The Property Couch

In their daily role as a Buyer's Agent and Property Investment Advisor , Bryce and Ben often conduct comparable analyses on properties that they are going to buy. This is a crucial part of their due diligence because it demonstrates the suitability of the property for the client’s property plan and also sets a starting point for their negotiation process. So in this episode of The Property Co...

Scarcity. It is one of the three filters in our asset selection criteria and you’ve probably heard Bryce and Ben talking about it numerous times in previous podcasts. In this current market condition, it is more important than ever to ensure you nailed the scarcity factor right. But how do you determine if a property is scarce or not? In this episode, our hosts will be breaking the scarcity factor...

It’s confirmed! Ben Kingsley is the Property Investment Advisor of the Year 2015 Award! This is the second year we’ve championed the PIA Category of the Reader’s Choice Award organised by Your Investment Property Magazine. But this is not a reflection of an individual’s work. Thanks to all of our team members at Empower Wealth and all of you who voted for us. We wouldn’t have done it without our c...

In this podcast episode, Bryce and Ben will be explaining the recently released 2015 PIPA Annual Investor Sentiment Survey and help our listeners in understanding what the report means to property investors and the industry itself. Some of the key insights of the report include the impact of APRA’s regulation on residential real estate, overall sentiment on how the market is performing and where i...

It’s another Q&A episode! We are loving these Q&A episodes. If you have a property-related question that you couldn’t solve or needs an opinion on, please do not hesitate to let us know here . In this episode, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be addressing some topics: Using a Buyers Agent question from Tim: For a person that is looking to purchase an investment property where they’ve...

It’s Q&A time! In this episode, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be addressing some topics: Finance-related question from Kat: Would you please explain more about using equity ? E.g. I heard from a broker that one needs to refinance the loan on the existing property – does this mean the old property and the new one to be purchased are tied together? To assess the equity available, does one...

Are we in a changing market? The Australian property market has had a great run but is it time to think about what happens when it cools down or even corrects itself? In Episode 32 of The Property Couch podcast, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley talks about property investing in a changing market. They started the podcast by discussing the signs and indicators of a changing market. As Ben mentioned...

In this second part of Episode 31 with Carolyn Wright from Your Property Manager , we look at one of our listeners’ questions on managing rental through the property manager, what to expect and how to deal with queries for maintenance. As mentioned in Part 1 , getting a good or bad property manager can make a big impact on your wealth position but what are the characteristics of a good property ma...

This week on the Property Couch, we’ve invited Carolyn Wright from Your Property Manager to talk about her own personal experience as a property investor. Bryce and Ben will also be sharing the lessons that most property investors learn along the way, particularly during the post-purchase process. Getting a property portfolio plan and buying an investment property is only half of the whole journey...

Following Part 1 of Episode 30 ( Five Golden Rules of Property Investment ), our hosts continue on to talk about a topic that Peter Koulizos is currently researching Suburb Gentrification. Previously in episode 26 , Bryce and Ben had briefly touched on this topic and in this episode, they elaborate on it further. Gentrification in general means wealthier people moving into an area and in Australia...

The Property Couch has reached Episode 30! To celebrate this, we’ve got The Property Professor, Peter Koulizos joining us to talk about the Five Golden Rules of Property Investment . Peter comes with a high pedigree in property investment, holding a teaching degree, Graduate Diploma in Property and Masters of Business (Property) and specialises in property valuation and property economics. Combini...

We’ve all made mistakes in life. Some are relatively harmless but when it comes to high-value transactions such as investing in property, the stakes are higher. So this time on The Property Couch podcast, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley list out a few common mistakes that they’ve seen people make in their investment journey. The first mistake is underestimating the importance of having a good lend...

With dwelling approvals remaining close to record high levels and the latest housing credit data suggesting a slowing investment credit growth, will this lead to an oversupply in the Australian property market? On top of that, how is the lending sector affected by the recent changes put in place by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)? All these factors are a cause for concern for mos...

Not every state in Australia has an auction culture but we are seeing an increasing trend in it. In their everyday role as Buyers' Agent and Property Investment Advisors, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley have seen many buyers who are either too afraid of the auction campaign or unsure of what to do in the process. Well, as Bryce mentioned in this podcast, an auction is a necessary evil. It fav...

We have been receiving a lot of great suggestions and questions from our listeners! If you have submitted a question on property investing in Australia and have yet to hear a response from us, don’t worry. We will get to you as soon as we can. In this week’s podcast, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be addressing some topics: Property in Trust from Christ: Can you address investing in trusts?...

It's Questions and Answers time! Thanks for all the suggestions on new topics to cover in this podcast. For today’s episode, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be addressing questions from: High Loan to Value Ratio (LVR) question from Andy: As a relatively new investor, would you recommend gearing as many of my initial purchases at 90-95% LVR as possible to help get ahead early on and do yo...

Drawing from Stephen Covey’s book and as promised in the previous episode ( Exit Strategy in Property Investment ), this week our hosts talk about the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Property Investors. Some of our listeners have asked us before about having the right mindset when investing in property and this episode sort of ties in with that. Bryce and Ben list out the seven habits that Dr. Co...

This week on The Property Couch podcast, Bryce and Ben talk about planning ahead and having an Exit Strategy when investing in property . As Stephen Covey once said, “Begin with the End in Mind”. We think this concept can be applied to property investors as well. Now, there are a few exit strategies out there and as we’ve always emphasized, each household is unique and hence each investor’s exit s...

It's Questions and Answers time! Thanks for all the suggestions on new topics to cover in this podcast. For today’s episode, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley will be addressing questions from: Building and Pest Inspection question from Mark: How do I find a good quality building and pest inspector with the property market being so hot with auctions at the moment, how do I ensure I don’t burn t...

The debate on negative gearing and how it impacts the Australian Property Market is ongoing but when the RBA suggested that negative gearing might be up for a review last week, the debate got hotter. This is further fueled by the controversy about property bubble in Sydney and how property investors play a role in it. So this week on The Property Couch, Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley decide to ta...

There are many factors at play when looking for an investment property, but did you know there’s actually a science behind selecting assets ?  Yep, that’s right folks! This science is called: The Buyers Decision Quadrant !     It’s made up of…  Price Location   Land proportion   Quality of Dwelling   We’ll explain what each one means, and while the concept is quite simple, the real achievement is...

So we’re saying…. swimming pools are bad?!   Building off last week’s episode on the advantages of using a Buyers Agent , we’re looking at the 4 ways an investor will pay…  Buying the wrong _____   By falling into THIS habit   By ____too much   By acquiring THIS information   We’ll be explaining why swimming pools can mean trouble for investors…  Sharing personal experiences and client stories AND...

Folks, a good investment property is just like bricks and mortar bank account!!    (Yep, that’s another great analogy from Bryce – just wait till you hear the cow one too!)   This means – it doesn’t need to have all the looks; it just needs to be investment grade .   And this is exactly where Buyer's Agents come in!! In today’s episode, we’ll be taking a looking under the bonnet and hearing w...

Did you know, to be a great Property Investor… you need to be great in Finance! This means you need to understand how to access money, and most importantly, understand how to use Leverage. Yep, that’s right! And to better understand this concept, we’re drilling down into the Borrowing Power pillar, found in our Four Pillars of Mastery framework . In theory, investors are supposed to be thinking of...

Aaand we’re back at it folks!! Our first double-part episode…ALL IN THE SPACE OF ONE WEEK! Yep. That’s how important we believe these two lessons are!! So today we’re finishing our “5 Essential Steps to Property Investing in Australia” framework (Of course, if you haven’t already listened to the first part, tune in here) covering the last TWO steps of the process:   4. Implement (The researching a...