By Cam McLellan

In a rapid fire interview with Matt Lewison former Qld GM of Peet Limited and Co-Founder of OpenCorp discloses the 10 biggest mistakes made by property investors.

Here they are, in no particular order……..

The 10 biggest mistakes made by property investors!

• Buying a property close to home (so they can drive past)

• Self-managing tenants

• Buying at auction

• Buying older properties (with no potential to add real value)

• Buying based on the look or feel of a place

• Asking a real estate agent for advice

• Overcapitalising

• Selling to realise a profit (when they should refinance and save the tax)

• Paying off debt (when they should create a redraw facility)

• Selling property to transfer into self-managed super funds (to purchase property)

• No finance clause included in the contract

• Cancelling a contract under the ‘cooling off ’ option rather than the finance clause

• Failing to get an expert to review the contract

• Buying in regional or rural areas

• No strategy for mitigating risk

• Waiting for a downturn in the market

• Waiting for the deal of a lifetime

• Buying for ‘future development upside’ on the open market

• Chasing the lowest interest rate option

• Not having the correct ownership or financial structures in place

• Not allowing for all purchase costs (stamp duty, mortgage registration, LMI)

• Taking an approved finance limit as an unconditional commitment from the bank

• Selling property to finance lifestyle.

On second thoughts, maybe there are more than 10!