Empower Blog Professional Advice

Question of Trust in Property Adviser

We've said it before, the property investing industry is an unregulated one. Property investment advisors don't need to be qualified or have any formal education to be giving out property investment advice so how would be able to place your trust in property adviser. So if you are just starting on your investment journey, how do you know if the pro...

Read More

24 Key Questions Answered (Property Investing FAQ)

When it comes to investing in property, there are a few Frequently Asked Questions that constantly get asked by our fellow readers. In this Money Magazine's Special Edition 2016, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley join forces with other property experts and help shed some light on some of these common questions. Here are the list of question in this a...

Read More

Common complaints from property investors

I've been involved in the property industry now for 18 years since 1998. I bought my first investment property in 1999 and during that time, I've seen a lot of things. I've helped a lot of investors across multiple states and I've also bought personally across multiple states. And one of the things that I often find interesting when I do speak to p...

Watch Video

The property self assessment test

When we’re building property portfolio plans for our clients, there is a section we go through as part of learning about them. And that section is what we call the property self assessment test. We ask them whats their level of skill and what’s their level of experience in being able to do this themselves. So we ask them to rank that between 1 ...

Watch Video

The $500,000 Mistake

Ben is often seen as the expert in the property investment industry and the fact is, he IS an expert. Not only is he one of the top Australia's property investment advisor, he's also a property investor himself and like everyone, he has gone through some ups and downs. In the May 2016 edition of the Australian Property Investor Magazine, Ben writes...

Read More

Five tips to get property advice

Its always an interesting discussion you have with someone who' s planning a wedding. They spend this huge amount of time in the lead up to the wedding. What they're going to have at the reception, what dress, what the groom is going to wear, where are they going for their honeymoon.. It's just so much planning that goes into this very one day but ...

Watch Video

Seven habits of highly effective property investors

I've always been a really avid reader of positive mental attitude books and one of my favorites is the Stephen Covey classic, seven habits of highly effective people and there are seven really cool habits that you can apply into your life if you really want to be the cream of your field, your life and your industry. So I thought it will be really f...

Watch Video

Who’s more important: Buyers Agent or Mortgage Broker?

So, it is always interesting when it comes to investing in property, who is actually more important? Is it the Buyers Agent or Mortgage Broker?? And of course, being a Buyers Agent, you expect me to say that Buyers Agents are so important that they couldn't be possibly outrank by the Mortgage Broker but I think people will be surprised by my answer...

Watch Video

3 questions to ask yourself when setting up an SMSF

So what are the three initial considerations you need to consider when setting up a Self Managed Super Fund or SMSF? The first consideration is who's actually making the recommendation to you? Is it your mortgage broker, is it a real estate agent, is it a property spruiker or is it a buyers agent? All these people are legally not allowed to recomm...

Watch Video

The Right Advice

With the property market as it is now and the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), most people often forget that the property investment industry is an unregulated one and there are a lot of spruikers lurking around.  In this issue of Australian Property Investor (API) Magazine, Ben Kingsley was asked to share his opinion as the chair of PIPA and explain m...

Read More

Why do you need a Property Wealth Plan?

So you're thinking about investing in property. Well, let me share with you the importance of planning and getting it right in the first time. I'm going to use this example. Take a look at this beautiful home, lovely floor plan as well isn't it? Well, the reality is, that house couldn't have been achieve and that outcome couldn't have been achie...

Watch Video

How do you make a $200,000 mistake in Property?

So how do you make a $200,000 mistake in investing in property? Well, its quite easy really if you don't do the right preparation and the right planning work. Let's look at this example: Let's say you have a $500,000 property and because you've done your homework and you've done your numbers, you think that's all you can afford. But in reality, if...

Watch Video

Property spruikers named and shamed

>> Play Audio here   More than 86 property spruikers have been nabbed in a coordinated effort to stop promoters duping investors with unfair rent-to-buy schemes and “free” investment seminars. In this episode of Real Estate Talk, Kevin Turner talks to Ben Kingsley about the findings, the culprits and how you can protect yourself ...

Listen Now