Empower Blog Location

Are One Bedroom Apartments still the Poor Cousins?

Ask a baby Boomer what they think the great Australian dream looks like and chances are they will say a detached house on a quarter acre block surrounded by a garden with a BBQ and a hills hoist. Ask the same question to a Gen Y and they are likely to say an apartment in the suburb where their café culture lifestyle is… usually the inner city su...

Read More

Coast a perfect location for young families and TV celebrity

Young families looking for the ultimate sea-change are choosing the Gold Coast as their destination choice. With a warmer climate, relaxed lifestyle and a lower cost of living, the Glitter Strip is a top pick for people raising children. In the 14 April 2014 issue of Gold Coast Bulletin, Bryce Holdaway, co-host of Location Location Location Aust...

Read More

Investor Special

The investor market was one of the success stories of 2013. With Capital appreciation ramping up in many areas during the second half of the year and interest rates remaining at historic lows, Australia's property investment community saw an opportunity and began to come out of the woodwork. Ben Kingsley is featured in this Issue 14.3 of Mortgage P...

Read More

What Will Be The ‘Highly Prized’ Property in 20 to 40 Years From Now?

The data is in for the last 40 years and it seems clear who the winners in Australia’s biggest cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are; if you invested your money in the inner city fringe suburbs compared to buying in new estates you would have more than likely doubled and in a lot of cases tripled your money compared to returns from buying ...

Read More

Location is your Trump Card

It is easy to inspect a property and lose yourself in it, even if you are an investor and is trying your best to stay emotionless. After all, who can ignore the fancy but practical new kitchen, the newly renovated bathroom, spacious and cleverly built in robes. But what if the property is located right next to the rail line or in the wrong suburb? ...

Read More

RBA Rate Decision – October 2013

Although the RBA still had scope to move the cash rate lower, in line with many economists’ view that rates would continue to fall, the RBA board chose to leave the cash rate on hold at this month’s meeting today. This leaves the cash rate at 2.5%. Many economists are still talking about the cash rate hitting 2 percent at some point into 201...

Read More

The Psychology of Property Hotspotting

Property Hotspotting is as much about a mindset as it is about spending days looking at statistics and spreadsheets, and the two approaches are powerful in combination. Empower Wealth's Ben Kingsley sat down with Property Observer to provide an insight to his philosophy of finding the next suburb to grow in value, particularly in terms of long...

Watch Video

Victorian (Melbourne) Property Price Data – By suburb and property type

This month has seen the release of the Valuer General’s Property Price Guide data for Victoria for the period up until December 2012.  Now you might think this data is a bit old, and should be release earlier, however it’s important to recognise where the data is being collated from and when the data is actually recognised. The data is source...

Read More

Recognising an ‘Investment Grade’ Property

We are often asked by people "What are the good suburbs to buy in?"  If we could pick a better question to ask a Buyers Agent though, we would ask them "What makes a property an investment grade property?"  The answer is not all that detailed, however SO many people get it wrong.  Like one of team member says, "it's simple but it's not easy!" T...

Read More

Melbourne vs. Sydney

Melbourne vs. Sydney! Which state is a better property investment spot? Which state has a higher growth rate? In the Australia's Property Investment world, this has always been one of the hot debate topic and very often, we don't get any conclusion at all! So this time in  this time in Melbourne Property TV (MPTV) Ben Kingsley, CEO and Founder ...

Watch Video

How Does a Property Investor Ensure that they Buy Well?

Every aspiring property investor is gripped with fear about the impact of their selection when I first meet with them. Their questions range from "where should I buy?" to "what do you think of off-the-plan apartments?" The answer is simple - there are MANY factors that you need to take into consideration to ensure that you buy well; it's not JUST a...

Read More

The ‘Piggybacking’ Strategy

There are many property investment strategies available to investors looking to create wealth through investing in residential property. This month I am going to share with you one of my strategies I call the ‘Piggybacking’ Strategy. Property values are made up of two components, the land value and the ‘improvements’ (more communally ref...

Read More

Reducing the ‘Fear Factor’ in Property Investing (Part Two)

As a Buyer’s Advocate, I get asked all kinds of property related questions. People lean on my expertise and experience for all manner of things.  One of the most common questions I get asked is about the value of any given property. People like to know whether they are paying too much, offering too little, considering selling for the right figur...

Read More