Help me to Retire

Steve Mcknight from propertyinvesting.com has just released his July video update. If you are a current property investor or home owner or you are thinking of entering the property market in the next 6 months then you will want to see this video.

Steve McKnight covers:

1. Everything you need to know about recent important press articles
2. Is there a Housing Boom On The Horizon?
3. Current State Of The Property Market
4. To Fix Or Not To Fix

Steve also goes on to mention his upcoming one off seminar in Melbourne on the 9th of August. More info on that here.

You can check out the Video here.

On my recent property travels around the interweb, I’ve found these handy sites.

1. http://www.hotspotting.com.au - this site allows you to purchase reports (most are $88) on hotspots, high growth areas, no go zones and more.
2. http://www.positiverealestate.com.au/ - lists properties by investment strategy. For example if you are looking for subdivisions, strata titling or positive cash flow properties you can do it all from this site. There is also a heap of other tools and information available.
3. http://www.propertyupdate.com.au/0108/seminar_download.htm - Lastly this site has available Michael Yardney’s last web cast as an MP3, 2 special reports and an ebook available for download. Check em out.

If you haven’t heard of Residex before it’s about time you did.
Residex sell reports on predicted housing capital growth by area. You can get a report on the whole state or report on a single suburb or postcode.

They have a good newsletter that is worth signing up for to with sneak peeks at reports and overall market reports.
In this weeks newsletter included was one page from their “Market as a Whole” report. It is quite an informative page and includes comments on:

• The difference between The Australian housing market and the US & UK markets
• Population growth
• Demographic Change
• Housing Affordability
• Residex’s View on the current shape of things

You can view this full page preview here.

If you want to check out Residex’s very informative site, purchase a report on a certain area or sign up to the newsletter you can do that from here.

Steve McKnight and the propertyinvesting.com team have got a heap of gifts waiting for you at their site.

Included in your basket of presents are:

• Listen to Steve’s Christmas message as he reflects on 2007 and outline how to prepare for success in 2008.
• Free e-book – ‘Fundamentals of Investing Success’.
• Free video: Hot Spotting! Discover the #1 factor that investors should look for when seeking high growth locations.
• Mystery Prize - Entertaining but not investment related…  Xmas related.
• 3 Day Mega Conference - Grab a great deal
• Free Chapter – Interest rates are on the up and up - read what Steve’s advice
• Free video: Latest Deal

So head on over there now before Christmas is over!

Merry Christmas!

For first timers renovating, setting and sticking to a budget is paramount so as not to over capitalise.  The usual budget for a reno job is about 5% of the purchase price of the property.

From there:

• Research what needs to be done to the property and who will do the work (yourself or reliable tradesmen)
• Start from the Street - Street appeal - paint, render, new fence, new letter box etc
• Inside - flooring (floorboards or tiles and carpet), paint (neutral colours), blinds for curtains etc
• Kitchen - use cheap and effective ideas such as tile paint , laminate paint and new handles for cupboards and just replacing bench tops.
• Bathroom - make it look big and clean - mirror, whites, tub and tile paint, get rid of the shower curtain, new taps \ vanity and toilet if necessary
• Adding other value items that your tenants will appreciate such as a dishwasher and an Air Conditioner

Remember most renovations should be done within 4 weeks.

Good Luck and to read more about the subject head on over to the Reno Kings Web Site.

Our good friends over at International Living have provided us with a free e-book titled “To Have or To Lease: A Global Guide to Property Ownership Rules and Restrictions”.

This book gives you all the info you need on over 25 different countries.  Questions like: Should buy there? Can you buy there? What regulations are there? How do I buy? What entity’s can buy there? Am I better off to lease there?

All those questions and more are answered in this handy report.

Why not build a global property empire, you can get in on all the property waves and hedge your local risk.

Check it out here (PDF)

Micheal Yardney’s latest webcast on how to develop the mindset of a super successful investor is now available here (10MB mp3 file).
On this call, Micheal discusses what differentiates the average investor from the super successfull investor. And that thing? Most of the time is mindset. There might be something in your subconscious stopping you from achieving your potential that you don’t even know about. It is deffinetly a worthy place to dedicate some of your time to so check out the call now.

Micheal is also giving you a free copy of his ebook How to develop the Mindset of a Successful Property Investor.

Click here to get your copy (pdf)

Theres not too many of us out there that can afford to pay cash for a property outright (even if we could, that’s not a good strategy but thats another story) so we all use finance (leverage) to help us on the way. So the fact we use finance and need finance makes it a very important part of our property investing. You need to know some of the main points on what to do to maximise your returns and this article from the Reno Kings identifies 3 main financial strategies that will help you maintain and reach your investing goals sooner.

They are:

1. Borrow to the Max
2. Pay Interest Only
3. Make Smaller Home Loan Repayments

To read the full article click here.

Just a quick one for everyone who downloaded the first call. The 2nd one is now available for download and you can get it here.

Once again some more great property investing information from Michael Yardney & Ed Chan

Check it out!

I was once caught in this trap. The feeling that there will be a divine signal and everything will come into alignment. It would trigger the ‘do it’ in me, ‘the time is right’, ‘buy it now’.
When I started seriously looking into property investment in 2005 and 2006 I said to myself I have time. The big boom has just finished, I can now take my time and learn everything there is to know about property and once prices have come back down a bit I can get in there and get some. The learning part was great and it helped me avoid making some serious investing mistakes, such as not using a Trust to buy my properties, but the waiting for prices to come back down was a mistake.
As I waited for prices to level off, time went by, followed by some more time. And while this time was going by, strangely enough in most places property prices were going up (of course some places faster than others).
In the end I saw the error of my ways and stopped waiting for the planets to align with the perfect property deal. I bit the bullet and hired a Buyers Agent. That in many ways took the pressure off me as I knew I had an expert working for me. And when the time came to get the biggest loan of my life I felt great!

Remember the saying… . the best time to buy property was 10 years ago.. the next best time is today!

Here’s an article I found on waiting for the perfect time. Read it, it applies to many things in your life!

Waiting for that perfect moment in life to do something is wasted time! Trust me. Just do it. Making mistakes is the greatest way to learn in life.