Investor Night 2019

Last night we held our Investment Information Evening with a variety of clientsattending to hear from our panel of industry experts and gain insight into the upcoming changes in legislation in the property management space.

Our Director Jo opened the night speaking about being a qualified Property Manager herself, and the tools, processes and structures the team now has in place to ensure our service to our Landlords is seamless and of the highest standard.

Shaun Doyle from Ray White Corporate kicked things off with a summary of the key changes coming into effect next year in July, and the possible scenarios that will affect Landlords in more ways than present. Some of those changes include Tenants keeping pets at the property and VCAT’s role in determining when they are prohibited, the minimum standards the property must be in for the Tenant, and what constitutes an urgent repair.

Shaun also explained the importance of the role of a Property Manager and the substantial training the team are constantly provided with at Ray White Lara, to ensure that the Landlord is protected. This is even more important during the transition to the new legislation as there are over 130 changes to the current laws.

We also heard from Chris Appleford from Loan Market on the benefits of using a Mortgage Broker in re-financing and purchasing property as opposed to going directly to your bank, the main difference being your bank can only give you their rates and conditions for loans, where with a Broker you could have access to 45 different lenders all offering different rates and conditions, which could get you a better deal with someone else.

Chris also spoke about why a chat with your Broker about re-financing every twelve months is important and not to ‘set and forget’, as the lenders are always changing their rates and you may be paying more than you have to some years down the track.

Sam from Property Insurance Plus also joined us to explain the benefits of using a specialized property insurance firm for your investment properties. She explained the changes to risk and how you may not be covered with a general contents and insurance cover, how the specialist insurance is designed to protect your rental income, and that it is tailored to the Residential Tenancies Act.

Edge Advisory Partners Director and Principal Planner, Shaun McWilliam, spoke about the importance of future planning and understanding where your superannuation is in the event of an emergency or the worst. He also spoke about different case studies where clients were unaware where their superannuation was and who the beneficiaries of those accounts were, and the importance of keeping these up to date.

We also heard from Graeme Boyd of Jim’s Building Inspections on how building reports assist you with keeping up to date on the structural integrity of your investments and why it would be beneficial to have your own reports done prior to thinking of selling so there are no surprises when the time comes.

Finally, we heard from one of our Landlords, Richard, on his experience with different Property Managers and the importance of good communication. Richard spoke about some of the challenges he faced with Tenants and issues with his properties, and how a difference in service produced different outcomes for him as an investor. It was great to have some insight from a Landlords perspective for our clients in the audience who were thinking of buying their first investment property.

We would like to thank everyone who attended the evening, our panel of speakers who presented and answered questions, and the team for putting on such a fantastic event. 

For anyone who missed out, or if you are wanting more information on investing in property, we invite you to give us a call and get in touch on how we can help you with your investment journey.

Written by Stephanie Scacco.