CommBank's Property Investing Simulator

[jmillar]

A quick search fails to reveal any results for 'investorville' so I thought I'd post up the link to CommBank's Property Investing Simulator.

Not sure if anyone here has played this but it's not a bad way to learn a few basic things pertinent to property investment. Perhaps it can even be used as a 'test' for mortgage brokers haha! On a more serious note, my high score is a 13% average return over the 15 year period. I'm sure many here could do better!

I'm still new to the scene, but my 'strategy' throughout the 10 steps comprised:

a) Refinance when interest rate was low, and fix for 5 years (considering it fluctuated from 5% to 10% on variable). Aim to keep 65-80% LVR on all properties.
b) Purchase properties with the highest possible capital gain (without compromising too much on the yield) - often these were on the lower end of the price scale
c) When expected capital growth was low (or negative), instead of purchasing, surplus funds were put into renovating to create my own 'capital growth'.
d) Obviously purchase below market price, and rent above market price!
e) Never Sell


I know it's only a game, and I'm only getting started investing in property but I'd like to ascertain whether this is the general 'gist' of it!

Any criticisms of my 'strategy'? Can anyone beat a 13% return using the 'beginner/rookie' profile?

Cheers!

 

[alexlee]

In real life, investing doesn't come with these obvious choices with known results.

 

[jmillar]

Of course not. Nothing is plain and set out in life. I just want to ensure I've got the gist of it... Plus it was an entertaining 'game'.

 

[marty998]

Last time I played I broke it - it couldn't calculate my % return and returned an error (I had something like 5m equity by the end). They may have updated it since.

with regards to the strategy it was :

Variable when rates are above 7.5%, fixed when rates are below that.
Purchase the most expensive you can
Keep your LVR above 75%
Sell the low value properties when predicted growth is low, and use the funds to buy more expensive ones
Never renovate (only do the minimum repairs)
And also there was a little rural town in South Australia that consistently returned more than 13%, so I just kept buying there.

 

[Moneyman_85]

I know its a game but,

Here is my go:

"going by the cashflow is king" method