If you think you’ve missed the boat in property, you’ve got to widen your view.
“If only I’d bought 5 years ago.” How many times have I heard that?
And true enough, if you bought in Sydney 5 years ago, then it is statistically likely that you made good money.
But not guaranteed.
Because I know people who still lost money on Sydney properties in recent years. You had to be a bit unlucky (and generally when I say ‘unlucky’ I mean ‘un-trained’).
But the point I want to make is that just buying a property at market price and then just waiting for the market to go up is one way to make money in property, but it’s not the only way.
And to be honest, it’s my least favourite way.
(I’m a proactive kind of girl.)
The other point I’d make is that for most people, property isn’t an investment class. To most people a house is just a roof over their head.
Property investors are still a relatively small proportion of the population (and proactive property investors even smaller still).
That means we can think about property investing not as simply speculating on market movements, but as the business of giving people the homes they need. It’s an honest exchange of value.
I mean, even I was surprised with how many Australians have absolutely no interest in renovating:
In a new national survey of 1,022 people conducted for mortgage lender State Custodians half of all respondents (48 per cent) say they want to buy a home that is ready-to-live in straight away and doesn’t need fixing up for years as they don’t want to deal with renos.
One quarter (25 per cent) of those surveyed say they only want to buy a partially unrenovated home so they can make it their own with updates that suit their style — such as adding in a fresh new kitchen or bathroom — but not one that requires a great deal of major structural work such as an entirely new back extension.
Meanwhile another one quarter (25 per cent) say they want to buy an unrenovated home because it will be cheaper and they can make improvements in time as equity is increased.
Millennials aged 18-34 are the most interested in renovations with 28 per cent saying doing renovations would ultimately be beneficial to them in some way.
So only 25% of people are willing to do any serious sort of renovation.
That’s interesting, right? Because there’s real money in renovations.
(… If you do them in the right way, on the right property, in the right market, at the right time… Education is still key).
But three quarters of the Australian population is willing to leave that money sitting on the table for someone else to grab.
And fair enough.
Some people are just busy making money somewhere else. Some people just have no interest in thinking about kitchens and extra bedrooms.
Not everyone is looking to make money out of property. Some people are just looking for a place to live.
But for me it just goes to show that there is still heaps of opportunity in the property game.
People will always need a home. Most don’t care at all where it comes from, as long as they like it.
So there’ll always be a need for the people who can bring the right stock to the right market – the business of giving people the homes they need.
And of course, they’re going to be paid for their time.
Sometimes very nicely, thank you.
So don’t worry if you think you’ve missed the boat.
It couldn’t be further from the truth.
As far as I can see, there are still endless opportunities.