Avoid Rental Investment Property Consultants

This is not the time to get yourself involved with these companies. With the housing market experiencing falling prices you are simply going to put yourself behind for many years.

These companies will heap on charges and profit from the buy/sell and arrangement of services that in all honesty youcan do yourself.

Before you buy check out the real price of similar units on the Internet - you will save yourself thousands of dollars.

Use your own valuer never use a valuer appointment or recommended by investment property consultants, worse still never ever let them arrange a valuation for you.

You do not need to be an expert to do this yourself:
Look for a property in or around the city centre or local hospital, make sure it is 2or 3 bedroom, has parking, then redecorate the walls in neutral colours, fit a new kitchen (Granit or Marble tops, new appliances, modern light fittings, curtains, blinds and carpets. Tidy up the garden, put in a heat pump if missing and hey presto you have a property that will command good rental income.

Start by getting quotes for all of this work.

1. Get a free interview with a quality chartered accountancy firm and ask them if you need to form an LAQC, if the answer is yes get a quote from them to do the job.
Ask them for a price to complete and submit your IR23B claim form.

2. Order your own valuation and ask for a depreciation schedule at the same time. Remember you want a valuation as is and as renovated (as per your quotes)

3. Arrange your own property and landlords protection insurance - remember if it is part of a body corp then the body corp normally arranges the building insurance.

4. Get a free rental appraisal from a rental agency on an as renovations completed basis.

5. Use an independant broker or go to your own bank for the finance.

6. Get your own solicitor for the mortgage paperwork and get a quote or ask your mortgage broker/banker to recommend a good competitive solicitor.

7. If the vendor is a developer and it is a new unit then see if they will include 12 or 24 months rental guarantee.

Remember a consultancy firm will usually obtain a $20,000 discount from such vendors just to market them to suckers who use their services. The clients do not get the discount the consultants keep that. This is where your negotiating powers come into play, get the discount yourself, develpers always need to sell to move on to the next project.