Investment tip: What is an acquisition adviser?

According to PRPTY 360’s Sascha Moore: “Investors are becoming more mature and aware of their own limitations. They need a strategy which is very much about making a smarter choice and taking the guesswork out of where the best yield is.”

“To quantify that as a result of the market emerging and morphing into a more astute platform, what’s happening is investors are actively seeking the adviser, planners, brokers, accountants and, more so, acquisition advisers,” she highlighted

While acquisition advisers are not unlike other professionals who seek to offer investors guidance through their knowledge of the industry and the skills they have honed through the years, they tend to take on a more holistic approach on building a portfolio.

Ms Moore defines the profession as a ‘niche segment’ that offers specific advice on reducing investment risks and maximising investment returns.

Acquisition advisers assist investors in data and market research, recommend a comprehensive investment strategy based on their personal circumstance, goals, capabilities and limitations, and help them manage their growing portfolio.

“They focus in on a holistic view of that property portfolio with the explicit objective to reduce risks, to maximise investment returns and to really enable the investor to make smarter investment choices in a time-poor environment,” Ms Moore explained further.

Accessing information

One of the most important benefits of working with an acquisition adviser is the ability to access the information you need to understand a particular market—from the numbers, facts and figures to the more local, ‘ground-level’ knowledge.

While you may be aware of the due diligence that you have to do, it may be quite hard to retrieve all the information you need to conduct a substantial research.

If you do get access to them all by yourself, chances are you have spent more time on it than you intend to and, as a result, delayed the growth of your portfolio.

With acquisition advisers, you do not only get access to reports but also get connected with trusted local agents and professionals who can make you more familiar with local market fundamentals and movements.

According to Ms Moore: “The value proposition is to be able to merge those statistics with hitting the ground and understanding what’s happening at the ground-level by speaking with agents, understanding what’s going on with infrastructure, having discussions with local state government and so on and so forth.”

“It’s the fusion of data with that ground-level intel that provides the advisers the opportunity to say ‘This is why this yield is going to most likely be maximised in this area.’ It’s a fusion of two powerful data sources that an investor, independently, may not have access to,” she added.

Finding good acquisition advisers

Skills and knowledge play big roles in the way advisers and other professionals help you in your wealth-creation journey but, first and foremost, a good acquisition manager will get to know your goals, capabilities and limitations as an investor.

Before ultimately proceeding to the process of research, acquisition and management of property and expansion of portfolio, they will seek to understand your objectives and expectations.

Ms Moore said: “The research should support your objective. It’s not that you just need to interpret and then work out what you do with it. It’s research based on your property portfolio—your loan, capacity and so on and so forth.”

By working around your personal circumstance, they can come up with an investment strategy that can fasttrack your own way towards success.

After all, at the end of the day, no two investment journey will ever be the same.

“Data can be interpreted in so many different ways. It’s really about understanding a particular buyer’s objective then looking at the property yield expectations and then working out where the best match is going to be for them, which is based on an extensive due diligence process," she concluded.

Tune in to Sascha Moore and Julian Fadini's episode on the Property Showcase podcast to know more about the benefits of engaging with acquisition advisers and other property professionals.