Archive for the 'Find me a Property' Category
With the property market heating up, we are seeing quite a few buyers pipped at the post. The G Word (Gazump) is popping up again, and people are not sure what just hit them.
What does Gazumped mean?
Being Gazumped occurs when you verbally agree to buy a property, and then the seller (vendor) talks to someone else behind your back and sells to them, usually at a higher price. The next thing you find out is the vendor has exchanged contracts with someone else and you have lost the property.
But what about all that emotional energy, time & hundreds of dollars spent on pest inspections reports, solicitor costs, building reports, and moving plans? For those who have experienced this in recent weeks, we are certain you will not let it happen again.
What can you do to beat gazumping?
Exchanging contracts is the only way to beat gazumping. Unfortunately, a sale ain’t a sale until contracts are exchanged. English property laws dating back to 1677 require a binding agreement to be an “exchange of contracts”. The only exception is an auction whereby the highest bidder is bound to purchase the property after the auction.
What Can I Do NOW to Prepare for a quick property purchase?
The best thing to do is build a team of professionals ready for the big moment. They have done this 1000’s of times versus your 2 or 3 transactions, so make sure you leverage from their experience.
Here is a list of people to have on speed dial in your mobile phone:
* Accountant - know which name you are going to buy the property in, or what structure.
* Mortgage Broker – obtain solid finance approvals (learn the difference between pre-approvals, conditional approvals and final approvals). Find out your borrowing capacity.
* Solicitor or conveyance – They will read the contract for you and advise you on legal dscisions. ask the agent to send the contract as soon as possible to your solicitor, and have them in advise you through the “exchange” process. Also, know when you can use a cooling off period to give you more time to get prepared.
* Pest Inspector and Building Inspector - Apart from having guys crawl over the property for cracks and critters, find other consultants to check anything else that is flagged in the contract i.e. flood zoning, bushfire zones, heritage consultant, RTA reports for future roads through your house, conservation areas, mining subsidence, powerlines. There are consultants in every field to help you check out your property.
If you need help finding these people, call Plan Assist on 02 9449 2333 and find out who we recommend. We have a full list of consultants in any field.
Ever had trouble negotiating an option with a property owner?
Harry Charalambous, Buyers Agent and Property Expert, explains how to sweeten a Property Option Agreement to meet the vendor’s needs.
Most days, Harry negotiates and assists property investors in acquiring property using property options.
If you have found an investment or development site that works for you, yet you don’t know how to negotiate an option, call the team at Plan Assist on 02 9449 2333 and have Harry and the team help you secure favourable terms with ease.
THE Hunter Valley has emerged as one of Australia’s hottest places to invest in property thanks to the international resources boom.
A list released yesterday of the nation’s 10 best investment locations included the Hunter Valley coalfields, Glen Innes in the New England district and North Western NSW towns like Moree and Gunnedah.
Property researcher Terry Ryder said he chose the top 10 regions based on their low prices, strong rental returns and potential for growth.
“There has been so much media attention on affordability issues but it tends to focus almost exclusively on the major cities,” he said.
“That ignores all the good prospects in some of our regional centres.”
Decent four-bedroom homes in Muswellbrook, on the doorstep of the Hunter Valley’s coal mines and horse studs, were advertised online yesterday for as little as $198,000.
But real estate experts predict those prices will climb dramatically with the opening of a billion-dollar coal mine and expansion of transport and energy infrastructure.
Approved in 2007, the Mangoola coal mine is expected to see more than 1500 miners and their families move to the area, many of whom will need rental accommodation.
Muswellbrook real estate agent Phil Lawler said his agency took four deposits on homes in town yesterday.
“It’s a long, long time since I have seen such urgency in the marketplace,” he said.
“Rents are starting to increase dramatically, and that will start to turn investors’ heads.
“For $250,000 to $350,000 you can get a really attractive property up here that can return up to $600 in rent a week if furnished.”
Real Estate Institute of NSW president Wayne Stewart said the rural lifestyle on offer in the region added to its allure.
“Some of those areas are only an hour from the ocean and that is part of it as well,” he said.
According to the report, Glen Innes made it onto the list for its location at the junction of the New England and Gwydir highways, the quality of homes on offer and plans for new development in and around the town.
Mr Ryder, who runs the hotspotting.com.au website, said a planned inland rail link and mining expansion meant real estate in North Western NSW was also likely to boom.
Real estate investing success is not achieved by a “secret” method. Successful real estate investing requires hard work, good research, and a systematic and stringent analysis of each and every investment opportunity.
Yes, a proficient real estate professional can help you find, research, and even analyze the profitability of specific investment opportunities. But that does not mean that you should not be prepared. It is good for you to have some knowledge of the rates of return real estate investors commonly use during the analysis process before you make that all-important decision to purchase a rental property, regardless.
Since you are new to real estate investing, it seems like a good idea to discuss three of the most commonly used measures and returns. None of these would provide enough data to sway a decision by themselves, so you cannot make a decision solely on the results of these returns. But they are popular, you will hear them referred to, and it certainly will better prepare you to achieve your investment goal by becoming familiar with them.
1) Cash on Cash Return - Cash on cash return measures the return you can expect to receive in the first year of property ownership. In this case, the higher the cash-on-cash return is the greater the profitability of the investment.
Formula: Cash on Cash = Before Tax Cash Flow / Cash Equity (Initial Investment)
Test your understanding: Given the opportunity to invest $50,000 for a cash-on-cash return of 6.5% or an investment of $75,000 for a 10.2% return, which appears to be the better investment? Though it would require more cash outlay, the higher return, at least on the surface, seems to be the better investment. Why, because a first-year yield of 10.2% on your cash investment is better than a first-year yield of 6.5%.
2) Gross Rent Multiplier - Gross rent multiplier (GRM) measures the ratio between annual gross rental income and sale price. It is the least informative measure of an income-property primarily because it does not consider a property’s operating expenses, debt service or cash flow, and by itself is insufficient as a stand-alone number because it says nothing about a property’s profitability. Nonetheless, gross rent multiplier can be helpful for simple comparisons between rental properties. It is an easy calculation you can make in your head, and can be used when you simply want to get some idea how the price for one rental property compares to similar properties recently sold or currently for sale in the market. In this case, a higher GRM indicates a higher property value.
Formula: Gross Rent Multiplier = Purchase Price / Gross Rent
Test your understanding. What does it say about a rental property selling at a gross rent multiplier of 7.2 given that two similar duplexes in the area recently sold at gross rent multipliers of 8.5 and 9.0? Namely, that the duplex for sale appears to be offered at a better price than the comparable duplexes.
3) Capitalization Rate – Capitalization rate (or cap rate) is essentially an indicator of how much debt an income property can carry; the higher the cap rate, the more debt a property can support, and vice versa. The idea is straightforward. A property’s cap rate indicates the percentage rate of sale price attributable to net operating income (income less operating expenses). That is, it shows how much cash flow is generated to make the mortgage payment as a percent of sale price. In this case, a higher cap rate indicates that more money would be available to pay the loan, and explains why lenders use it in their appraisals.
Formula: Capitalization Rate = Net Operating Income / Purchase Price or Value
Test your understanding. Would you consider a small office building selling at a cap rate of 9.7% to be better priced than a building with a capitalization rate of 7.2%. Well, you should, because by all appearances it seems to generate a higher net operating income.
You get the idea. Real estate investing is about the numbers, not pure luck. You can get a real estate professional to help you with the research, and real estate investment software to do the math for you, but at the end of the day, you must prepare yourself to succeed at real estate investing.
Now go forth and multiply!
From Friday 1 January 2010, eligibility for the existing FHOGS (First Home Owner Grant Scheme) benefit of $7,000 will be restricted as follows:
• NSW – purchase property value capped at $750,000.
• WA – purchase property value capped at $750,000 for post codes south of the 26th parallel (i.e. from Kalbarri 6536) and $1,000,000 for post codes north of the 26th parallel (i.e. from Denham 6537).
• VIC – purchase property value capped at $750,000 (a farm purchased as a principle residence is excluded from the cap).
• QLD – purchase property value capped at $1,000,000.
• NT – purchase property value capped at $750,000 (First Home Owner Transfer Stamp Duty Concession eligibility will also be capped at $750,000 for established dwellings and $385,000 for vacant land).
• SA/TAS/ACT – no purchase property value cap applies.
Most first time home buyers should not be affected, and the extension to 30th June 2010 is a welcome sign for buyers seeking a home.