Any clients of Destiny financial solutions or Margaret lomas? Need your feedback

Hi
Been thinking of becoming the clients of destiny financial, any past or recent clients of destiny who would like to share their experience. I would love to hear from you.

Please feel free to send me a private message if you don't want to share your good or bad experience on here. I promise to keep your identity anonymous.

 

I'm not a client and don't have anything good or bad to say about them. A mention of investment locations by Margaret Lomas posted in this forum last year did partly sway my decision on where to buy. Although my broker also separately mentioned the Moreton Bay area.

I'm guessing you may have been to or are considering going to a seminar or education event? This is not necessarily a bad thing to do provided it is for a modest price as it can help with learning and thinking. I've been to a number of seminars myself ( Yardney and one other ), although didn't open my wallet after the inevitable sales pitch.

I highly recommend spending as much time on this forum as possible - Reading, learning and contributing. Also look out for the interviews posted on the old somersoft site. One thing that will really help is going to one of the Property Chat meetups if you can. They are generally every 2 months in Sydney ( Wentworthville ) and occasionally elsewhere. Sometimes they are held in other cities, although less regularly and fewer numbers. Meeting and talking to like-minded investors will really accelerate your investment journey. It's also a good place to meet brokers and others that can help.

Have you thought much about where you want to invest? Do you have any specific long-term goals?

 

I would avoid their broking services, surprisingly for a group that targets investors they're big fans of x-coll.

 

Can you please provide bit more detail on this?

 

There's already been dozens of discussusions in the last 6 months on why cross collateralisation should be avoided. Here's a good overview.
Cross collateralisation - 10 reasons to avoid

 

ML has always promoted x-coll to her followers as a way to move forward with your portfolio, but it's completely unnecessary in nearly all cases and adds a great deal of risk which can be avoided very easily. Read the link Peter posted and you'll see what the issues can be.

 

From what I hear they encourgage crossing and using the St G portfolio loan with the multiple splits. Something I would recommend against.

 

Thanks for the feedback and comments. I would really appreciate if there is someone out there who has been a client and can share of the inside or I can use them for referral

 

That's exactly what I've experienced too - have picked up quite a number of ex-Destiny clients who were all crossed up, unable to invest any further because of the poor structure provided.

Just a little bit scary too - when you see that their PPOR's are consistently the property which is going to be targeted if the house of cards comes tumbling down.

 

@Jess Peletier, @Peter_Tersteeg & @Corey Batt, I'm so thankful we didn't go with Destiny. We considered going down that route 2 years ago, but the costs were just too big! Plus I wanted to learn how to do it myself. I'm not much cleverer today....but very thankful to have not gotten crossed up when I was a complete ignoramus

Good luck @Jungle. There is a wealth of information on Property Chat, and you can learn so much here

 

Thanks everyone and catalyst.
I have heard quite +ve reviews about them from few people which made me to considering getting some help for first couple of years as I have been doing research for 2+ years but haven't been able to pull the plug and buy IP even though I had picked some great areas..
The main +ve about them is they don't sell properties they help with picking the locations and areas but yeah their fee is $$$
That's why I was really interested to hear from someone who is actually a client of Destiny who can share their story first hand.

 

Interesting insights. Wasn't aware that they cost an arm and a leg. The best thing you can do is to look at the portfolio structure upfront and maximise what you can borrow and minimise risk.

Any idea on what their motivation is to cross the properties? Or is it just the easy way for them?

 

Honestly on some level, I think they're simply ignorant of the potential consiquences. I've heard people from Destiny promote it because it's easy to access all the equity in your portfolio. They never talk about the risks involved.

It is a lot less work for a broker to cross collateralise. It's also more difficult to move elsewhere, it can create a 'customer for life' scenario.

 

1. Spend $150 on 5 books
2. Read, learn and network from this forum long term.

That's all you'll need to build millions in wealth if you choose to.

 

Hey jungle, I was a client of destiny few years back.
From memory their education pack was about 4500, in 2 parts, I refused to pay the full coarse amount which they make you do in Melbourne, other states were happy to only do the second part and pay 2k.
They teach you the basics on cash flow positive, (basically the mentor would tell you if you buy a 300k home, it should rent for at least 330-350) How to purchase, loans, cashflow positive. For a complete beginner it can help.
Read all her books and it will save you a small fortune.
They have cashflow positive and expenses software, with negative gearing to help show you the true costs.
This can help you if you don't understand the books, or you can find online calculators to help you. Or pay your accountant.
they will give you software to take home so you can always use it to work it out yourself even when the course is finished.

I paid 2k as I already understood the bare basics and didnt feel i would benefit from it.
Why did I pay for this? I wanted their help establishing a plan and time line with certain purchases to achieve my goal. Their 10 year plan is a load of crap and unrealistic, purchase 1 now, then another and so on and on for 10 years. They assume all those properties will increase in rents and values, or paying down debt to continue with the plan. My plan is currently no where near it, and it's dangerous lending without understanding the risks involved.

I also hoped to get help with better negotiation tactics. They gave us access to read through all previous sales data, I think real estate agents also have the same access to reveal all previous sales sold prices. You can also pay for it I believe.
We were shown how to submit offers with correct legalities which gave us an exit strategy. I hadn't known prior to this how to correctly write it up. For example, if I had written subject to finance. Subject to finance can be any bank and you would have to continue with the process, if you write subject to that particular lender then you can have a get out clause.

I wanted to use their brokers as at the time, they could get better rates than I could. Now I know I can better any of their brokers rates. Just ask @Jess Peletier

I also found their contacts useful, rental agents, tradies, etc etc, these are only recommendations from other members who have had positive feedback with people looking after their rental properties. They actually call up clients that have had great reviews and recommendations, don't confuse this with kick backs.

During the group discussions and monthly meet ups, I ended up helping the mentor, It was very basic mentoring which I stopped going to after one of the clients tried to bid on my property during the negotiation stage, after I openly discussed it. almost strangled that guy, almost lost my purchase.
I then lead him onto some of the worst areas to purchase in regarding particular suburbs, sucker deserved it.

They love st George and com bank.
They will cross all your loans as they find it easier to do, lomas likes to call it the melting pot.
Read up on this as it can be a major issue later don't cross em, so far it's ok for me but I'm sure I'm about to receive a lecture from someone soon

If you need direction on where to purchase, she has a yearly meet up and discusses on her hot spots. Doesn't mean they will be.
I reckon you will get better help on this website regarding locations where not to buy. Rest is up to you.

One thing I wish they included, perhaps they did in the initial training, was risk. There assumptions and projections are for properties and rents always going up, this in real life is not true.
Margaret's books do explain some of this though, and I recomend you read her books, easy to understand, 20 must ask questions is brilliant for any beginner or expert.

Best of luck

 

@Barny I posted this awhile back. I found it useful and it helped me so it might help others.

Secrets of Power Negotiating - inside secrets from master negotiator, by Roger Dawson

Negotiating Secrets, by David Brown

A property investor's guide to negotiating, by John Potter

The negotiation book, By Stave Gates

Trump Style negotiation, by George Ross

 

There annual fee is waived if you have have a certain amount in loans through their brokerage arm of the business.

 

Are you serious? I don't recall they mentioning it at the seminar. Is it national wide offer?

 

Thanks Barny - really appreciated you sharing your personal experience in detail.
I'm bit confused on what you mentioned in your post...
"going to after one of the clients tried to bid on my property during the negotiation stage, after I openly discussed it. almost strangled that guy, almost lost my purchase.
I then lead him onto some of the worst areas to purchase in regarding particular suburbs, sucker deserved it."
How did you manage to lead him onto some of the worst areas to purchase, I thought the diversity staff is there to help you pick the right 'minimum risk properties'

 

Once a month they have catch ups with all members to discuss how they are travelling, what purchases they have made etc etc. one client that I had been in contact with was also interested in purchasing in the same area I was. Instead of putting all the research in, he decided to call and try and purchase a house I had wanted after I stupidly told home about. His offer was rejected and he lost interest. I casually swayed him into the suburbs which I told him had much better value, better returns, future growth prospects, little did he know they were the areas to stay away from with heaps of commission homes. Hardest homes to sell in any market as any local in the area would know. Since he didn't put any effort in learning these things, he didn't know.
Even that suburb I swayed him towards has risen in value, still a hard sale in today's market though.

Short story, don't mention what your buying to other clients after putting all the research in. Beginners are usually like sheep, and can easily be swayed.