Property success stories are everywhere but we have to warn that there are many stories we don’t hear about because there are many people who fail.  So what makes a successful property investor?  That’s what we discuss with Andrew Mirams who has seen it all.

Regular guest Michael Yardney shoots holes in the theory that property investing is all about cash flow. He says rather we should be looking at it as a high growth low yield investment strategy. He explains more today.

Dr Andrew Wilson defends the stats we all rely on and while they seem to differ, there are some ways to look at them that will reveal the true story. Andrew tells us more.

George Raptis, a seasoned investor himself and a property strategist from Sydney, talks to us about one of the biggest mistakes he sees investors make. At the same time, we discuss the difference between buyers agents and strategists.

Time heals all wounds – or so they say. Jan Somers says that it does take time but rather than using time to cover mistakes, why not look at time being an important element in your strategy.

Investing where you live because you are comfortable with that location, you know the facilities and what is going on, sounds all fine but as Jane Slack-Smith will point out there are some shortcomings that may not be that evident.

Also this week we encourage you to go back to the basics, more important information on depreciation and we tell you about an area in Australia where investors are paying for infrastructure they are not using.

 
Transcripts:
George Raptis
Kevin:  This is a fascinating subject. I love talking about it because it’s something that a lot of property investors totally miss out on, and that is the importance and the value of bringing people who have already experienced a lot of the things you’re going to experience along the way, and that’s building a team, because so many people think that you can learn a lot more by doing everything yourself. That’s a great way to lose some money.

George Raptis joins me from Metropole Properties in Sydney.

Good day, George.

George:  Hi, Kevin. How are you going?

Kevin:  Good, mate. How often do you see that, George, where someone thinks, “I’ll do it myself; I’m going to learn a lot as I get along the way”?

George:  I see it a lot, unfortunately. Sometimes people think they can do it all themselves, but I’m always a big advocate of surrounding yourself with a team. For example, if you look at myself personally, albeit I’ve been in properties for many, many years – I don’t manage my own properties, I don’t do the maintenance on them, I don’t do my own tax, that sort of thing.

I guess, for me, I learned a very valuable lesson, and that was somebody said to me, “George, if you think it’s expensive hiring a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.”

Kevin:  There is another saying, too, that a good friend of both of ours uses all the time, and that is that you should surround yourself with people who are better at doing things than you are, and if, in fact, you’re the smartest person on your team, then you have a real big problem.

George:  Exactly right. You need to surround yourself with a team of professionals, Kevin, definitely.

Kevin:  Let’s look at property, then. On your team, who would you have? There are the no-brainers, like you need an accountant who is familiar with property.

George:  Yes, you definitely need a good tax-savvy accountant. You need a smart lawyer, someone who can help you with asset protection, a proficient mortgage broker, someone who can sit down with you and go through finance strategies, not just get you pre-approved for pre-approval’s sake, and obviously, an independent property investment strategist, not someone who sells property or who has a vested interest in helping the project marketers and the developers of the world, but someone who is independent and truly on your side.

Kevin:  Yes.