newbie investor / mum of 3 (need help pls) :)

I think BEFORE you start looking you need to do some work on WHAT and HOW you want to buy.

You'll need to know how much money you can borrow
You'll need to know in what entity you wish to borrow in; personal name, one name only, trust, company etc. This can be complex but it's essential to get it right to save tax (land and income)
You'll need to know how much income it will actually generate (do not listen to the listing REAs appraisal)
You'll need to know how you will cope if there are no tenants or tenants stop paying rent (hint landlords insurance)
You'll need to know if you will self manage or get a PM (hint unless you are full bottle on tenancy laws it does NOT save you money to self manage)
You'll need to know if this is the only IP you will ever buy. If you want to buy more than one then you need to plan for #2 when you buy #1
You'll need to know how to buy in another state if you are looking outside your state. How to make offers and acceptances varies from state to state and you don't have cooling off in many places.

Once you know the answer to these and many other questions then you can take the baby steps of looking to find areas that meet your needs.

 

Buyers agents are engaged by you and paid by you when they have secured a property for you, they are independent and not related to the selling agent (in any way), they are not after a sale.

The mobs recommending h&l packages in SE Qld are possibly related to the developers and looking to move on the developer's stock - they are not independent.

 

thank you!!! lots of good pointers there for me to start with

 

weve been told we can access 350k equity if that helps?

 

If I were you I would meet with a well recommended broker/investor from here and have some 1:1 goals, planning, strategy, finance time, Pay them if necessary but imo it will be worth it. You can come away from the meeting with some clear finance parameter, goals, strategies, etc.

 

It's funny you mention subdivide. I've been reading here for 6 months and I must have missed it when people mentioned it and only really looked at it as an real option when I realised further investment for me will need sleep-at-night factor which means higher yield, and led me right to the subdivide idea.

As an example
you purchase a property with the house on one end of the land for say 600k. build the second property for say 200k. you then have twice the yield for 1.33x the cost, which means you have around 1.5x the yield and hopefully that would be enough to pay the house pff mostly on it's own without impacting your own cash flow much at all. Also with a new house you have depreciation which helps even more.

They are not working for you. They are working for the company doing the development. To them you are a potential sucker, I mean customer.
If you could see into their thoughts, it would be a cartoon image of them self running away with bags of (your) money.

 

Agree. There are times when sitting down with the right people for an hour or two can save you scores of hours wandering aimlessly.

 

Just be careful of "gurus" that offer you those kind of "mapping" sessions to help "explain" these things to you.

Here are some basic steps:
1. Pick a broker from PropertyChat. There are a few in Sydney. @Mick C @Redom @York coke to mind. Work out your borrowing capacity as others have said.

2. Read PropertyChat.

3. Go to PropertyChat meetups and chat to random people. You'd be surprised at how much info people are willing to share

 

I'd be avoiding the groups you're talking to- they're marketers and are giving you a very limited story. That's not to say brand new homes in SEQ are a bad idea, you just have to consider the whole story.

I also understand your hesitance with buyers brokers. Unfortunately a great many of them are not very good, just like real estate agents. You shouldn't write them off though, a good BB is worth their weight in gold for you!

 

Before Simon started this site there was another property investment site, go and have a read within that site about people starting out and read as much as you can when unlike now,, some people were able to access massive amounts of debt to leverage their targets in the quest for fast returns,for some who still post it worked and is still working the other just don't post anymore..
Somersoft Property Investment Forums

The secret to my success

 

wow, lots of good advice here already.

just would like to re emphasis the importance of Goals and Strategies, like @Leo2413 and @Rolf Latham mentioned previously, it like the lighthouse in your investing journey, it can guide you through good and bad times. I wish I knew it before I started.