experience with OHL group anyone?

Hi everyone,

I am a newbie in the SS family. Found this forum because I am thinking about property investing

I did a quick search on this forum on OHL group but nothing shows up. http://www.ohlgroup.com.au/

Just wonder if anyone is their clients. In the last seminar I attended, I was told that they are like a buyer's agent but specialising in off-the-plan investment, building portfolio for you. Their fee is mainly paid by developers and builders (so it is not like normal BA?) I think you also pay them some money for suggesting an investment portfolio and implementing it.

In relation to this, may I ask your experience or opinion in regards to House and Land investment vs other properties such as new apartment or established properties


Thank you
 
Welcome to SS
Search the forum for OTP not many people here in SS are fans of it but I am sure some have had a + experience.

based on my experience in this, i suggest do your research, I had once alsmost bought otp but after my reasearch i found that the asking $ was too much plus past customers of the company were not happy...so i backed out.

So Beware of what they say from stage @ seminars of 101 consultations..

Good Luck
K
 
Your response doesn't seem to make any sense!

I don't understand your response to the question about OHL. You have responded with a comment about OPT - what is the connection between the two?
Garyjohn
 
Hi everyone,

I am a newbie in the SS family. Found this forum because I am thinking about property investing

I did a quick search on this forum on OHL group but nothing shows up. http://www.ohlgroup.com.au/

Just wonder if anyone is their clients. In the last seminar I attended, I was told that they are like a buyer's agent but specialising in off-the-plan investment, building portfolio for you. Their fee is mainly paid by developers and builders (so it is not like normal BA?) I think you also pay them some money for suggesting an investment portfolio and implementing it.

In relation to this, may I ask your experience or opinion in regards to House and Land investment vs other properties such as new apartment or established properties


Thank you

I have never heard of OHL group. But generally, these sort of groups are geting a commission from someone else and not offering independent advice. So you have to do due diligence to see if the investment is worthwhile.
Some of the "traps" of this type of investment are paying higher than market rates for the area; "rental guarantees" which are built into the price of the house and are unrealistic in the long term; and also when the company go through the financials with you, they may overestimate the depreciation/ costs which make it look like you need to put in much less of your own money than you do in reality.

I would suggest that you spend some time on the forum, do some investigation of your own and get a good feel of what strategy you want to take, before you sign up with any property investing company
 
I'd also be concerned if this group that you are proposing to sign up with is being paid by the developer or builder. The advice you receive could hardly be considered impartial or in your best interests.
 
Interesting! I have dealt with OHL and been pretty happy with the result. I expect that they made something out of what they did for me but at the end of the day its what I get out of it that counts and I am pretty sure I could'nt have invested in property successfully without help from someone. There are other companies that do similar things to OHL but I don;t know a lot about them because I haven't dealt with them so I don't have any comparisons. I think I would deal with OHL again but if someone knows a better option let me know.

garyjohn.
 
I almost made a mistake of trusting an agent and buying two off the plan appartments - one for me and one for my sis. This was when I first set out to buy my first home in August 2009. The agent (Indian background - similar to mine) was incredibly kind to us and spent a lot of time showing us these off the plan apartments and even negotiating one of them down from $375k to $365k. This was in Pendle Hill. While the other he couldn't really negotiate for us in Westmead for $375k. Both were by the same developer. The agent even said to us the strata will not be more than $250-$300 per quarter. We were ecstatic! Hadn't heard good about agents in the past and here we had met a gem who was working for US!!! So we did a bit of finding out about the stratas. The grumpy strata manager to be for the Pendle Hill development said the strata was going to be around $570 per quarter while the Westmead one was $750 per quarter.

Then came the banks to value both the properties. The Pendle Hill one got valued for $335k by CBA. Not even close to that by Bank West. While Westmead one was valued at $365k. So I told the agent the bank wasn't valuing the properties. He told me to put in $10k from my pocket to get the Westmead property. WHILE our broker who was more interested in her commission, suggested to my sis that I "gift" her $30k to purchase the Pendle Hill property.

Last minute, during the cooling off period, we decided, we were not going to go ahead with both of the purchases. It was an expensive lesson to lose $1000 each as FHB as every dollar is important when you are 23 and buying your first home. I really thank heavens for both of those deals not happening. They were the biggest mistakes ever. We stopped dealing with the broker and the agent and moved on. The broker was also keen to sell us brand new apartments so it was conflict of interest. She was an avid property investor herself and a daughter of a colleague that I trusted, but she never ever gave us honest advice. But just learnt...do your own due diligence!

My sis a few months later in Nov 2009 bought a very nice 2 bed VILLA up the road in Girraween for $328k - after new carpet and paint it was re-valed in less than 2 years for $355k (and comperatives going for $360-$380k) While I bought my first one out west for $190k which I had to get minor renovations done for, revalued by the bank for $235k in less than a year. In less than 2 years my sis has bought her second place to be settled on 13th Jan. While I'm looking for the right one so I can purchase as soon as I get good value.

I am inclined to drop by that agent's shop and thanking him for the BEST lessons ever. Thank God we learned before it had all gone unconditional. In that money in 2009 you could afford a 3-4 bed villa/townhouse in Pendle Hill or Girraween! It's a steep learning curve when you first get into property and don't have anybody in family or friends who know much.

By the way a friend/colleague told me about some firm similar as you mention above - "Investors Club" who have been taken to court because they market properties to people as buyers agents and instead are really selling for commission.
 
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