What do Property Investing and Top 40 Music have in common?

Music is universally accepted as an expressive, emotional and highly desirable means of communication, storytelling and pastime of us humans. It comes in all forms, from Heavy Metal, to Classical from Music Theatre to Rap and all classifications in between. So what is the link between music and property?

We, as consumers of music, have a choice of what we listen to – maybe we want to express our music preference and listen to hard rock or perhaps some easy listening music instead. Furthermore, as decades and generations pass, music evolves and new music trends develop. I don’t profess to be a music guru like Molly Meldrum or Glenn A Baker, but the 50-60’s was the era of Folk, Rock and Roll and R&B’; then the 70’s gave us hippy peace loving tunes, rock and disco; the 80’s and 90’s gave us some Punk, Soft Metal, New Age Dance, and some Rap; and the 90’s and 00’s has given us, Techno, Alternative, more Rap and new R&B styles and now some Indie Pop.

Whatever the music options are, the public has always had a choice to listen to what they want to; via radio stations and the singles and albums they buy. And ultimately it is the listener/consumer who decides what top 40 music is and what isn’t.

The same is true when you think about property. Some properties will be considered ‘alternative’, some ‘jazzy’, some ‘groovy’, some ‘yesterday beat’ and alike ………..and of course some are ‘mainstream’.

As a property investor you need to look for these mainstream ones because, just like music, if it’s made it into the mainstream top 40 list, then it’s really popular. Needless to say, buying popular property as an investor is a super smart move, as popular properties are ‘in demand’ and you are very likely to achieve an outperform result in the capital growth of such a property.

Let me give you an example. Imagine one hundred people walking up a nice street and that street has a lot of character homes on it and they really looked the part. Of the hundred people, 98 like every house except one, which is boxy looking and has no charm or appeal. The majority of the hundred people determine that the houses with character were the best – hence they were the ‘mainstream’ properties. As for the 2 people who favour the boxy looking property, they obviously had alternative tastes which is absolutely fine, but from an investment perspective, if this property was to ever come up for sale, it simply wouldn’t attract the interest of most buyers and as such would more than likely achieve a poor capital growth return.

 

So what makes a good mainstream property?

Interestingly, there is not a set formula for mainstream popular property because in different cities all over the world there are hundreds of different styles of homes and properties and the population bases in each market are the ones that choose what’s ‘mainstream’ for them. In many cases they are not just looking at the property, they also consider its locality and neighbourhood as they make their judgement.

That’s why property investment in not that easy, not every property makes for an ‘investment grade’ property. I suppose it’s like any music label – they too are always on the pursuit for the next big thing or the next popular sound. Some will come and go and some with become listening classics, just as property styles will come and go and some will stand the test of time and be mainstream classics.

 

Remember knowledge is empowering if you act on it.