Disillusioned with API magazine...

I try not to be negative in life, but I cannot help but express my disappointment with API magazine for the following reasons :

- overwhelming and blind positivity in regards to property. Every issue there is the consensus that property doubles every 10 years. "Its so easy!! Just have a property portfolio of $500,000 in your twenties, and by the time you're fifty its worth $2mil - time to retire!" ....a) If only it were that easy ; b) current long-term 5 year growth for property is averaged at 5% ; c) lets not ignore the inflation rate with that figure, and talk about the real growth ie 2%...

- investor stories that conveniently skip the real truth... Investor X has a $3 million portfolio and he's only 35 years old!! WOW!.... What the article glosses over is that he received an inheritance of $300,000 when he was 18...

- investor stories where API magazine does the full sum of the portfolio, bullishly inputs the property has gone up 30% in 5 years for example (even though the data in the back of the magazine contradicts this), or ignores the stamp duty costs, initial deposit etc.... and abracadabra he's made an easy $1mil!

- the recent issue under the QLD profile, has insights from property "experts" who are a couple.... what exactly have they done to deserve being experts? They are building ONE property, this is their FIRST property, and they're spouting how they will retire in 30 years time with a passive income of $200,000...

What a load of rubbish!!

Can anyone recommend a decent magazine that is a bit more realistic about property? Money magazine seems to be my next subscription choice....

 

I use to buy the property mags but nowadays i just read articles on the net .

I guess their running out of stories .
Does anyone still buy these type of magazines ?

 

I have to agree with the above post. I don't buy into these magazines. I used to own a Tattslotto store / Newsagencey and for years I thought these magazine where BS.

 

Property chats the best your gonna get.

 

I think all magazines of all genre's do this to a certain extent. Read some of the articles that have been linked here over the years and you'll see they've been pretty fluffy on the details. I'm featured next month, albeit for a different magazine (YIP) but I don't get to see it first so no idea what details they've included or excluded so maybe my one will appear like the ones you mention. Their primary aim is to sell copies, right?

A couple of things though:

Sounds exactly like me, minus the inheritance part. However, is it such a bad thing? Someone else who has been given an inheritance, gift or windfall might be wondering how to best utilise it as well and I'm sure we'd all like them to invest it rather than blow it.

Yes, I have trouble with this too. Need to be realistic with your forecasts!

Important thing to note I think -
Everyone comes from a different background, different circumstances, different goals, different strategies, different life priorities. Wherever they're up to is great. As long as they're moving in the right direction. I think there's something to be learnt from anyone, whether they're ahead, behind, or the same but different.

 

People like to be told all the warm and fluffy stories. Negativity doesn't sell magazines.

Why do you think spruikers can still find suckers on a daily basis.

 

Are there any books/mags boasting from 'hero to zero'?

When equity goes out the window?

 

Maybe @Daisycutter4 has some input

Calling @Kate Moloney.

 

I just wished these mags would go back to the more modern 'digital' iPad version where I could sort properties by price, vacancy rates etc. I don't like that they have resorted to a plain old PDF version where the data cannot be manipulated.

 

These magazines exist for purely one reason... to sell advertising space to property investment companies/spruikers. The sensational BS stories are there to sucker in the mindless idiots who will fall for that sorta crap.

 

I find that the portfolio numbers are rubbery at best and as others have mentioned I just look for their equity position not that they own 3 million in property

 

Real life experience.
Go out and do it and you will see the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

No one is ever going to write it down for you

 

Precisely.

Being old enough to have lived through several property cycles, I stopped reading during the boom years when some sweet 20 something year old was lecturing on how clever they were having made a motza on a couple of properties and projecting the same results 30-40 years into the future when they would be squillionaires. Those who did not agree how clever they were were clearly idiots.
Marg

 

If someone reads a mag like that and gives them inspiration which puts them on the road to their own financial freedom then that is a good outcome.
Sure facts and values are manipulated/omitted, but it is after all a "magazine" - not a PHD thesis.

Negativity is a mindset, two people can read the same thing and interpret it differently. No one is saying "look you too can do it easily"...

I enjoy the occasional read of these, happy for those that have achieved a lot via property, especially when those who are in these mags come from this very forum!

 

Well this is my take on it. It doesn't matter to me.

IMO property magazines should only be 'used' in conjunction with many other sources of data/information. Have I read some things that I thought were nonsense in the magazine and all the property magazines?? Sure. Have I read things I thought were nonsense from other sources, reports, monthly analysis etc etc from other 'experts'? Sure. IMO it really needs to be viewed all together in conjunction with forums, tv news on property (to gauge sentiment), other market reports, discussion with REAs, looking at growth drivers in areas AND having a solid foundation and understanding of property investing via books and other sources.

I always want to take 100% personal responsibility for my results. If i read something I think its nonsense or rubbish, I jus skip over it to parts that interest me. I cut them out of mags, then do further research and DD from other source to try and corroborate at least some reliability and determine its usefulness. Now newbies may be mislead by reading something perhaps which sucks i agree... but thats life. Its not just magazines that have write ups that are not useful but many other reports recommending places (many of which haven't grown) and strategies ect. Are they all to blame?? Well sure. You can blame them. But it won't change a thing. It certainly won't aid anyone in building wealth.

It all comes down to personal responsibility and actually learning about property investment from the basics and from a wide variety of sources. That way your BS meter will be highly sensitive and you will know what pieces of writings to stop reading, to skip over or to single out for further DD and analysis. Anyone looking at 1 source of information for qualitative or quantitative data and relying on that to any degree by itself, is way off and won't get very far imo.

Thats my personal take.

 

Free subscription to Pricefinder is the only lure for me

 

+1 to this. I bought this magazine to keep me entertained on the plane but found the Jetstar menu was a better read

 

I think some comments a bit harsh on the ol mag.

It's a monthly Magazine with limited pages and stories along with getting the ads in to pay the bills. Once you've found PC you're getting the equiv of mag a week (if not more, plus the historical info is a flamin library) with a range of detail from amateur to guru.

I'm not sure the target demographic but it's not PC gurus that have done it, they want them for the stories! They must be chasing the newbies and people in the game with offers of data subscriptions etc.

I've learnt a lot from them and I'm sure anyone starting out would also learn from them, they are easy to read and provide a variety of stories. Some here have just out grown it and like anything you can either bitch and moan, or put forward some ideas and suggestions for what you'd like to see. Or maybe the mag doesn't want you back??

 

Have you asked to see a draft?? Is want ti know prior, atleast given a day or two for a quick read to check the info and how your portrayed etc.... Plus get some good business spruiking in there! I hope they got a photo of you with a company hat on!

 

@Daisycutter4 is the new editor of the magazine and she is willing to hear new ideas to improve the magazine.

I am always happy to hear stories where people worked hard, sacrificed and forgone the luxury of life in order to get ahead, but I do agree that some of the stories do seem too far fetched and fanciful. Maybe it's me, but adding in someone's PPOR into the total, seems to be a way to buff up the overall amount ie last month's edition or the one before that, an article included someone's PPOR of $2 million into the overall total.

I find that the money magazine is good read, however Paul seems to always support paying down your debt for your PPOR rather then invest in properties. I can understand where he is coming from due to him experiencing 18% interest rates and really it's not a bad thing to be debt free.