Investors warned of spruiker danger
With property markets across the country expected to continue to gather pace in 2015, a group of industry professionals have reminded investors that “spruikers are out in force”.
Margaret Lomas, host of Sky News property investment show Your Money, Your Call, has brought together five industry experts – Andrew Wilson, Lisa Montgomery, Michael Teys, Bradley Beer and Ian Rodrigues – in the hope of educating investors and reducing the influence of unethical operators in the marketplace.
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The group, which calls themselves Your Property Team, said it’s been quite a few years since we've seen “so many opportunists with their own agenda trying to profit from the enthusiasm of property investors who fear missing out”, and that spruikers pose a real danger.
Ms Lomas said a large part of the problem is the lack of regulation in the property industry and the “epic failure” of the federal government to recognise property investing as an industry, “let alone engineer any kind of protection for property investors”.
“I’ve been lobbying the government, both Liberal and Labor, for around eight years now, to step up to the plate and provide supervision and control to prevent the often spectacular losses by hapless property investors who fall prey to spruikers,” she said.
“I’ve seen some really sad cases of everyday Australians losing all they have worked for and having nowhere to turn and no laws to back them up.”
Ms Lomas said the experts she hand-picked are the best in the business. The group will hit the road in February for a one-day national workshop series with the aim of providing high-quality, accessible education in a bid to dilute the damage done by spruikers.
“We hope to go some way toward making it hard for the spruikers who offer ridiculously expensive ‘boot camps’ and workshops to get business,” she said.
“There’ll be no upgraded course costing tens-of-thousands on offer, and definitely no property to sell at the end – just a full day of current information from six highly-skilled experts, to help you make the most of 2015.”
