No doom and gloom ‘if you step out of Sydney and Melbourne’, property expert says

In fact, both markets were still able to provide considerably good outcomes for investors over the past year, according to Suburbanite’s Anna Porter.

“We've been buying a lot through Melbourne and Geelong and clients have been making the likes of $50,000 to $60,000, even $100,000, in 12 to 24 months of purchasing the property. That's a spare hundreds of thousands of dollars in their bank accounts—that's not very doom and gloom to me.”

Along with these big markets, Adelaide and Canberra also emerged as top performers in property investment.

Now that Sydney and Melbourne are both coming off from an unprecedented property boom and are expected to flatten soon, Ms Porter encouraged investors to pay attention to these ‘less mainstream’ markets for better returns in the near future.

According to the property expert: “Hosts from Sydney are saying, ‘The market's crashing’, but I say, ‘Spend five minutes in Canberra and you will see 35 people at an open home all bidding on top of each other.’ "

“It's cyclical—every market moves at different times. It certainly is not doom and gloom if you step outside of Sydney and Melbourne.”

Getting out of the comfort zone

Expanding investment horizons by exploring opportunities across different markets in Australia could be as easy as any normal day of investing, especially when armed with good research and the best investment team.

For Ms Porter, investing in a new market starts with determining what NOT to do.

“Do not buy a property off the internet without looking at it because that can be fraught with danger.”

“Do not get your father-in-law, brother, mate, ex-work colleague to be the person on the ground to look at properties and make decisions for you interstate. They're not trained, they're not skilled, and if it goes wrong, you've also lost a friendship there.”

“Do not go into a state and buy a property or three or four properties in one weekend because you won't know that market. You cannot get savvy on the ground in one weekend. You have to spend the time doing the research. We spend six months in a market before we even buy a single property there, so if you’re doing it by yourself, you're going to spend a significant amount of time educating yourself,” she highlighted.

The property expert strongly encouraged investors to get in touch with trusted property professionals who could help them make the best decisions for their portfolio.

Some of the most important members of an investment team are valuers and buyer’s agents, both of whom should be working in the best interest of the investor.

Ms Porter said: “Call some of the local valuers on the ground in those areas. They're going to tell you what's happening in the market, where to buy and what to avoid. Buyer's agents who know those markets you’re interested in are also valuable, as opposed to selling agents whose job is to get the highest price for their vendor.”

“If you don't want to go down that path of spending every weekend house-hunting, then you need to lean on some experts. Pay them a bit of money if you have to.”

Finding good professionals

Building a good investment team needs as much due diligence as building a successful property portfolio, according to Ms Porter.

When selecting a professional to work with, she advised looking closely at their licenses and qualifications.

“If they're working 12 months ago selling printers for a living and saw a block for a while and stamped ‘expert’ on their business card after doing a three-day online course, they may not be the right fit. You want someone who's got some real experience in the industry for a long time,” the property expert said.

Moreover, investors are encouraged to know how the professional is being paid.

Ms Porter explained: “I believe that if they're working for you, you should be paying them. If they're getting paid by a developer or a selling agent or someone else in that relationship, they're probably not doing the best job for you because they can't. Legally, they have to work for who they're paid for.”

“If you're not sure where to find the right buyer's agents, have a chat with some of the local selling agents, have a chat with some of the solicitors, accountants, financial planners and other people that interact with them regularly.”

At the end of the day, being able to gather the best professionals comes down to finding the ‘right fit’—finding those professionals who are not only knowledgeable about the market but are also willing to understand the investor’s personal and financial goals, capabilities and limitations in order to lay out the best strategy that will help investors succeed, even amid market fluctuations.

Tune in to Anna Porter's episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about where and how to hit the property goldmines in 2019.