mrd

Each week I strive to provide quality and relevant FREE education for property investors… to empower them to buy real estate wisely, rather than being sold to. Our unique customer care program works for all clients… because investing is personal. Today I want to look at the good and the bad associated with “Off The Plan” purchasing.

People insistent on seeing and touching a property before contemplating a purchase may be missing out on the benefits associated with an off the plan purchase. Off the plan is simply property not yet registered with the Land Titles office; either near completion or perhaps before construction has begun. There are numerous advantages buying off the plan but you need to understand the potential pitfalls.

Read more…

WOW, what an exciting year 2008 turned out to be! We started by moving our office on Australia Day. When the removalist arrived at the new location ready to unload the guys who had constructed the office partitioning were still sanding down plaster board… and there was dust everywhere (and I do mean EVERYWHERE). They had not started painting at that stage. Suffice to say that the turbulence of the last 10 days of January, culminating with Katrina and me jumping on a plane to head over to Fiji to be part of my former business partners’ wedding, set the tone for what was to become a very “different” year.

I’d like to share with you two of the slides I use in my presentations around the country. These slides emphasise two of the messages I echo… and 2008 has confirmed their validity. They are:

1. “You Need To Do Something”
2. “38 Years Of Economic & Social History: 1974 To 2008″ and property proved itself to be resilient… regardless!

In your household, I hope history continues to repeat itself ONLY IF your are making significant and measurable financial progress… each year that passes.

Read more…

How come you never hear anything about the 10th reindeer “Olive”?

Olive?

Yeah, you know, “Olive the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names”.

WOW, Christmas is almost upon us yet again; hasn’t 2008 come and (almost) gone so quickly? It has been a tumultuous year. The fallout from the subprime issues in the USA gave way to a credit crisis… with went on to become a global economic crisis. I believe the Australian property market is poised for good things; as clearly demonstrated in my recent Web Seminars titled “What In The World Is Going On With Property“.

NB: If you missed out on participating in one these Web Seminars you can now watch it online; click here.

The Global Credit Crisis & Property Investors

As property investors the good that has come out of the recent global turmoil has been a massive reduction in interest rates. I am now so very close to being cashflow positive across my property portfolio… and interest rates are still falling and likely to stay very low for years to come!

The downside for property investors is that lenders have tightened their lending criteria making it harder to secure funding that it was previously, in some instances. With interest rates falling, however, serviceability has been made that much easier creating opportunity for many who previously could not secure funding to now qualify.

The Global Credit Crisis & Property Developers

The impacted on developers has been massive. Companies large and small have all been affected. Many developers have gone broke or just closed up shop, others have shelved projects indefinitely and are waiting until they see evidence of investors returning to the market. Others have soldiered on but have had many new funding hoops to jump through put in front of them.

Banks have been scared to lend to each other, so regardless of whether you are an individual looking to borrow money to buy a property or a developer looking for the funding necessary to complete a project… 2008 has seen a real tightening of lender willingness.

Waterside Residential:

We have received the following update from the developer…

Read more…

WOW, Christmas is almost upon us yet again; hasn’t 2008 come and (almost) gone so quickly? It has been a tumultuous year. The fallout from the subprime issues in the USA gave way to a credit crisis… with went on to become a global economic crisis. I believe the Australian property market is poised for good things; as clearly demonstrated in my recent Web Seminars titled “What In The World Is Going On With Property“.

NB: If you missed out on participating in one these Web Seminars you can now watch it online; click here.

The Global Credit Crisis & Property Investors

As property investors the good that has come out of the recent global turmoil has been a massive reduction in interest rates. I am now so very close to being cashflow positive across my property portfolio… and interest rates are still falling and likely to stay very low for years to come!

The downside for property investors is that lenders have tightened their lending criteria making it harder to secure funding that it was previously, in some instances. With interest rates falling, however, serviceability has been made that much easier creating opportunity for many who previously could not secure funding to now qualify.

The Global Credit Crisis & Property Developers

The impacted on developers has been massive. Companies large and small have all been affected. Many developers have gone broke or just closed up shop, others have shelved projects indefinitely and are waiting until they see evidence of investors returning to the market. Others have soldiered on but have had many new funding hoops to jump through put in front of them.

Banks have been scared to lend to each other, so regardless of whether you are an individual looking to borrow money to buy a property or a developer looking for the funding necessary to complete a project… 2008 has seen a real tightening of lender willingness.

Seashells @ Clifton

We have received the following update from the developer…

Read more…

Lower interest rates and cheaper petrol have lifted consumer confidence, a survey shows.

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute index of consumer sentiment rose by 7.5 per cent in December to 92.0 index points, from 85.5 points in November.

Most of the 1,200 consumers polled were surveyed after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the cash rate by 100 basis points on December 2 to 4.25 per cent.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said the lift in consumer sentiment in December was not a given after a “disappointing rise” of only 4.3 per cent the month before.

>>> Consumer confidence surges 7.5%: survey – Breaking News – Business – Breaking News.

A $34,000 a year shortfall across 4 investment properties  was proving a serious drag on the lifestyle of Michael and Sam. When this couple, whom I consider friends as well as valued mrd clients, telephoned to say they needed to sell a property, I suggested we first undertake an analysis of their situation. Selling an asset should be your last option… and in their case it turned out to be completely unnecessary.

Remember Michael and Sam’s story. Chances are you too will one day be faced with what I call an avoidable disaster.

Read more…

Our “What In The World Is Going On With Property” Web Seminar proved to be so popular that we have uploaded a recording of one session to our web site. By listening to this recording…

You will learn…

Read more…

Last week the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced it would slash official interest rates by a full percentage point to a six and a half year low.  This has further compounded the break costs for the 43,632 borrowers who opted for fixed-rate mortgages between March and August this year, when interest rates were at a decade-high peak who face hefty fees if they want to switch to a standard variable loan.

Official interest rates would have to fall to the lowest levels since February 1965 for these borrowers to recoup the cost of switching out of a fixed loan through cheaper mortgage repayments.

From: The Age on 05/12/2008

See last week’s article: Should You Fix Interest Rates And When