Empower Blog Property & Financial Investment

Will the Property Market crash in 2013?

Well folks, it is December 21, or as the Mayans call it, April Fool’s Day." - Jay Leno What a relief to know that the Mayans predictions didn’t come true in December last year despite the huge media exposure it received.  But sometimes you could be excused for thinking that the reporting of property in the Australian media is similar ...

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Your State of Wallet Plays with your State of Mind

Have you ever heard the saying ‘Your state of wallet plays with your state of mind’?  Speaking from personal experience and having conducted over 1000 client interviews about managing money, building wealth and buying property, I know it's not just a saying, it's fact! I’m the first to agree that money doesn’t buy you happiness, as your...

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Making Your Offer Irresistible

Real estate negotiation requires creative thinking in any private sale, pre-auction or post-auction negotiation. Buyers make the mistake of assuming that the vendor solely cares about price. Every vendor cares about price, but most vendors care about a combination of price and terms. In a selling situation where the vendor is relaxed about timing, ...

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Is the week before Christmas a good time to buy property?

If you happen to find a property you like in December, you can be savvy and secure it in the weeks leading up to Christmas because as the buyer you generally hold all the negotiating cards at this time.  Once December rolls around, the buying competition becomes thinner as most are thinking more about Christmas day approaching and the related work...

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Interest Rate Outlook for 2013 – Variable or Fix?

As a professional who makes a living out of helping people find the right lending option and loan structuring outcomes,  I know I will get asked what should ‘we’ meaning my clients,  be doing regarding our lending in 2013. Everybody got your Crystal Balls out? Good, because we are going to need them to pick what is going to happen with...

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Another look at Leverage

In earlier articles in this series, we have been discussing the “inputs” that will be required for an Investment Strategy, talking about the different ways that money, time and knowledge will be required to plan, implement and manage an Investment Strategy and how these factors may impact on the outcome of that strategy. In the previous arti...

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Having your Cake and Eating it too?

I’ve educated, met with and advised thousands of people and households about money, finance and their wealth creation endeavors for many years now and on occasion I reflect on the many types of investors, their money management and investment habits as well as their general financial and personal goals and I thought it might make for some intere...

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Buyer’s Tip: Mistakes to avoid if you’re serious about that dream home

We have had a few buyers lately who have been searching for their own home. Our Buyers Agents do help home buyers often, but the blend of home buyers to investors that we work with is not an even blend  - we tend to work with a significantly higher percentage of investors. We were prompted to write this Buyers Tip though because home buyers c...

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Sky Business Channel, Your Money Your Call (December 2012)

This time on Sky Business Channel, Your Money Your Call (YMYC), Founder and CEO of Empower Wealth, Ben Kingsley once again joins host Margaret Lomas and fellow panel expert Bradley Beer from BMT. The panel answers calls and emails from viewers about property and property investing. On this session, Ben and the panel will be receiving calls and dis...

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Conducting Due Diligence when buying Off the Plan Purchase

Off-the-Plan purchase had always been a hot discussion; whether it is wise to leverage on its depreciation benefits or unwise considering the risks involved in the building's completion date. In the November 2012 issue of Your Investment Property Magazine (YIP Magazine), Empower Wealth is interviewed regarding this topic. We do not oppose or suppo...

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RBA Rates Decision – December 2012

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has delivered an early Christmas gift for mortgage Holders with a rate cut of 0.25%. This brings the cash rate to 3.00%, which is at the level seen during the depths of the GFC.  So great news for those who hold debt, but not so pleasing to those who have savings deposits, as this will result in less interest in...

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Ben Kingsley on 10 Home Buyer Traps

Buying your home will undoubtedly be the biggest purchase you'll ever make, so you want to make sure you get it right. In the November 2012 Issue of the Money Magazine, Ben Kingsley is interviewed to provide the Top 10 Home Buyer Traps, identifying the most common Mistakes/Pitfalls that home buyers can make. Amongst the common mistakes that Ben lis...

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An early Christmas present?

We are engaged by property buyers for several reasons; ranging from investors who wish to be steered in the right direction for their investment purchases, through to clients who feel their blood run cold at the thought of bidding at auction. In fact, many buyers flick through the pages on the real estate search engines and dismiss properties that...

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