Private Property chats to Neale Petersen, Founder and Publisher of Real Estate Investor Magazine, who shares his top tips on how to successfully invest in real estate.
Marc:
So I’m here with Neale from the Investor Magazine, and he just gave a really good talk at the investor theatre, on advice on investing in property and what that looks like.
So we’re going to ask him what are some key points in terms of investing in property.
Neale:
I think there's really a number of things an investor needs to look at. It all depends whether you're just starting out. It all depends whether you're a little bit more seasoned or a little bit advanced. So there's not a one size fits all answer for everyone. If you're just starting out as an investor, you've got to make sure that you have a good credit record. You've got to make sure you have a deposit. And also, you must have the ability of just being inquisitive. You need to be able to find the best deal that will pay you from day one, and I suggest investing in a cash flow positive property going forward.
There are many ways that you can invest in real estate. There's the capital growth method. There's the buy and hold method which is either negative or positive. I said positive cash flow. There's people that do developments methods for Airbnb, converting into multiple occupancies. So there's also the capital flips where you get an old property. You fix it up. It all depends on your objectives as an investor and which particular one that you have identified that fits your risk appetite and also your goals.
So you start at the beginning in terms of, "Well, what does my balance sheet look like? What is my income currently? How much cash do I have available to invest? So there's a number of factors. I'm not here to sell a particular property investment or whatever it is. And we don't sell investments. What we really do is we give advice of whether it's a residential flat, or whether it is sectional title townhouse, or whether it's a free-standing house. There's opportunities with all of them. Or you could buy a commercial property, or you could go offshore. Everybody's appetite is different. And so it's really understanding what those objectives are, what your goals are as an investor, and then really determining your way forward.
