In the long run, quality often proves to be better than quantity.  Shannon Davis from Metropole Property Strategists in Brisbane joins us again this week to discuss why investors should buy a unique property to reap the rewards. Find out what to look out for when searching for that property with “a twist”.

Listen in to the podcast by using the player embedded into this page or read the transcript provided below. Enjoy!

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT :

Andrew Mirams (AM): Welcome to our latest podcast. Sitting with me today is Shannon Davis, Director of Metrolpol Properties in Brisbane. Thanks for joining me Shannon.

Shannon Davis (SD): Thanks Andrew. Thanks for having me.

AM: Shannon, I see the whole Metropol philosophy is about trying to buy a property with a twist. Now, I’m assuming that doesn’t mean with a corkscrew. I’m assuming that means it’s something a bit different or unique. Can you explain to me a little bit more about that?

SD: I think we see a lot of investors and they think that they need to buy lots and lots of properties to be wealthy through property investment but…

AM: That certainly helps.

SD: …but I would rather fewer more quality investments rather than, say, inferior investment properties that won’t give you the capital growth that you need. What we look for at Metropol is property with a twist, something that makes it little bit scarce, something that can make it outperform the others. In Brisbane what we look for is things like maybe walking distance to the train, extra off street parking, cul-de-sac position, maybe a river or city view, a good school catchment, maybe really big large bedrooms, maybe we can do something with the layout to increase its value and something that’s really special about that property so it will outperform the others.

AM: We’re looking for something special. You mentioned a couple of really good features about size, either or bedrooms or a car space or something like that. Would it be fair to say then that you’re looking at, not just what you’ve got there, but also what you could potentially do with it?

SD: Definitely, whatever increases the market depth or the demographics will give us a greater capital growth and there’s an old saying in sales ‘perception is reality’. If we buy something, for example, and it’s perceived to be poor or something about it, then it’s not going to be a good capital growth performer for our client.

AM: A cosmetic renovation. Now, obviously as you know, I’m in Melbourne so the renovation we might do in Melbourne might be a bit different to what we might do in Brisbane. A lot of the things would be the same but there are properties in Brisbane different to other capitals in Australia. Talk to me about a couple of things that are important in the Brisbane market.

SD: When you buy in Brisbane you need some outdoor space, definitely, like courtyards or balconies. They should be covered not uncovered. Cooling is definitely important. You want air conditioning or at least ceiling light fans in the rooms and some of the other things they go well in all states. But, people don’t travel with wardrobes anymore so built ins are always a good asset to have and another value add we would do is probably, maybe there’s less need for studies at the moment, I think more and more people are going for study nooks because we’re using for things like iPads rather than traditional PC’s (personal computers), so maybe a study could become another bedroom for you and we can fit a little study nook in there somewhere so you get the best of both worlds.

AM: Okay and, of course as with every property, the girls walk in and look at a kitchen and a bathroom. They’re obviously important to.

SD: The kitchen is the heart of the home. Probably the most important improvement you can do and that’s essential. Once that kitchen’s getting a little bit tired you will start to get lesser and lesser rents, from that you will get lesser and lesser qualified tenants and you’re in a downward spiral as far as your investment property goes.

AM: If you’ve got potential tenants and they like to cook, and things like that, an old oven versus a new oven, again it might not cost you much but, it might make the difference in securing that good tenant that you really want to put in versus someone that you don’t.

SD: Definitely and the little thing as well is cooks prefer gas, we found, rather than hot tops so gas cooking can be a good feature for a kitchen upgrade.

AM: When we’re looking at ultimately with the twist, tell me if there were three things in Brisbane you always want to have. The main three things that a Brisbane property should have, with a twist, that’s really going to give it a great long term appeal and, obviously, outperform capital growth wise. What would those three tips be?

SD: I would think its basically shopping access, transport and the third thing would be schools. If it’s a dwelling where it’s not likely to have children maybe the walkability would be more important than the schools. But where ever possible let’s try to get some shopping access and transport in and out to that property really easily and good schools in the area. That’s the basis for good demographics in and around you and from those good demographics you should get good capital growth.

AM: Sounds like you’re describing to me an owner occupier place. Is that the key to a good grade investment is it?

SD: Yes, it’s counter intuitive. Go for owner occupier appeal. You’ll enjoy better returns. Run away from investment hot spots. Those ones are much more volatile in a downturn and therefore your money parked in that investment is at much more risk so go to where the owner occupiers want to be and if you don’t want to live in it, it’s probably not a good investment.

AM: I think that’s a great point and the next hot spot very quickly tomorrow becomes the next done thing, doesn’t it? You want something that’s going to be there and going to be rock solid for the future.

SD: The crowd arrives too late and often they’re guided by real estate journalism that could be two or three months behind the curve and by the time you’re hearing about it other people are selling out so I’d watch out for that trap.

AM: I think there are some fantastic tips on how to buy a great outperforming property in the Brisbane property market. Thanks, Shannon, for joining us today.

SD: Thanks Andrew. Thanks for having me.