What makes a property a lemon?
9 big money mistakes we make
Are you paying a 'learning tax' when you don't have to?
The no reserve auction that was anything but no reserve

Here is what is on this weeks show.....

What makes a property a lemon?  What turns buyers off might be a clue so Jennifer Duke lists the top 10.

To balance that, Bessie Hassan from Finder.com lists the top 5 features buyers will pay extra to have in a property.   She also reveals the 9 big money mistakes Australian’s make and property is right up there.  In fact you might be surprised to hear how much is lost on average.

You can’t beat getting your feet on the ground and seeing the area you plan to invest in.  The temptation is high, because of the internet, to believe that you can assess a good property without travelling to see it.   But travelling there is not always possible.  Michal Yardney this week speaks about what he calls a ‘learning tax’ that may apply if you believe you can invest from a distance.

There are countless budgeting mistakes made by investors all over the world but they can be summarized as underestimating expenses, overestimating income and failing to plan for unexpected costs.  But there are long-term errors investors can make in their existing financial plan and Helen Collier-Kogtevs reveals what they are.

In Brisbane recently a no reserve auction caused an enormous amount of interest when it didn’t sell despite some solid bidding.  Surely a no reserve auction means that the property must be sold even if the highest bid is $1. So what happened and what are the pros and cons of a no reserve auction.

Affordability when it comes to property is one of the most searched terms.  So we have challenged Brisbane expert Shannon Davis to identify the most affordable suburbs in that part of Australia.

Transcripts:

Bessie Hassan - 

Kevin:  Almost half of Australians, around 47%, have admitted to making a costly money mistake. Not surprisingly, divorce is right up there, so too is making a mistake on an investment property or a property purchase. Joining me to discuss this is consumer advocate from Finder.com.au, Bessie Hassan.

Bessie, not surprisingly, divorce comes up at number one. That’s pretty sad, really.

Bessie:  That’s correct. An estimated 1.36 million people have been affected by divorce and do cite this as the costliest financial mistake of their life. But interestingly, this is closely followed by losing money on a property investment. That also has affected almost 1.3 million Australians.

Kevin:  Yes, I guess if we can look at it, we can associate the heart with both of these things. The heart is in the divorce and the marriage, but then I think a lot of investors make a mistake with a property by buying it from the heart as opposed to the head. They don’t make a good business decision.

Bessie:  I completely agree with you there, Kevin. I do think emotion comes into it all too often unfortunately for owner-occupiers and investors alike. Buying with your heart and not your head can lead to these mistakes down the track.

Kevin:  Yes, when you make a mistake with property, too, another interesting aspect out of your research was the average loss was just over $100,000. That’s a lot to lose on one property, isn’t it?

Bessie:  It absolutely is, particularly in a thriving property market as it is now. You buy a property with that view that you will make a huge capital gain, so anyone losing money, particularly of that amount – over $100,000 – should really be doing their research to ensure that this doesn’t happen again or at all.

Kevin:  Let’s help with a bit of that research, because there was another interesting story that I noticed came out of Finder.com.au, and that was the property wish list, the top five home features that buyers will pay extra for. What are those, Bessie?

Bessie:  That’s right. We’ve surveyed more than 1000 people nationally,