Hidden Agenda…
Ever flick through the property investing magazines and in one story it says buy here quick before you miss out and a few pages later it says don’t buy there, you have missed the boat?
How confusing that must be to potential investors who don’t know where to invest or just starting out…
Some examples could be:
- that Mount Isa and Gladstone are the best places to invest and the next its saying that mining is on the slow down and don’t invest in mining towns???
- Buy established verse off the plan
- Invest in houses verse inner city high rise units or off the plan
I recently did an interview with a friend of mine who works at one of these magazines and was asked to comment for the negative on the debate for their story… (it’s funny how she knew that I would automatically be negative to this location…) and in the end, off the records, I commented that in every news story, everybody has an agenda… in all of these stories in the magazines and online papers, the people who promote these locations do so for their own benefit…
and she so eloquently put it – including me…
I guess she is right… to some extent, except I am an open book!
As a Buyers Agent and professional investor with a theory, we sometimes do look at other people’s opinions and quickly dismiss them. I have been in this game long enough to know the genuine article and the cowboys. There are a few:
- Buyer’s Agent
- Educators
- Wealth creation and property companies
that have your best interests at heart and are genuinely trying to get you a property that will make you money. And I do agree that there is more than one way to make money with investing.
I also know that a lot of these “so called” experts are simply trying to promote a location as they have a development there that they are trying to flog off to any investor silly enough to buy it, for a premium of course!!!
A few key points on how to spot a cowboy could be:
- Pushy salesman trying to force you to sign immediately
- If there service is free and they make their money from developers
- If they receive referral fees or kick backs
- Whether its your accountant, financial planner, mortgage broker introducing you to a particular development
But it has also got me thinking… how do others see me and what agenda do they think I have… well I guess I best point it out.
To put it plain and simple… I’m an investor who researches locations around Australia that fit my research criteria. Once an area is identified and suitable, I buy a property there… Now as there are many more opportunities there, than I could I buy, I purchase in the same locations on behalf of our clients.
So to put it simple… I am making available my own investing locations to you, the investors.
We don’t receive any hidden kickbacks or referrals from developers, real estate agents, property managers or solicitors… any deals we negotiate go straight back to you.
I will say though from time to time an agent will take me out to lunch for a pub meal and a beer, although that doesn’t happen a lot as I am generally way too busy looking at houses when on location. And quite often I end up paying… try and work that one out???
But why do I invest if I have such an extensive portfolio that is cash flow positive?
That’s a very valid question and can easily enter into this agenda debate. Every investor has a goal and every goal for every investor is different. My portfolio of properties consists of sellers and keepers… The reason I have this is because I am renovating home and there are some pretty serious dollars required to complete what I have planned… so rather than get a home loan to pay for these, I simply sell property and use the profits to pay for the renovations with cash.
I also go back and re invest and replace that property with 2 properties to keep my portfolio growing. This is separate to my normal investing where I am always active in buying.
Having a small support team, allows us to focus on buying investors quality portfolio’s that will create wealth. We are not locked in to any location, we are focused on market conditions and timing… that being the bottom of the cycle where we buy at the cheapest without competition.
Having said that, we will be starting in two new locations later this year of which I am excited about… wHere? Ha, like I am going to say!!!
What separates us from other Buyer’s Agents is the amount of investors we tell that our service is not for them… buying properties for clients is not about just receiving a fee… it’s far more than that.
I personally inspect every single property myself… you read this each week on Facebook about my travels… some fun some just dam hard work. I am away from home and my family up to three days a week, of course my choice, but that’s what it takes to be a professional investor.
We review a client portfolio of nearly a thousand properties nation wide monthly for rent reviews… for which we don’t get paid directly… indirectly we do. You see, if we get all of our client’s rents up continually and let our clients know, they refer new great clients to us… and we love that. It also boosts the location yields which in turn, makes the location attractive to other investors who then fight for properties and pay too much and put our house values up…
It’s a funny way of getting there but it works…
So we do and offer a lot more than your average firm… why??? Coz we care and our clients are happy to back us up on this one…