Empower Wealth and Right Property Group

Hi All,

I am starting the process of planning my wife and my future with the aim of getting financial planning advice to create a long-term strategy around property investment. I have been listening to The Property Couch and Smart Property Investment podcasts and have become interested in Empower Wealth and Right Property Group.

They have been around for a fair while but I was wandering whether anyone has had any recent dealings with, the reviews that I can find are either old, or hard to verify. I would appreciate anyone who has been in contact with them to provide a fresh take on their services, which might help me make a better-informed decision

Thanks

 

Use the search function if you haven't already.

 

1) Use the search function
2) Ask the companies if they can possibly provide you with the contact details of some of their willing clients

 

These look like companies with multiple employees so I would be asking for recommendations on specific people rather than at a company level.

We have a bunch of clients who have used empower and they are from the forum so hopefully people can jump on and share their feedback.

 

I had a bad experience with RPG where I engaged them and they made me get a pre approval that was too high for my budget and offered me exactly what they say isn't investment grade properties: 1 bedroom flat in Brisbane, in the middle of the unit oversupply crisis(a couple of years ago) and a property in a main road, in the middle of nowhere. They also went MIA for a few weeks after I rejected both offers. With the pre approval about to expire, I secured another property myself, with help of my mortgage broker.

2 IPs after, I'm now looking at Empower Wealth to see if there's fit.

Good luck!

 

Be very careful, extreme due diligence is required.... why not use this forum to learn and do it yourself?

 

Hi, I am thinking of using EW. Did you end up using them? I haven't heard good things about RPG. Thanks

 

I've had quite a bit to do with Ben and Bryce from EW and I can tell you they're both stand up guys, very honest and genuinely care about the client, product and end result. I would be more than willing to refer someone to them. They're a bigger operation, but that can also mean checks and balances and more accountability sometimes too.

Good luck!

Andrew

 

Yeah, won't recommend Right Property Group either.

I don't feel you will get value from the 10k fee that they charged.

I was really surprised that they don't always inspect properties themselves, in my case, they were getting the selling agents to do the videos for them. And they keep feeding me properties from the same sales agent.

When I finally found a decent property and was about to go through with the purchase, was hit with another surprise: they don't send anyone to do final inspection but relies on the property manager to do it for them (from the same company of the selling agent!).

Maybe they will be more hands on for property in Sydney - but don't bother if they are buying you interstate properties, might as well engage a local buyer agent which I ended up do and was very happy with the outcome.

I love the content and education from Empower Wealth, but am now wary about buyer agency that buys nationally (after experience with RPG), do they physically visit the properties and inspect them? If not, you're just paying for their data and research.

 

RPG group charge 11k now and I won't go with them. I've heard others who have sourced multiple properties through them and the majority haven't achieved any capital growth.

I've had a number of chats with EW. I was advised that for properties in Syd and Melb the BA's inspect the properties themselves. But for Adelaide and Brisbane they have 'spotters' who are part of their network...not sure what that means. Most of the work seems to be done from where the BA is based. I managed to contact someone who gave EW a glowing reference. They did the property plan + full BA service. Couldn't speak more highly of them.

 

Hi All,

Interesting feedback about RPG. My experience / context is slightly different & positive.

We bought about 7-8 properties via RPG. We started with RPG about 2009 and did most of our purchases till about 2014-15. We were time poor and knew very little about RE markets at that point in time. Our incomes were strong. We got opportunity to work closely with Victor (one of the directors) and the charges were 5.5 k to about 10K towards later years.

Most of our purchases were in Sydney / NSW. Most of them have done well due to timing of purchase and time in market. No regrets on that front.

Few other positives:
- With that initial support we gained confidence to purchase few more in Brisbane (more from Cash Flow)
- Made heaps of friends / gained lot of knowledge.
-Set-up a nice 7 mill portfolio well balanced in today's environment.
- Gathered a terrific team in my corner (including Victor & Steve)
- I now do full time Property Development and Investment.

Lessons & Tips:
- Heaps of people are now B.A's but not hand's on.
- Start with someone more like a mentor for a small fee (if required) and get into investing as a serious venture. It's not rocket science.
- Know why you are paying and what you are getting.
- Read / Talk / network / Take action even it is small steps initially
- Enjoy the journey nobody get's it 100% at first shot.

Cheers

 

Thanks for sharing your feedback @Subodh Shirodkar, glad that it worked out well for you. I feel things probably have changed now that RPG grows bigger, I did ask few PC members before engaging them and some did vouch for them.

I had 3 hours session w/ Glenn, which was good and got a lot of value from, then an hour session w/ Victor which was OK.
But from then on I was primarily dealing with the lady from the company - she's the one that put forward properties to me.

 

How strange I have received a phone message from RPG!

I have to admit Victor is a lovely guy but at the end of the day I'm not really that interested in creating a friendship. This is a important business transaction for me and I can't risk buying an IP which does not achieve any capital growth.

Having said that both Victor and Steve have an incredible wealth of knowledge, and I will continue to listen to their podcasts and take what I can.

But it is good to hear everyone's experience on this topic. I will also post mine if/when I use EW!

 

Hi Jane,

Would be nice to hear feedback and experience of other investors / BA's out there.

In my view while is property is a long term investment etc. Real wealth is created if we can push up the equity or manufacture growth by adding value to a house or land (generally with units you can't do much).

May be for new investors safe option is to setup a long term buy and hold portfolio as a base / foundation and graduate to more value adding strategies.

 

Ouch! That is not a great investment in Brisbane at all. Where was the 1 bedroom flat located?

Now with borders closed a lot of Sydney and Melbourne based Buyers Agents are not doing inspections themselves. Sales Agents here in Brisbane tell us what they are asked to do by a few interstate Buyers Agents (not all). Buyers have to remember that a Sales Agent will not "show" the issues with a property if they are the ones sending a video inspection. Also, a pre-settlement inspection should not be done by a property manager who has now seen the property at the time of the purchase (ie: this is the purpose of the pre-settlement inspection to ensure the property is in the same condition as it was when purchased).
There is a LOT of risk in this process in my opinion.

 

Hi, you mentioned in your post about a mentor to help me. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks

 

I've had a bee in my bonnet about this for years and agree wholeheartedly with @MelindaJennison and @mitsui here. A purchaser engages us as their buyer's advocate to search, locate, negotiate and secure on their behalf. They pay us a fee to do the physical legwork involved, so why on earth would a buyer hire someone who ISN'T EVEN INSPECTING THE PROPERTY? You can't tell me that there's no conflict of interest with the selling agent (who's working for and paid by their client ie: the vendor) or the property manager (who's attached to the same selling agency) in these transactions. Where's the independence?

If you're going to go to the expense of hiring an agent to work on your behalf to sell your asset, imagine hiring someone interstate (or in a town several hours drive away) to do the job, knowing that they're not going to hold the opens or ever physically be there at the property. They'll get their buddy to do it instead....

 

That is so sly. Good info though. Thanks.

 

I agree 100% it makes no sense.

 

Hi Jane,

Just wondering if you decided to use EW and what was the reason behind your decision?

Cheers,
Dan