Real Estate Matters

There's a reason why dogs are known as 'man's best friend.' Ask anyone who has owned a beloved animal, and they will tell you that pets are family. A proposed change to the Residential Tenancies Act would recognize this by banning unreasonable 'no pets' clauses in tenancy agreements. Toni starts by explaining the challenges around repairing any damage caused by pets in a rental property. From deep scratches on a wood floor to the smell caused by accidents on the carpet, there are costs associated with maintaining apartments inhabited by animals. Toni discusses how landlords currently approach pets in their rental properties, often denying applications from pet owners in favor of tenants without pets. She also covers the importance of choosing a size-appropriate rental property for your pets: It's never a good idea to leave a large dog by itself in a small apartment all day while you're at work. Toni wraps the podcast with advice about making you and your animal attractive to prospective landlords. Listen in

There are two sides to every story, and the new provisions of the Residential Tenancy Act Overhaul have consequences—good and bad—for both tenants and landlords. In a perfect world, real estate law would strike a balance that protects all parties involved. Today, Toni looks at the proposed changes through both lenses, exploring which provisions seem to favor landlords and which ones champion tenants. Toni begins by explaining the modifications that influence bond, including the measure that will restrict landlords from charging more than one month's rent for all tenancies under $760 per week, and a mandate that will afford tenants their full bond if no claim is made within 14 days. She goes on to discuss new laws that require landlords to disclose the presence of asbestos as well as their future plans to sell the property. Toni covers several changes that seem to favor tenants over landlords, such as a proposed ban on rental bidding and the requirement that landlords offer a reason for termination of tenancy.

Though it is tempting to start your hunt for an investment property with the search itself, finding property is actually the last step of the process. Examine your financial position and figure out how much you can borrow first, then look at real estate. Welcome to part three of Toni's three-part series around building wealth through investment property. Today she reviews the three ways you generate income through a real estate investment, explaining how land breeds an increase in capital growth while the property itself has a greater impact on rental returns. Toni teaches you how to research capital growth and do the necessary math to determine how much rental return you need to cover a mortgage payment. She also speaks to the concept of thinking like a tenant, considering features like car space, proximity to the city, and view when determining potential rental return. Toni wraps the episode with a reminder that there are no guarantees when it comes to investing in real estate, as circumstances beyond our

Once you understand your financial position, the next step in buying property is getting ahold of the money. The vast majority of us don't have the purchase price lying around, so it becomes necessary to seek out a mortgage from a lender. Incidentally, the word mortgage means 'death pledge,' but the process doesn't have to be that formidable—as long as you have the right information and professional advice. Today, Toni walks us through the three sources for money to purchase a home, explaining the benefits of borrowing to secure capital gains. She speaks to the difference between good debt and bad debt, and what makes a home a good investment. Toni covers the option to work with a mortgage broker versus a bank, discussing why she prefers a mortgage broker and how they utilize software to find the loan products that suit you best. She outlines the characteristics to look for in a mortgage broker and why you should understand where their commission is coming from. Finally, Toni talks about how aggregators funct

Perhaps the most accessible way for the 'average person' to build wealth is through investment property. But before you can purchase an investment property, it is important to fully understand both your financial position and the true income potential of the property itself. Today, Toni speaks to the concept of investment property as a means of accumulating wealth, both historically and in the current financial climate. She explains the considerations behind compulsory superannuation and the taxation benefits available to people who own multiple properties. Toni goes on to cover capital growth, explaining its advantages over earned interest from a savings account, for example. She discusses the three ways an investment property generates income, including rental return, capital growth, and negative gearing, as well as how your stage in life affects decisions in each area. Toni also walks through the expenses you must factor in to calculate your true rental return, such as maintenance, owners corporation fees

If you're considering a dive into the real estate market for the first time, you may be wondering what the waters are like right now. What do you need to know about obtaining a loan from the bank? How might your credit score influence your chances? How can you use changes in stamp duty to your advantage? Today, Toni is speaking with Carl Scheriani, Senior Mortgage Broker with The Loan Market Group in Melbourne. Carl explains how the recent revisions to stamp duty affect first-time home buyers and the grants available for house and land purchases. He shares the current climate in banking, discussing the industry's willingness to lend to first-time home buyers, the current state of valuation, and why they cannot lend more—despite being flush with funds. Toni and Carl continue with an analysis of the segmentation in the market and how general trends reported in the news don't always reflect what's actually happening. They cover the advantages and disadvantages of buying an investment property to get into the mar

You may trust that government and industry are looking out for your best interests, but the sad truth is that is not always the case. In fact, when it comes to flammable cladding, money has won out over human life once again. And despite the tragic fires in London and Melbourne, little has been done to address the issue in an industry where self-regulation is clearly not enough.Toni begins with a review of the catastrophic events at the Grenfell Tower in 2017 and the LaCrosse complex in 2014, explaining who has been appointed to the bipartisan taskforce in Victoria to address the issue of Toni begins with a review of the catastrophic events at the Grenfell Tower in 2017 and the LaCrosse complex in 2014, explaining who has been appointed to the bipartisan taskforce in Victoria to address the issue of non-compliant flammable cladding. She shares her surprise at some of the Senate committee's recommendations, and the proposed ban on the importation, sale and use of PE cladding. Toni continues with a list of rec

You may think you know someone, but until you've actually lived under the same roof, it is hard to gauge what kind of housemate that person might be. Irritation is inevitable when you are sharing your home, but there are ways to mitigate the frustration and protect yourself from undue financial burden. Toni is joined by Laura Caruana, a Brunswick renter with a unique approach to flatmates. Laura explains how she came to meet her first housemates through work, and what they were looking for in an apartment. She shares her tactics for replacing housemates as necessary and how the Fairy Floss Facebook group connects prospective flatmates. Toni and Laura go on to talk about how relationship dynamics change once you live with someone you know. Laura shares how she and her flatmates approach the fundamental aspects of sharing a home, including household duties, paying bills, the fair division of rent, and privacy. Lauren also discusses her experience with living in New York and Chicago and the lack of consumer prot

'Big Brother is watching you.' Ominous, yes? This well-known phrase from George Orwell's political satire, 1984, is invoked often in reference to government control and invasion of privacy. Toni is troubled by some of the changes in tax policy around vacant property that seem a little too much like Big Brother. How much control are you willing to concede to the Commonwealth? Today on the podcast, Toni revisits the changes to property taxation on the state and federal levels. She covers the new rules around stamp duty that will help first-time home buyers, the 50% cap on foreign investors in new off-the-plan developments, and how this Foreign Investment Review Board cap may be a game changer for developers building high-rises in major metropolitan areas. Toni explains the clause in off-the-plan contracts that allows either party to walk away if construction isn't completed by a certain date, and why unscrupulous developers are triggering the clause deliberately. She also touches on the change to GST for new ho

It should come as no surprise that if you have never been taught financial literacy, you are likely to struggle with money management. We live in a tap-and-go society where money is no longer a tangible entity, and our children don't fully understand the implications of their financial transactions—even using debit cards at the school canteen! Today on Real Estate Matters, Toni talks to Katrina Birch, CEO of the Financial Basics Foundation. Katrina explains the charity's mission to educate young people in Australia about money management, borrowing and credit via the development of top-notch free resources for secondary schools. She shares the surprising origin of the foundation and its major sponsors, and how corporate support led to the reboot of its online financial literacy game, ESSI Money. Toni and Katrina go on to discuss the lack of coursework around financial literacy in Australia and how the 'have now, pay later' model leads to troubling behaviors. They cover the implications of a cashless society,

The National Australia Bank recently released its Q1 Wellbeing Report, and the findings are troubling: Young women related the lowest wellbeing of all groups, a full 50% reporting high levels of anxiety. The report identified relationships and home ownership among the factors that caused concern for young women, and today Toni discusses why otherwise clever young women have difficulty navigating their finances, and the steps they can take to get educated around money, credit and savings. Toni begins with a comprehensive analysis of the issue: Why are young women anxious? She shares a related scenario discussed on The Barefoot Investor's blog about a 26-year-old woman making $75K. Despite her success, the young woman had accumulated a heap of debt and the anxiety that goes along with it. Toni dives into the reasons why educated young people lack practical life skills around finances. Toni then explores debt in more detail, discussing some unexpected factors that affect your credit score, ignorance around inte

You don't know what you don't know, and buying your first home is one of those situations where an expert-advocate can save you a lot of anxiety and perhaps even a lot of money in the long run. On today's episode of Real Estate Matters, Toni is speaking with Martine Chauvin, Director of Prime Estate, regarding the function of a buyer's agent. Toni and Martine explore the qualifications necessary to become a buyer's advocate as well as the role the buyer's agent plays in the real estate acquisition process. They get specific about how the buyer's advocate comes to understand her client's needs and helps them navigate the minefield that is real estate to find the best option within their budget. Martine goes on to share the packages Prime Estate offers, explaining the transparent nature of their fees and how capping their rate at the agent's upper quote range works to establish trust with clients. The explore the emotional nature of bidding at auction and the benefits associated with having a buyer's agent do t

As the saying goes, one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel. When an agency is caught renting 21 properties to drug traffickers, for example, it tarnishes the image of the profession as a whole. But there are decent agencies out there, and today Toni will provide you with five questions to ask that will help you find a property manager that is both trustworthy and competent. Toni begins with the story of her own agency's brush with a drug operation, explaining how they discovered that the tenants were growing marijuana as well as the police raid that followed. She goes on to explain why a real estate director is responsible for every agent working under her license, and why revoking the license would be appropriate in the case of the recent scandal involving City Wide Real Estate. Toni goes on to identify the five questions you should address in order to identify a 'decent' property manager: 1) When do you pay your landlords? 2) How can you help me get the most capital growth? 3) How can you ensure I get th

If you are new to real estate, navigating the market is a challenge. Real Estate Matters seeks to help beginners gain a general understanding of what is happening and keep up with changes that might affect you as first-time home buyers and investors. In the last year, a number of legislative changes regarding property ownership and investment have emerged, and today Toni speaks with Peter Gray, Head of Sales with Planinsek Property Group, to offer a brief overview of the new regulations as compiled by the property law experts at KCL Law. Toni and Peter begin with the new rules around stamp duty and their impact on first-time home buyers. The also cover off-the-plan stamp duty concessions, explaining what the changes mean for purchasers of non-residential developments versus buyers eligible for the principle place of residence concession. They also address what is perhaps the most perplexing of the legislative changes, the new vacant residential property tax or VRPT, which levies a tax on residential properti

Buying real estate can be nerve-wracking, as your home is likely the most expensive purchase you will make. But selling real estate can cause just as much anxiety, and in this episode of Real Estate Matters, Toni is taking a look at residential real estate from a different point of view – that of the vendor. Toni explains the fundamentals of selling through her recent experiences with two friends in her building, Rowan and Sally. Sally had been transferred to Sydney for work, but she didn't necessarily have to sell her property. On the other hand, Rowan had purchased another unit in the same building and had to sell. Through the two anecdotes, Toni explores the options available to a vendor in each scenario, discussing the agent-vendor relationship leading up to the auction, the vocabulary associated with the auction itself, and the emotional ups and downs of selling your property. Additionally, Toni offers advice around preparing for an auction, explaining how to remain calm and make intelligent financial d

Do you like surprises? Probably not when it comes to buying your first home. No one wants to experience a settlement gone wrong, or find out that their master bedroom is actually much smaller than what they signed up for. In this episode of Real Estate Matters, Toni interviews Jessica Hill, an experienced solicitor at Lanyon Partners, about the benefits of getting good legal advice as a first-time homebuyer. Toni and Jess cover the differences between a conveyancer and a solicitor, including training, regulation and professional insurance. Jess explains the advantages of hiring a solicitor to do your conveyancing, and offers several scenarios of what might go wrong at settlement. They get into the nitty-gritty of off-the-plan purchases, discussing how contracts are drafted in favor of the developer and what features of the property developers have the right to change – including car parks, finishes, and even room size! Jess also shares her own experience as a first-time homebuyer, explaining why she was anxi

If you can't afford a home on your own, then you might want to consider sharing a rental property with others…But what should you take into consideration first? In this episode of Real Estate Matters, Toni speaks to a tenant who rents a property with two others through her real estate agency, Planinsek Property Group. Kyle Lawrence currently rents a three-bedroom apartment with two other adults. Toni first asks him how he found the other tenants. Kyle, like many young people, met his original co-tenants through university or through friends, but after that, he used the website Flatmates.com.au. Kyle explains to Toni how Flatmates.com.au works, and the kinds of things you can search for in potential co-tenants. Then Toni and Kyle get into the details about sharing a flat. First, they tackle the lease and discuss whether it's better to have one person or all the co-tenants on the lease. And Toni has some words of warning about who is responsible for the rent if one or more people doesn't pay! After that, Toni a

Do you know the key factors that contribute to a property's value? What can make it gain or lose value? And do you know how a property is valued, and by whom? In this episode of Real Estate Matters, Toni tackles all of these questions so that whether you're a buyer or a seller, you can better understand what makes up property values. Toni first explains the types of valuations you might see for a property. A real estate agent can give you a market appraisal, but mortgage companies will require you to have a sworn valuation. Toni explains the difference and why it's important. There's a difference between the value of land and the value of any improvements (or what's built above the land). Both elements go into the value of a property, and they can both change independently. Toni looks at the factors that can change the values of both land and houses, and how they interact. She also provides some examples where that dynamic affected property prices for her clients in unexpected ways. Toni then gives us some ad

Is it true that house prices are falling? And if so, should you be worried about it? In this episode of Real Estate Matters, Toni Planinsek is back explaining some more of the real estate headlines hitting news outlets in recent weeks. One of the frequent themes is the fear that house prices will fall, especially off the back of the July 1st law giving first-time buyers relief from stamp duty. Toni explains that speaking about the housing market in general terms often belies the detail in more granular markets. She highlights a report showing that house prices in Melbourne between the 1900s and 90s only raised by 8% on average; but within that, some markets sharply increased and some declined. Toni gives examples of recent markets that deviated from the 2010-12 average decline of 10%; even in that period of overall decline, many markets were winners. Sometimes whether your home gained or lost value even depended on whether you own a house or unit! In this episode, Toni emphasizes that home and property owners

If you're looking for an investment property and want to save on some of the stamp duty, it may be worth considering a house and land package. But what's the difference between that and a traditional mortgage? What are the risks? In this episode of Real Estate Matters, Toni interviews mortgage broker Laurence Kennedy about the benefits and potential pitfalls of house and land packages. First, Toni and Laurence discuss what makes a house and land package different from a traditional property. Laurence explains how the mortgage is divided between the land and the building, and the key stages when you or your lender will owe money to developers. They then discuss how the difference in payment schemes could result in saving tens of thousands of dollars on stamp duty. But what happens if a builder goes bust before the building is completed? Toni and Laurence discuss whose responsibility it is to find a new builder, and what you can do to protect yourself. They also discuss how such an event can impact your payment