The Property Couch

We are extremely excited here on The Property Couch this week to announce the long-awaited meeting with our special guest today, JAN SOMERS (as we’re sure you would agree)! With a successful property portfolio spanning over 40 years with countless properties within the country, Jan is an inspirational, property-investing mogul who we all could learn a lot from. As we gained so much gold from the hour-long chat, we’ve had to split the episode into two! In this first part, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley discuss the following areas with Jan: * What got her into property investing back in 1972 and how did she build her portfolio since then * Her mentor in life and her outlook in education and continuous learning * Her point of view and experience on negative gearing * How did she structure her loans and what kind of loan strategy does she have for her portfolio * Tips on improving your borrowing power * What motivated her to write her books, Building Wealth * Having the right mindset as an investor And so much more! As Jan is someone who has a continuous passion and drive for property investing, this is definitely a 2-part episode you will not want to miss. Her journey through property investing is definitely a story worth listening to and reading up on so make sure you tune in. Here’s the link to her books and the PIA Investor software: Click here.   And as always, if you like this episode (Chat with Jan Somers, Housewife And Property Multimillionaire – Part 1), don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. Any questions or ideas? Feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/

Finally, back in the studio again this week and as mentioned in Ben’s latest RBA’s cash rate announcement video, this episode of the podcast has Bryce and Ben talking about the all time hot debate topic: The Housing Affordability Issue. But before that, we just want to highlight that the podcast has reached another one of our milestone! 1,027,000 DOWNLOADS! A big thank you to all of our listeners for tuning in! We wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without your support, reviews, feedbacks and all the amazing questions that you’ve sent in! Our next milestone target is 5,000,000 downloads so if you think we are a good bunch of people and the contents are helpful, just let someone else know.

With a fresh start this week for The Property Couch after our much-anticipated 100th episode last week, the energy definitely hasn’t dwindled as Episode 101 has Bryce and Ben discussing the six critical foundations to building your wealth plan. From the comfort of Ben’s home instead of the studio this week, (as not even an operation can delay an episode of TPC), the guys discuss foundations such as strategy, getting a mentor and building your tribe to name a few. Similar to a skyscraper or a mega size bridge, the foundations in which you build your property portfolio or even, your financial wealth plan on is crucial. However, it’s not an exciting process and can be mundane for some but do not underestimate how much difference it can make to the long-term performance of your wealth plan. Time is a commodity that you can’t afford to lose and if you find out later in life that your wealth plan isn’t going to work, it can potentially be too late. Of course, the jokes and banter still continue on in this podcast, and with that in mind, we hope you enjoy this next instalment and the next step that The Property Couch is taking. To another 100 episodes! P.S If anything, don’t miss this latest episode for the brand new sign-off at the end!   Free Resources mentioned in this episode: * Is your portfolio build on sand or stone? : Watch Here * Free tickets to the Melbourne Property Buyer Expo 2017 (Discount code: TPC2017) : Click here to get the tickets   And as always, if you like this episode (Sand or Stone – 6 Critical Foundations Your Wealth Plan Should Be Built On), don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. Any questions or ideas? Feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/

AND IT’S FINALLY HERE!! Happy Australia Day and thank you to all you who had supported us for the past 99 episodes! It has been an incredible journey, and we are very grateful and amazed at how far we’ve come. This is just the beginning, and we promise you that for the next 100 episodes, we are definitely going bigger and better! With new segments, more case studies, guests interviews and innovative data research platform (spoiler alerts!), all we can say for now is, sit tight and buckle up for the ride.

As Bryce puts it today, we’ve made it to “99, not out!” and with just 1 episode to go before the big 1-0-0, we’re back to provide you with another Q&A Session. In today’s episode, Bryce and Ben give advice on whether to sell your home, tips for investing later on in life, what to do when your property portfolio is falling into a downward spiral, and more. Today’s questions are from the following listeners:   * Fernando on whether or not to sell his home: My wife and I moved from SYD to MELB four years ago without not even knowing where its north was. We rented an apartment in the beautiful East Melbourne for a year as we wanted to enjoy this beautiful city life style but also knowing that we needed to buy a property after that time so we were not building someone else’s future. So we bought “with our hearts” a 3 beds, 2 bath, studio + man cave OLD house out in Donvale with the “vision” of slowly renovate it while starting a family, be surrounded by green, live the Australian dream and on top of that, generate a good growth on the property in a medium term. We love the area BUT… Now, after 2 kids, our cash flow is quite dry and we need to do something about it (classic isn’t it). Our first bet is to sell as Donvale is not a good suburb from a rent perspective (Yield), put whatever money we can make from the sell – We bought at 520K, the median is 650K and we’ve been slowly renovating a few things, but again, without enough cash to finish it, we are not expecting making a huge profit – into an investment property and then became “Rentvestors”, we wouldn’t mind to sacrifice moving out to a suburb where rent is half what our current mortgage is. In our raw calculations, in 3 – 5 years we could be saving enough to buy the second investment property. I believe the best things Australia has to offer are for free (parks, security, culture, etc.), so for now, not living in the suburb we’d prefer is not such a big deal when thinking on our medium-long term goals which are given to our kids the best that we possible can and start a passive income strategy for our future ASAP. On the other hand, if we keep the property, we’d need to put a considerable amount of cash on top of the rent in order to pay the mortgage, so our savings wouldn’t be enough to think in buying a good investment property any soon. We will regret not keeping this property… I can guarantee you that but we don’t see any other immediate solution. * Monique on whether or not to sell her home: Taken your advice, but what now? Given the projected apartment oversupply, should we sell our inner suburbs 1bdr flat to put towards our next home? Or is it still a good investment worth holding on to? * James on interest only loans:Part 1: 2 years ago my wife and I purchased a property 5km from the Brisbane CBD for $530,000. Unfortunately we only spoke to 1 bank, didn’t seek advice and fixed the whole loan for 3 years at 5.05% so have no offset and no way of paying more off the loan than prescribed fortnightly payment amount. After listening to your podcasts and just starting to read your book just this week, we have since found a decent mortgage broker and are considering refinancing and setting up the money smarts structure. We are considering an interest only loan, as discussed in your podcast, to give us the flexibility to purchase another property over the next 2-3 years, but currently we are getting conflicting advice from our financial planner who is against interest only and our mortgage broker who is telling us ‘cash is king’ in your offset account and we should consider it. The idea is to pay the same amount as we are paying now with our P&I loan but...

It’s the second week into the new year, and we’ve got yet another exciting and information-packed episode for you today. Joining Bryce and Ben on another online interview podcast is Property Journalist and Review Editor of Domain, Jennifer Duke (@JennieDuke). Today the duo and their special guest who “lives and breathes property” discuss Jen’s professional background and how she got into property journalism, the breadth of topics there are to discuss around property, as well as how being a property journalism shows you a more personal aspect of property investing. Further to this, they also discuss the following areas: * What motivated her to join journalism and to specialise in finance and property * How does she decipher all the media headlines and form an opinion on the property market * The controversy she faces in her career as a reporter * What is it like to write for Domain * Her most interesting and shocking story that she has reported on * How important it is to find credible and trustworthy sources for her articles when reporting to her readers * What the best and the most ostentatious properties she has ever seen are * The future of the newspaper in an ever-growing digital world ps: Don’t forget to tag your friends for our  Episode 100 Giveaways! Only 2 more weeks to go! If you like this podcast: “Unpacking Property Media Headlines – Chat with Jennifer Duke, Property Journalist and Review Editor of Domain”, don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/.    

First thing’s first, Happy New Year everyone! And what an exciting new year we have for you all here on The Property Couch. We’ll let Bryce and Ben fill you in on what’s to come, but for now we thought we’d kick the new year off with a fresh Q&A session. In today’s episode, Bryce and Ben answer the following 7 questions which are:   * Volks on Mechanics of Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI): I have a quick question, how would you tackle this situation. I’m 33 yo and married with 2 young kids with plans for #3 in the future. I’m currently rent vesting (I have subsidised housing thanks to my career) with one investment property in Warner north of Brisbane. (I bought this before I started to listed to your podcast) I have bought off the plan and in hindsight now, armed with the information provided by your podcast and other books on investment property, I would have steered away from that investment and bought based on location. Hopefully this property will do some heavy lifting in the future. My question is in reference to LMI and loan to value ratio (LVR). Is the LMI attached to a loan dissipate over time as our LVR approaches the 80% sweet spot or does it remain until the whole loan is paid off? And, given I’ve saved up a good cash reserve, would it make sense to pay just enough to make my LVR 80%? * Jamie on Purchasing foreclosed property direct from banks: Hi Guys, I’m a long time listener of the podcast and have currently just completed your book. I have a question regarding whether you have previously ever purchased foreclosed property direct from the banks. I have located numerous websites regarding this with some requesting membership’s fees to access the information. Are there ways to retrieve this information yourself and can you expect to purchase this property for under market value and if so how much can this process differ from a typical purchase. * Bohdi on whether to buy comfortably within budget or stretching to the end of your limit: Hey Guys, Came across the podcast a few weeks ago and have binged a year and a half worth of episodes in 3 weeks. Addictive stuff! My now wife and I recently got married and are now looking to get ourselves into property. We live in Manly in Sydney, have a good double income and a considerable deposit saved and are now trying to decide the best property approach for us. The maternity leave at my wife’s work is fantastic so we are not expecting any dip in salary income as begin to have children. In the long term our goal is to have a few investment properties wherever it makes sense to buy in Australia and then a PPOR in or around Manly. My question to you: With our income we could probably get a loan of up to $1.5M and still be able to comfortably live. But in your experience, should we start by purchasing an investment property that’s well within our means – e.g. something for around the $700,000 – $900,000 mark and continue to rent in Manly OR should we try to stretch ourselves and buy a property at out upper limit that we live in for now and then think about additional investment properties later on? If we were to buy something a bit cheaper in an area that made sense, I’d imagine we’d be able to continue renting and then buy a second more affordable investment property as equity grows in the property and we continue to save. In other words, are we better to aim for a number of cheaper properties that we gain a small amount of capital growth or one more expensive property that might achieve large capital growth as it’s off a larger base?

Joining us on our first online recording today is Prue Muirhead! Prue is the co-founder of Muirhead Property Management, the 2010 Property Investor of the Year, teaches property investment and property management at TAFE Adelaide and an active investor with 18 positively geared properties under her belt. So in today’s episode, Bryce and Ben will be chatting with her about how she build her positively geared property portfolio and: * Her journey as a sophisticated property investor, the hurdles she faced along the way and how she overcame that * Understanding different risk profiles and property investing risks when building a portfolio * The lending challenges faced by a self-employed and how she used the equity in her current home to build up her portfolio * What’s her investment strategy and her definition of manufactured property growth * The importance of continuous learning, research and taking initiatives to an active investor * Self-management versus using a property manager * Potential for upgrades and renovations from a property manager perspective * The mindset and preparations required for property developments * Mistakes made along the way and her top tips for other property investors   If you like this podcast: “Building a Positively Geared Property Portfolio – Chat with Prue Muirhead, Property Investor of The Year (2010)”, don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/.      

SURPRISE! On this Boxing Day, we are having a joint podcast with Phil Tarrant from Smart Property Investment Show! Phil joined us back in Episode 52 talking about his journey as a property investor but in this Bonusisode (Bonus Episode), the focus will be on investing in property in 2017! Ben and Phil will be chatting about: * The health of the Australian Property Market in 2017 * Understanding the different market cycles and how economic activities and infrastructure development may change the market’s trajection * How to filter out all the noise regarding property investing and look at hard facts when making an investment decision * The prospects and returns from investing in apartments and city fringe location * What are their thoughts on the lenders’ out-of-cycle rate rise * What are the criteria lenders are looking for in an ideal borrower * The importance of borderless investing and buying counter cyclical when building out your portfolio   If you like this podcast: “Bonusisode – A Boxing Day Chat Between The Property Couch and Smart Property Investment Show”, don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/.

As Christmas is a time for giving, we thought today’s special Christmas episode should be none other than a Q&A session!  Topics covered today include debt-retirement and refinancing loans, how to go about upgrading your PPOR (Principle Place of Residence), whether it’s worth paying for a financial planner and more. (And click here for your free The Property Couch Christmas Pack!) Today’s questions are from the following listeners: * Chris on debt-retirement and refinancing loans: Hi there, was hoping you could ‘unpack’ the ‘reality of’ the following finance-related scenario for me. I understand there is an “accumulation phase” where the investor actively accumulates as many quality, appreciating assets as required/wanted before transitioning to a “debt-reduction” or debt-retirement phase in the property investment journey. I was hoping you could spend some time describing what this debt-retirement phase actually looks like, assuming the investor has between 3-5 investment properties all on interest-only terms. Changing all of these to principal & interest at the same time would probably be too strenuous on the budget, so is it a case of paying off the largest investment loan on principal & interest terms while refinancing the remaining loans as interest-only for another 3-5 years and start knocking off the balance of the largest loan? Or is it a case of building up the offset account of each loan evenly so that you end up paying less interest across all of the loans until you are in a position to pay the loan back in full? But in this scenario the banks will eventually put you on a principal & interest payment unless you refinance again to an interest only loan, so how do you juggle at least 5 investment loans potentially all coming off their interest-only terms within 12-18 months of each other, while you’re trying to retire the debt without blowing the family budget? ($150+ principal payment across 5 loans = $750 a week which would destroy most family budgets). Is it a case of focusing on one property at a time until the rent covers the principal + interest payments, before moving onto the next property or is it a case of continually refinancing to interest-only loans and building up the offset accounts? Is it better to focus on the largest loan first or distribute funds evenly across all loans? How do you actually go about entering the ‘debt-retirement’ phase on a portfolio of 5 investment properties (assuming all currently interest-only repayments with separate offset accounts but the interest-only period is expiring for all 5 loans over the next couple of years). This does not take into account the PPOR but we can ignore that part of the equation for the above scenario. * Bill on upgrading PPOR: My question is…I have paid off PPOR (home loan account closed) and would like to upgrade PPOR. What advice/suggestions do you have regarding using ex-PPOR as investment or sell off ex-PPOR to pay down new PPOR debt and then buying an investment property? * Anonymous on investing in a Financial Planner: G’day, I have a question that I think a lot of listeners would relate to and something you guys have not covered thus far.Firstly about me. I am 32 and have recently developed a passion to enhance my knowledge of residential property investment. I am in the Army and have a young family on my income alone.

Keeping to our Summer Series tradition, Bryce and Ben are joined by yet another special guest in today’s episode; Nerida Conisbee – The Chief Economist of The REA Group: now the biggest digital real estate company in the world! With more than 20 years property research experience throughout Asia Pacific, Nerida also appears every Saturday on SkyNews Real Estate program, is an adviser on property market conditions to major Government bodies and has held senior positions within commercial agencies and major consulting firm. Leveraging on her experience and knowledge in the property industry, the three of them will be chatting about: * How are the two capital cities, Sydney and Melbourne performed in 2016 particularly in the apartment market and what’s the outlook for 2017 * What’s the level of housing affordability for property buyers across Australia * Investing habits between Sydney and Melbourne, and how these compare to major cities around the world and the drivers that are slowing down property listing in those two cities * Potential changes to the lifestyle trends in Sydney where houses are less affordable for young home buyers and how this would affect Melbourne * Research data and methodology in commercial real estate as compared to residential real estate * Seeing the GDP drop and finding that balance between the property market being strong and weak; therefore, knowing when the best time to sell is * The 2017 outlook for Perth, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Darwin and Canberra and which market to invest in for 2017   We hope you enjoyed this podcast and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the topics brought up! And here’s the site that Nerida mentioned in today’s podcast: * Investment data for investors – Find out more * Demand Index – Download here   If you like this podcast: “Which Market to Invest in for 2017? – Chat with Nerida Conisbee”, don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/.

In today’s podcast, a much-anticipated topic features. But first, Bryce and Ben discuss the recently released GDP numbers for the September quarter. With a fall of 0.5%, what does this mean to us Australians? How will business confidence and the Australian Property Market be affected? And more importantly, is this a really bad thing? After discussions on the GDP as well as further mentions of our 100th episode (that’s coming up very soon!), today’s main topic – as stated in the title, is: “How to Negotiate to Win”. Not all of us are used to or are comfortable in negotiating as it can be quite confrontational. But Bryce and Ben do it on a daily basis so today, they’ve decided to dish out some of their most useful pointers and success stories to help you on your next purchase! Not only do they let us in on some of the most helpful tips, they also tell us what to look out for and common mistakes not to make. With one of Australia’s leading Buyers Agents opening up about the secrets of negotiating, this is definitely an episode to tune into. A couple of tips to listen out for include: * Understanding the Vendor’s motivation * Why you should treat the selling agent fairly   If you like this podcast: “How to Negotiate to Win”, don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/

Today we have another special vodcast episode; and joining Bryce and Ben on the couch is the President of the Real Estate Buyer’s Agents Association of Australia (REBAA), winner of The Buyer’s Agent of the Year award 2016 on Your Investment Property Magazine and Managing Director of Propertybuyer, Rich Harvey. As an established Buyer’s Agent, Property Investor, and expert in his field, today Bryce and Ben discuss the following areas with Rich:   * How Rich established his career as a property investor and eventually a Buyer’s Agent * What motivated him to get his first step on the property ladder and what’s his first investment property looks like * Some mistakes and lessons learnt in his property journey * The benefits of having a Buyer’s Agent and how to find one that you can trust * Type of properties that he considers as investment grade and other types of property to stay away from * The current cycle of the Australian property market and his predictions for the market in 2017 * Tips for finding the right resources to use when looking for investment properties     ps: We hope you enjoy watching this video and we would really like to hear what you think about it!   If you like this podcast: “Why a Buyers Agent is a Worthy Investment when Investing in Property – Chat with Rich Harvey”, don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/

After two weeks of Donald Trump-related episode, we think it’s time to get back to our listeners and answer some questions! But before that, Bryce and Ben kickstarted today’s episode with a quick update on interest rates and which directions we might be heading to in the next few months. And for today’s episode, they will be answering questions from:   * Cody on First home buyers – I recently listened to episode 87. Listening to the content of first home buyers not being able to get into the market unless prices fell 30%. What is your moral standing on this? Are you okay with our kids getting locked out? Do you consider yourselves and like-minded people responsible for aiding in driving competition and prices? Do you think there should be any assistant to our kids from a government policy standpoint to own their homes? Look forward to hearing your thoughts.   * Tom on Overseas Investing – Hi guys, just listened to the latest podcast…thanks for the shout out to London, where I have just moved to from Australia. I have 2 IPs in Inner West Sydney and thinking I will be sitting on them to let them grow for a few years until I get back…London property is just ridiculously unaffordable! Would be interested in your thoughts on investing in overseas properties in countries such as NZ or the UK, from Australia, or vice versa and the process involved to purchase and manage. Enjoy what you guys are doing, and I think it’s the best podcast on IP in Australia. Thanks, Tom.   * Steve on Overseas Investing – Hi Guys, loving the podcast. In footy terms, you’re both ‘up and about.’ Question for Podcast: Investing in Property Overseas. You talk of ‘borderless investing‘, but that’s only Australia. Is it a bit un-diversified to put all one’s eggs in the ‘Australian Property Market’, just like a Pommy would be putting all of theirs in the UK market, or a Yankee putting them all in the U.S of A? You guys have read Kiyosaki, you must have dreamed of following the world’s market cycles like a real ‘world’ investor. My question is ‘Where can Aussies buy overseas?’ I know an Aussie buyers agent buying in the US for clients at the moment, and you hear of the Chinese buying here. Why aren’t we buying China? Thanks, Boys!   * Brett on Setting up an Offset Account – Hi guys, love the podcast, after meeting with a very respected investment mortgage broker, they suggested switching my PPR loan to interest only to help build savings for an investment deposit in an offset account. I couldn’t work out why this would be better than putting my money into the PPR loan to increase equity then drawing it out when there is enough. The money I draw out would be tax deductible on the interest, whereas the money I save in an offset, if I draw this out for an investment, this would keep my PPR loan higher and thus not tax deductible on the interest. Can you guys please discuss this as I am starting to lose respect for this particular broker. Thanks   * Nicole on Canberra as the next Investment Spot – Hi guys. Love the show particularly being a Victorian, I love the sports chat at the start

Today’s episode is special guest day and joining Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley is Australia’s leading property analyst and CoreLogic’s Director of Research, Tim Lawless, who will discuss the future of each state in Australia. Following on from last week’s episode of President-Elect, Donald Trump and the uncertainty his win will have on the market; Bryce, Ben and Tim move on to discuss what the positives to follow are due to the presidential win, even though it’s is still early days. So in today’s episode, the main areas these three will be talking about are: * Tim’s backstory and experience as a property analyst and how he got to where he is today * CoreLogic and research methodologies for the monthly reports * The potential risk if interest rates rise in Melbourne and Sydney * Wealth bases for Hobart, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin * What the government needs to do to help and stimulate employment for those states that are in decline * Trends in population and what this means for Australian property market * The uncertainty of Trump’s win and how this has affected the market and what potential effects are to follow We hope you enjoy this latest post and look forward to hearing your thoughts on the matters brought up…even if it is a response to their thoughts on Kim Kardashian or Kanye West running for the next US election! And here’s the reports mentioned in today’s podcast: * Monthly Housing and Economic Chart Pack – Download here   If you like this podcast: “Future of the Australian Property Market Post Donald Trump – Chat with Tim Lawless”, don’t forget to rate us on our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/