Empower Blog Investment Grade

5 Easy Ways to Add Value to an Investment Property

Let us for this exercise look at a typical investment type property being a 1960’s built 2 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment within a two storey block of 10 similar apartments with one car space on title located within a 10 kilometre radius of the Melbourne CBD. The value of purchase is between $300,000 & $400,000 which is very similar to the t...

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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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The Effect of Imperfections on Property Values and Saleability

Now, more than ever since the last property run, buyers are looking for clever ways to buy property at a bargain price. Gone are the days of the buyer's market where a buyer could simply be swift and decisive to pick up a great buy. Now we need to be well connected with the agents, fast to make a decision after the first inspection, and willing to ...

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Five creative ways to increase rental returns

Quite often investors ask us about clever ways to enhance property value. Most investors pay a lot of attention to the value of the property but why don’t they pay as much attention to the returns? Well, we do, and some clever investors out there do so as well. While we like to see our equity position growing, the bottom line for any ‘buy and h...

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Why we don’t like off the plan properties?

We all hear about the benefits of off the plan developments, but aside from stamp duty savings, groovy new dwellings and small holding deposits, what are some of the perils? Many investors have flocked to off plan developments in the past because they were either encouraged by the marketers who were promoting them, or lured by the stamp duty savin...

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Property Research in Property Investment

This time on Melbourne Property TV (MPTV), Ben will be discussing with Des Dowling, MPTV Host on the importance of Property Research in Property Investment. Ben will be demonstrating this with real-life figures and historical trends consisting of the past 37 years movements in the market, focusing particularly on property investment in Melbourne...

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Questions you should ask yourself when adding value to a property

Many investors start out with ideas about creating value - or better still; manufacturing equity....The questions we have for them though are diverse. What level of renovation or improvement does the investor have in mind? How hands-on does the investor plan to be? How long will the works take? Will the works cost the investor vacancy periods?...

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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...

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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...

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Property Selection Myth

Location, Location, Location was and still is the catch cry from most Real Estate agents when it comes to which properties outperform and which properties don’t. When a property investor is looking to make a property selection for investment, maybe we should adopt this principal but with a little more creative license.   Location One: Id...

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