Magazines - any thoughts or recommendations?

As much as I love going through forums and threads, and stumbling across interesting and thought-provoking topics and comments, I also still love sitting down with a good magazine, and having a paper-based read.

I was trying to decide what magazine(s) to sink my teeth into - I'm looking at 'treating myself' to a couple of subscriptions. I have already decided on 'Money' (unless someone can convince me otherwise), as I like a well rounded view on investing, and looking at shares, asset classes etc.

But when it comes to a magazine devoted to property investing, I can't decide between 'Australian Property Investor' and 'Your Investment Property'. Any thoughts or recommendations - pros and cons for either/both? Or is there something better out there that I'm not aware of?

I'm pretty much a 'newbie' at this, so I'm not after a highly technical, advance approach. Just more information to broaden my knowledge, and skill set.

TIA, KayTea

 

They both have different articles I suppose, usually different 'experts' featured in them.
API has 3 months access to Pricefinder (costs about $175/mth) included with a 12 month subscription, pretty good value.

 

Pricefinder is the only reason to get a subscription, all the articles are fluffy and without substance.

 

On the Negative

Had a look at an API Magazine a while ago and there were 9 pages of advertising ranging from full to part pages within the first 14 pages of the magazine, I think nearly 1/3 of the magazine contained ad's

On the Positive

Apparently there's a lot of people willing to help make me rich through property and are keen to point me in the right direction, just because they are nice fellows- God bless them

I'm sure if you did a test from the balcony of a two story unit, those magazines with the most ads would travel further when thrown, due to the weight and paper quality of the ads within; bear this in mind when reading the magazines and investors stories

 

I reckon you will learn something from magazines. But remember that they exclude lots of details and thus you would not get a full picture from their investor stories.

I would suggest subscribe to both magazines. In two years you will know which one you want to continue. They have some 10-15 themes which are repeated and at one point you may no longer need them. (One year should be enough for Money magazine)

This forum will give you more details than any magazines. Books and magazines have their place too.

 

I'm not sure I've got that much reading time up my sleeve

 

I like the 'Handyman' magazine due to all the tips in DIY stuff and increasing my awareness of fixing things!

 

I don't disagree with you, jins, but I love a bit of handyman stuff for my own personal 'downtime' and pleasure - I can't imagine that I'd be able to work fast enough, invest the time needed, or have the skill set, to work on an IP. Given how long it can take me to just paint one room, I think the IP would have to remain vacant for a year ……..

 

Some of the info towards the back of the magazines for vacancy rate, yield, median price increases etc... can be hard to find in other places.

 

Maybe start with ones that are about 4-6 years old,you can buy them in most second hand books shops for 50 cent ,and read forward from those time frames and study the slick fast bucks advertising
from mining towns,off the plan,so many different investment styles some never talk about TAX ect
and the high scores they all give each other to look intelligent,the past is sometimes the best way to look forward..

 

I subscribed to a couple for a few years. look out for deals when subscribing, like a free book etc. After a while I got a bit sick of them. And some of the "amazing" stories were nothing compared to what people I met on here were doing. Someone buys 3 properties that haven't gone up much and are not CF+. Big deal. I gave away all my old ones.
Why don't you go to your local library and borrow some back issues. it's good to see past issues for prices, ideas on strategy etc. You can see how those "hot spot" predictions went. Most libraries get them each month. If you want to read the latest one they usually have it but it cannot be borrowed for a month. If you like a particular one subscribe after that.

 

API has the best quality content, though YIP is worth grabbing too. A year subscribed to both of them and you'll be exposed to a lot of stuff covering a wide range of topics (many of which you might not have stumbled across otherwise) and have access to data in the back each month.

Some of the bonus stuff for subscribing is quite appealing too.

Property Chat will provide 95% of what you want though.

 

API all the way.

Cheers

Jamie

 

I agree with the advice to head to your local library or op shop to have a peak to figure out which one appeals to you.

 

Yeah, I've bought a few when I've seen them occasionally, can be interesting.

 

From the latest (October) API. Darlington units went up from $642k in June 2014 to $1050k June 2015 for units, up a whopping 63.6%!!!

Yay as I bought in October 2014.

Except.... there are so few unit sales in the suburb, probably less than 10 per year... and I reckon the "units" in May/June 2015 are not "units".... while I'd like to think it went up 63.6% (plus I bought under market value), take the figures presented with a huuuuggggeeee grain of salt....

ps. Anyway, I will wholeheartedly recommend the area, great spot, extremely handy, easy transport, near the unis, always strong demand... even though the growth can't truly be said to have been 63.6% in one year for "like for like" units.

 

Magazines=tax deductible

 

I get em all. API, YIP, Smart property Investment. Subscription makes it much cheaper and its tax deductible.

I figure in all 36 issues a year, if only 1 page in all those hundreds of pages offers value to me that I act on and get a good deal. Its more than worth it. But i'm pretty obsessed.

 

It's more polite to use a library and it's a great idea!

My broker got me a free subscription to Money magazine. I wouldn't pay for a subscription. It is interesting to read but not something I would pay for.

 

So...if I subscribe to playboy magazine, can I deduct that from my taxes??