Joel’s Journey

Joel, an avid listener to The Property Couch, was living in Western Australia while he engaged in a range of our specialists services. As a first time investor, Joel was after secure advice about how to finance and fund his future investment portfolio. In particular, he needed support with the type of plan that would benefit his specific needs and goals. After meeting with our Property Wealth Planning team, it was noted that the best ingredients to suit Joel’s financial circumstances were both a yield play and a balanced growth. With this in mind, Joel engaged the services of our Buyers Agent, Christa Batt, to help action his plan with the right property.

 

The Search Process

Given Joel’s brief, Christa honed in on suburbs where a higher yield asset was attainable, as was capital growth. For this reason, consultation and education about the different markets around Australia was necessary. It was decided that becoming a borderless investor was the best move forward for Joel. With Christa’s knowledge in all corners of Australia, including Queensland, they narrowed the search down to Mermaid Waters.

The Selection

Joel felt confident in Christa’s suburb selection and trusted her judgement in the subsequent asset selection — a large townhouse in one of the fastest growing areas in Queensland, and within walking distance to everything. It was no secret the property needed a little TLC, but it was a financially viable decision — nothing outside of Joel’s reach.  Interestingly, all it can take is couple of hundred dollars towards maintenance to give a property an added lift. Not to mention small equity increases along the way, with little effort at all.

The Negotiation

With decades of experience with real estate agents, Christa’s negotiation skills really proved invaluable to Joel. Using the cost of the property’s maintenance as a point of reference, Christa pushed the price down to what, really, is only achievable when you buy houses for a living! As a result, Joel scored a three bedroom townhouse for $49,000 under the initial asking price, all in a location with huge lifestyle drivers. Oh, and an immediate tenant to achieve Joel’s required yield.

We think we did pretty well for Joel, indeed.  (You can get more information on Renovating for Profit by clicking here.)

The Pre and Post Settlement Service

As is the way with all of our clients; after the property was purchased we coordinated the building inspection and all contract reviews. This meant making sure all negotiations made after the auction, including additional contract conditions and various maintenance items, were checked and carried out correctly. We assisted with property managers and made sure everything was in place for Joel. As mentioned, an immediate tenant was source, helping to pay off Joel’s mortgage from day one!