Property investment should be simple

Every body has an opinion about money and especially about property investment. There is no other investment medium that seems to generate so many weird and wonderful ways to make money, or to invest other than property.

Why? Well probably because property it’s at the heart of basic human survival characteristics being that of shelter…oh, and the fact that it makes up literally tens of billions of dollars of physical, hard assets.

Unlike some investment products, we can touch it and feel it and get a real sense of ownership from property, which no other investment product can do, right?

And there are so many different types of property from residential, commercial, industrial and retail etc. each with each own unique characteristic’s of course.

The property industry in general really is such a massive business on it’s own but when you take into account that more money is leant against property then the dollar amounts across each of these two sectors is staggering.

But how does this relate to the general person and how can the general person get some advantage from all these big numbers and get ahead financially?

Well, firstly, keep it simple always works especially when it comes to investing and anything to do with money really.

Property, and especially residential investment property, is one of the most effective ways for the everyday working person to get ahead with an attempt to create something of a nest egg for their financial future.

There are a lots of so-called property guru’s out there who will give you lots of advice (for a price) about the “secret way to make money with property” and then take your money and give you (what in a lot of cases is just a load of rubbish) or is a pumped-up version of what our great, great grandfathers knew about making some money from property.

Use some common sense, buy a good property (in most cases a house) in a good location, at a good price and keep it…for a long time.

Think about it, if you buy a good property in a good location at a good price and you keep it long enough, then how can you go wrong? You’ll always attract tenants because it’s in a good location and if you use professional rental management then you will probably never have too much trouble in this area to have to concern yourself about it.

Then you can get on with doing whatever it is you do for a job and make a living and look after your family, and watch your investment property get some equity growth.

Now, I can hear some people out there saying how do you find the right property in the right location at the right price?

Glad you asked and I must admit that in today’s information age this could be considered either an easy task or a very hard one depending on how you look at it.

There is so much information out there about just about everything and investment property is certainly a big slice of this. Of course there is now a new growing sector in property being that if the buyers agent. Those who look after the buy rather than the seller. Admittedly, buyers agents do tend to favour those looking for an owner occupied property rather than an investment property but the concept does cover assistance in buying a suitable rental property and not just a principal place of residence.

How do you find a good buyers agent who will keep your best interest at heart? The answer here again is use your common sense and gut feeling. Check around, ask for some referrals and definitely ask them if they too are an active property investor.

They have to practice what they preach; otherwise they’re just selling you something for the commission.

They don’t have to own 20, 30 or 40 properties but I’m a big believer they do have to have some actual, practical experience in this otherwise how are they ever really going to know what the hell it is they’re talking about and give you some useful direction?

Residential investment property is one of the absolute best ways for the average working class Australian to build up some real wealth to supplement their retirement and their superannuation.

The reality is that if you have some equity in your own home and/or some cash deposit, then most people can get started with a modest investment property and lets face it, getting started is half the battle.

You don’t have to be wealthy to invest, but you do have to invest to be wealthy.

The author of this article, Gary Fabian is a Director of Precision Advisory and is an active property investor.