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!