landlords to make sure they don’t suffer a financial hit from tardy tenants. 

The general manager of Harris Property Management, Suzie Hamilton-Flanagan, says rental arrears can jump by more than 20 per cent over Christmas as tenants find other areas to spend money. ‘Sometimes rent is the last thing on their list,” she says. ‘Landlords managing their own properties need to make sure they are on top of this from the start, or they risk paying for their tenant’s good cheer.” Some landlord insurance policies provide cover for tenants who fail to pay, but Hamilton-Flanagan says if a landlord fails to go through the correct processes when dealing with late-paying tenants, ‘an insurance payout for a late rental claim can be impacted”. She says one suggestion during December may be to send the tenants a card, perhaps with a small gift, gently reminding them of payment dates during the busy Christmas season. ‘Create a relationship with the tenant and treat people as you would want to be treated. The mentality of a tenant is they are paying you this money and they want bang for their buck – they want the property maintained, repaired and the landlord to be respectful.” The first step in preventing late payment is to select the right tenant from the start, Hamilton-Flanagan says, which involves checking a tenant’s payment history by contacting previous agents and landlords.

Carolyn Majda, executive manager at landlord insurer Terri Scheer Insurance, says one of the best ways to protect yourself is to use a professional property manager. ‘That way you have someone who is looking after the rent religiously,” she says. Majda says a lot of property managers send out pre-Christmas newsletters with rental payment dates included. ‘It’s nice to send a Christmas card – we all lose track of dates around this time of the year.” She says investors who manage a property themselves need to be on top of any late payments immediately. ‘Don’t let it start accruing. The longer time goes, the bigger the problem for both landlord and tenant,” Majda says.’Even if it is a day late, be on top of it.’It’s also really important that you take out insurance at the start of a tenancy, before you have people in there, because if they are behind in their rent it can create some issues – it’s almost like having a car accident and then insuring your car.”

The original version of this article appears here

Invest in some political history.

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art-gillard-620x349mainIn early August I published a post about our former Prime Minister Julia Gillard snapping up some new multi-million dollar digs in South Australia. Not surprisingly a few months later we hear that the PM’s former house in suburban Altona is now on the market. Our first female PM purchased her modest Altona home for $140,000 and now it’s expected to sell in excess of $600,000. Not surprisingly the internet listing has had a huge amount of hits with thousands logging on to have a look. The first open for inspections are occurring this weekend with the Auction scheduled for Saturday December 14th. So dust off your empty fruit bowl and get the cheque book ready, Julia and Tim’s love nest could be yours if the price is right!

You can also view the DOMAIN Video by clicking here.

Regional Property Prices

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regionsAs you may have picked up I’m passionate about regional investment and it forms a large part of my portfolio. A lot of people are skeptical about regional investment and subsequently limit themselves to capital cities. Whilst capital cities have often shown better capital growth than some regional areas there are also some great reasons to consider investing outside of metropolitan areas, not the least of which is that it’s commonly a lot less expensive to get into the market. I have heard many people comment about how expensive it is to purchase in capital cities and that sometimes it’s next to impossible, however in the same breath you’ll hear them comment that regional cities don’t return the same capital growth, so what do they do? Nothing!

It’s important to do your homework and weigh up the pros and cons before you limit yourself to just one market which can potentially mean you end up doing nothing and waiting for the prices to drop (it might never happen!). Today I came across the data below which provides the median (not medium as written!) value of a large range of Victorian towns and cities. Information like this can be difficult to come across so it’s good when you can find it. Click on the image below to be taken to the active site. There you can also select and search by region.

REGIONAL

 

Doing the sums #2

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I had some great responses to my post on October 13th about doing the sums when looking at investment properties and how important (and sometimes surprising) it is to get an idea of how much it will cost you to start and also to maintain. I’m always keeping an eye out for great examples so will post them when I come across something which shows a simple and affordable approach.

main

This property is a simple one bedroom unit in a complex of 12 units. It’s in a well established suburban area which is well regarded and in the same city as my first example. The area again demonstrates good infrastructure and is close to necessary facilities (shops, hospitals, schools etc). 

On face value the unit appears to be well maintained but of course you would want to inspect not only the property itself but also look around the complex and the units around it. It is for sale for $142,500 and is returning a healthy $190/week. Let’s say that it ticks the boxes as far as the quality and standard of the complex and we manage to get a realistic offer of $140k accepted. What do the figures look like and is it affordable?

How Much Will It Cost Me?
 Property Price – $140,000 Deposit (10%) – $14000 Mortgage – $126,000
Stamp Duty – $3470 Interest Rate – 4.69%
Conveyancing – $800
Mortgage Insurance – $1800
Total Costs (estimated) $20070

Once again, these are the main costs with a deposit of 10%, if you can get to 20% for a deposit the mortgage insurance disappears and the total estimated cost would then be $32,270. So you could get this property for an initial outlay of between $20,070 and $32,270. This is all great but let’s once again look at how you maintain this. Rather than being overly conservative, this time I’ve gone with one of the better interest rates that I can find at the moment of 4.69%

How Much Will It Cost To Service?
 Loan Amount
– $126,000/$112,000		 Council Rates – $900 Rent Income – $190/wk
 Interest Rate – 4.69% Water Rates – $900
 Repayments/Wk (10% deposit)
– $150.50		 Body Corp – $800
 Repayments/Wk (20% deposit)
– $134.00		 Property Mgmt. – $700
 Yearly Repayments – $7826/6968 Yearly Costs – $3300  Rent/Yr – $9880

For a 1 bedroom unit the rent is very good and in a tight rental market this is becoming increasingly realistic. If you started with the 10% deposit you would find yourself out of pocket $1246 a year (or $24 a week). If you managed to pull together the 20% deposit you would be out of pocket $388 a year or less than $7.50 a week! A dollar a day really is loose change! Come tax time and factoring in some depreciation I’d think it could even be likely to end up being cost neutral.

Again remember this is a ‘one moment in time’ scenario and things can change, but even with some unforeseen expenses and the odd maintenance request a property like this has the potential to be a great starter for an investment portfolio!

REIA response to Renovating Housing Policy

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logoFollowing on from my post this week regarding the Grattan Institute Report on housing policy it’s not surprising that the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) has responded quickly to the recommendations in the report. Published this week on the Your Investment Property website is the following article outlining the response from the REIA. Once again it’s always fascinating to see the debate it stirs up in the comments posted after the article. You can access the original article here, or, read below.

Hands Off Negative Gearing, Warns REIA

A report issued earlier this week slamming government housing policies has provoked a strong reaction from the Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA), which said a recommendation to scrap negative gearing is ‘short-sighted’.

The REIA said it agrees with the Grattan Institute Renovating Housing Policy report in that a major overhaul of housing policy in Australia is needed, but disagreed with what needs to be done.

“We strongly agree with the report’s recommendations to eliminate stamp duties, however it’s essential negative gearing be retained in its current form for the purpose of property investment,” said REIA president Peter Bushby

“REIA has always supported negative gearing because it helps in the provision of rental accommodation. Negative gearing for property investment is complementary to the goals of the Government’s Housing Affordability Fund (HAF) in addressing the supply of rental accommodation.”

Bushby said removing negative gearing would show that Australians ‘haven’t learnt anything from history’.

“When negative gearing was abolished in 1985 it had disastrous consequences for the property market and for people trying to rent. Rents rose 37% across Australia and by 57% in Sydney.

“Thankfully, negative gearing was reinstated in 1987. It is far too short-sighted to link investor interest in housing to negative gearing alone. Negative gearing is only one of a range of factors that contribute to the level of investment in property. Other factors include interest rates, availability and accessibility of finance, share market performance, the unemployment rate, housing supply and consumer confidence.”

Bushby said the ‘myth’ that negative gearing is a plaything of the well-heeled also needs to be dispelled. He claims the majority of taxpayers with negatively geared property earn less than $80,000 per annum.

“Findings in the Renovating Housing Policy report are important and let’s hope they assist in kick-starting a debate on housing policy. With the new government, expectations that industry will be involved in finding workable solutions to these old issues are high.”

http://www.yourinvestmentpropertymag.com.au/article/hands-off-negative-gearing-warns-reia-180767.aspx