Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

Trust by Association

It's easy to be skeptical about anyone who is entrusted to look after your money, but there are a number of factors you can look out for to ensure your property professionals are trustworthy. In the April 2014 issue of Smart Property Investment Magazine, Ben Kingsley; chairman of Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA), writes about ...

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RBA Rate Decision – May 2014

Hello, Ben Kingsley here and today the RBA met and release their cash right decision. As anticipated by many, the cash rate was kept on hold at 2.5 percent. In this month I want to talk to you about the big pending discussions which is dominating the financial sector at the moment and that is the budget. Next Tuesday night's budget and what that me...

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What is a Tax Depreciation Schedule?

Depreciation is tax deduction for property investors. We invest in property to increase our wealth over time. One thing that we need to do is make sure we claim everything that we are able to claim, one of those thing being depreciation. Items in a property are wearing out over time, the buildings will one day fall over I guess and so the tax offic...

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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 Austra...

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How can Parents help?

I had a fabulous Christmas party with my Mum's side of the family Christmas just gone. Three exciting things happened. Firstly - I'd pulled together a wonderful negotiation on a large floorplan 2BR apartment in St Kilda for a lovely client who was traveling in Vietnam with her friend. Her Dad had agreed to be her Power of Attorney in the event that...

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Is Land Size Still King?

As property markets evolve, so do the factors that influence successful investment strategies. While traditional views have often placed significant emphasis on land size as a key driver of property value, this perspective is gradually shifting. In today's market, especially in urban areas, land value is becoming more critical than sheer land cont...

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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...

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ASIC’s Barriers to Making Good Financial Decisions

It was pleasing to see, as brought to my attention by the editor of Property Observer, Jennifer Duke in her fine article last week – The five factors inhibiting every investor in today's advice-laden world, that ASIC did have a good understanding on consumer investment behaviour when it comes to financial decisions they make.  And the report car...

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Property with $0 Deposit

Saving a deposit to buy your first property is one of the hardest things for most of us to achieve, especially if we are paying hefty rents in the meantime. Take, for example, the Sydney property market, where (as of time of publication) the median dwelling price is $660,000 and you need a hefty $132,000 for a 20% deposit. By the time you save...

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RBA Rate Decision – April 2014

Today the RBA has left the cash rate on hold at 2.5%. So that's another month where interest rate are at historical low. Now, Glenn Stevens made a parliamentary comment earlier this month, basically saying that they see a period of stable cash rate position and monetary position. Now that's good news for the general economy because what it does ...

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Top 5 Questions on Property Investing

>> Play Audio Here   In this interview with Kevin Turner from Real Estate Talk, Bryce talks about the Top Five Questions in Property Investment. A few of the questions include what stop the average Australians from investing in property and What are some quirks in different parts of Australia that a budding investor would be wise to ...

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Sky-high Vacancies

Many investors look for properties with high capital growth opportunities but fail to recognise external factors that could increase their chances of experiencing rental vacancies. Our team explains more in the March 2014 issue of Smart Property Investment Magazine. As property investors, rental vacancies means a lot - cash flow, mortgage paymen...

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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 ...

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