Help me to Retire

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.

Are you struggling to make those extra cash payments into your investment property loan(s) every month on your negatively geared property?  Or is worrying about this exact problem stopping you from taking that first leap into property investment?
Then never fear. As some of you might know you can apply to the tax office to have the amount of tax taken out of your pay packet every week lowered to match your expected return at the end of the financial year.
Basically you are given your expected tax return negative gearing benefits through out the year rather than a lump sum at the end of the financial year after you’ve put in your tax return.
It’s called the PAYG income tax witholding variation (ITWV) application. So with the help of your accountant (or do it yourself if your handy with numbers) you can fill out one of these forms online or hard copy and get your self a bit of payment relief every week.  Be sure you try and estimate as closely as possible, as any money you over estimate will have to be paid back once your tax return for that year has been made final.

Heres the link to this years form.

The latest Property Investing teleseminar from Micheal Yardney and co is now available.  This time they are talking about catching the next property wave.  Want to know where, when and how to buy?  This Online stream or MP3 download could get you on your way.
Micheal Yardney and Ed Chan will also be conducting seminars around Australia in July and August about this very topic. For dates and more information on the seminars click here.

To listen to or download the teleseminar click here (10MB).

Investors Direct one of Australia’s best property investor finance brokering companies is for a limited time offering a free report (Valued at $299) on How Little Known Creative Finance Strategies Can Increase Your Property Investment Satisfaction by over 67% - Guaranteed!

What you’ll discover in this exclusive report:

• Why FINANCE is the reason you invest in properties
• The 10 types of investor … which one are you? And how to kick start your investment activities NOW!
• The 3 critical stages of finance – how to plan ahead
• The 11 ways to instantly increase your borrowing capacity (without increasing your income)
• The 9 little-known ways to create instant equity (using little or none of your own money)
• The 8 ways to create instant cash flow
• The 6 deadly traps financiers don’t tell you about which could hurt your investment
• The 20 most common mistakes investors and financiers make with property finance – and how you can avoid them
• Why there are no rules in property finance

This is a great free PDF download from the guys at Investors Direct. If you are involved in investment property or want to be in the future I highly recommend you downooad and read this!

Grab it here.

Propertyupdate.com.au have updated their site to now include downloadable audio of teleseminars that they have conducted. This is great news for all of us who have missed out on the teleseminars for various reasons.

At the moment the only one on the site is the teleConference with Michael Yardney and Pamela Yardney
answering listeners property questions and discussing the launch of their new book - All you need to know about Buying and Selling your Home.

Check it out. You can either listen straight off of the site or download the MP3.

Hopefully you’ve all read the book Rich Dad Poor Dad. If not head on over to your favourite online book store and get it right now! This was the book that got myself and a lot of other people into financial education and investing. I just wish I read it about 5 years earlier.

The author Robert Kiyosaki is a great teacher of how the the financial world works. He is always alerting you to what the rich do and what the poor do to help you change your financial habits. His main emphasis is on becoming an investor and or business owner and not being an employee or self employed. That is what the rich do, and that is what he encourages and teaches you to do.

The Rich Dad website has a heap of audio and video podcasts available for download. In these podcasts Robert and friends go through a range of different information to help you on your way to financial freedom. Its all good information that’s well worth the download.

There’s nothing like getting free advice so head on over to the Rich Dad site and get yours now.

Robert, his wife and other associates have also written many other books that are well worth while.

It can be a tough ask finding cash flow positive property, especially in the bigger cities around Australia.
There is also the long running argument about Cash Flow Positive properties vs High Growth Properties. Usually cash flow properties don’t get anywhere near the growth of inner city and coastal properties. From the examples I’ve seen, high growth property usually wins in the long run and is recommended to most younger to middle age people who still have many years in the work force to help cover the short fall.
Cash Flow property is still a great option for everyone and especially the older soon to be retired people who need cash flow immediately. Cash flow property is also a great option for property investors who are at the point where they are struggling to get bank approval for any more houses.
If you know where to find cash flow property’s half your battle is won. Your only problem then is getting enough of them to beable to quit your day time jobs and live off them.
Outer city suburbs and regional centres (not small towns - too risky) are usually the best bet. Also make sure there is long term employment around these areas before you buy (no one to rent to and no buyers around = bad news for your cash flow and growth).
Rachel Barnes and the Reno Kings have got together with their top 10 tips for finding cash flow positive property’s:

1. Know what you’re looking for!
2. Debt funded Positive Cash Flow options
3. Check Statistics - eg Australian Property Investor Magazine
4. Trawl The Net
5. Use Google Earth / Google Maps
6. Talking to all Agents in the Area
7. Talk to the Property Managers
8. Network with other Investors
9. Make ‘Ridiculous’ offers
10. Look for ‘Unusual’ properties

To read more about the above top ten list click here to read the full article on the Reno Kings website.

Remember that if you purchase a ‘High Growth’ property that after 3 to 5 years it will most likely become cash flow neutral or cash flow positive anyway. That will then give you the best of both worlds!

Happy Investing and do what suits you and your investment style and goals!

Their Results Mentoring program may be sold out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t gain some great useful information off of a couple of webinars (online seminars) that Steve McKnight has recently held.
If you head on over to the propertyinvesting.com site and scroll right down to the bottom, there are 2 webinars available for download in MP3 format.

• 6 Essential Rules to Starting a Property Portfolio
• The #1 Property Investing Mistake

These 2 files (about 15MB each) have some great property investing info in them.

Check them out 

Wealth Retreat 2007 will be held on the Gold Coast in May (the 2nd -5th). Wealth Retreat is not for everyone and not for begining investors. It is designed for people who are already well on their way but want to take their investing to the next level.

“If you want to learn about advanced tax structures, innovative superannuation advice and sophisticated investment strategies, then Wealth Retreat 2007 is for you.”

If you are at this level then check out the site and register your interest for Wealth Retreat 2007.

If you don’t think you are quite at that level but would like to know some more and get some free information about property investing, trusts and taxes then your in luck, because the Wealth Retreat website has 3 MP3 downloads available of 3 separate tele-seminars that were recently held.

1. Hear Michael Yardney explain how to take advantage of the opportunities the next property boom will bring.
2. Hear tax expert Tony Melvin explain how property investors can benefit from using trusts + lots more.
3. Hear tax expert Ed Chan answer questions from the audience on property investment.

Head on over to the site to download these. Note, in total there is about 165MB to download… I hope you have broadband

Fat Prophets latest free report is on the Japanese Property market and how you can profit from it.

Property markets in Japan have been deflating since their peak in 1990. Favorable conditions have once again come to the Japanese property markets and things are finally turning around.

To read a whole lot more on this subject check out the Fat Prophets Report and also take a good look at BJT (Babcock and Brown Japan Property Trust) listed on the ASX.