Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

8 Tips to Buy in a Hot Market

I’ve been buying property on behalf of clients since October 1998 and in that time I have experienced many hot property markets.  Having moved from Perth to Queensland in 2002 and then to Melbourne in 2006 as well as travelling around the country filming Location Location Location Australia for the last 3 years, it sometimes seemed like I was of...

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Why Do So Many Academics and Economists Get Residential Property So Wrong?

You have to admire those who spend their days trying to improve ours – that’s the pursuit of so many academics and economists all around the world.  They are trying to solve problems and predict outcomes, which makes their work very challenging and also highly rewarding, one would guess, when they do get something right. Knowing these peopl...

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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? ...

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RBA Rate decision – November 2013

The RBA once again has left interest rates on hold at their board meeting today. So the cash rate still remains at record low levels (2.50%). If we look at the RBA Rate Indicator at the start of November only 5% of the market watchers expected the cash rate to be reduced at this meeting. So where are the rate’s heading?... Well it’s still ver...

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It’s all about you

Capital growth or yield? The investment strategy you pursue should depend entirely on your own personal circumstances and there is no absolute one-size fits all strategy. Despite what others might have told you buying an investment property with strong growth means nothing if you can’t find any cash flow to hold the property in the first place. A...

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Buying Well vs …well,… buying.

Every aspiring investor is gripped with fear about the impact of their property 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’...

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It’s never too late to stop being scammed

As a property investment advisor you will inevitably be faced with the question at some stage of your career… “Will I chose PRIDE or will I chose PROFIT?” because in the property investment industry there are some very lucrative commissions that are on offer when a property transaction happens – particularly brand new property. At first gl...

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Is Australia really a good place to grow old?

You may have been pleasantly surprised earlier this month to read in the newspapers that “Australia ranks 14th out of 91 countries in a new index of the best and worst places to grow old, and which warns many nations are ill-prepared to deal with the old age time bomb.  In a rapidly greying world, the Global AgeWatch Index - the first of its kin...

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Will Property Prices Keep Increasing – a 38 Year Analysis – part 2

In last month article I highlighted the returns of 3 different Melbourne suburbs over a 38 year period and in this article I promised to explain how this happened.  In doing so, I have included three new graphs of each Suburb to help illustrate my findings. To help you interpret them I will just explain what is consistently measured in each gra...

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What type of Property Investor are you?

Understanding what type of property investor you are is essential in developing the most appropriate investment strategy. In the September 2013 – Smart Property Investment Magazine (SPI Magazine), Ben Kingsley writes his opinion towards selecting a strategy that fits you rather than a strategy that is popular in the market. To do this, requires a...

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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...

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Ask Bryce – What do you think stops Australians from investing in property?

A:  Fear of debt!  I think most Australians' are conditioned from previous generations that debt is a necessary evil, but it should be avoided as much as possible and reduced quickly when used… but investing in property means you are getting into more of it!! With this in mind, I think it helps to know that there are three types of debt – ho...

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Will Property Prices keep Rising? – A 38 years analysis

One of the biggest questions I get asked by the ‘non-believers’ and ‘sceptics’ regarding property values is, will property prices keep rising? As a property analyst and qualified property investment advisor it’s my full time job to analyse and evaluate the market in terms of historical performance and even more importantly to determine w...

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