Metropole Property Strategists

hi,
I am also looking at using a buyers agent in Brisbane (othr than Metropole/360 Capital) . owing to time constraints & not being a good negotiator. Any recommendations re a buyers agent that delivers what they promise. Thanks
 
CWB client since 2000 - How '7 steps to wealth' changed our lives!

Hi all,

I am just starting out and would like to create a game plan for how I am going to build my portfolio in order to reach my goals. All assumptions going well, this game plan hopefully will show me that my goals are achievable with the seed capital I have to start with and the time I have left before retirement.

I understand Metropole offer a service where they assist you to create a portfolio strategy / game plan that will get you to your goal. No guarantees of course as a number of items are out of our control however, a game plan is created against which you can track your progress towards your goal.

Is this a service they provide? or are they just buyers agents who get paid a fee for handling the buying process for you?
3M
Spludgey mentioned '7 Steps to Wealth'. JLF also set up 'Custodian Wealth Builders' (CWB) which I am a member from year 2000. Do a search on CWB the full spelling and read my story.
To summarise, I like you was a novice and since investing in 2000 have acquired 9 properties through CWB (they too have a system, they are of course in this business, they disclose all the fees/commissions, they do provide their finance, they do develop their land). You can check it out as they have seminars just about anywhere....
Depends how knowledgable you are but I wasn't then, so give them a go.
I also rang and spoke with Metropole but they were too expensive for me.
You need to check a few and decide on the strategy that will suit you (buying new, old, houses, apartments, renovating to add value, within certain kms from CBD, regional areas, booming areas, positive cash flow, combination of few, etc...)
When you a a novice the best think for me was to invest from someone that did it for the last 30 years (that's how long they have been in business).
I did it thanks to them so obviously I am biased but it's not for everyone....some like to do it on their own. I wish in there statements they would at least provide what they managed to do (how many properties or how much equity in what time frame, what their strategy is...)
I find not many people are willing to do this....
Well, here's the link and good luck because at least you started to act on investing......I'm up to 13 properties let's hope you will surpuss me...
http://www.wealthbuilders.com.au/seminar_workshop.php
 
I learnt from old Greek Australians, simple folk, who'd already built up nice, self funded IP portfolios. Hell, if they could do it, why couldn't I? So I did.
Pay some "Guru"? No thanks.
 
Just follow the numbers, if the property makes money and is good value with upside for future growth then do it. If you can't see how it will make money from day 1 then don't do the deal...

Stick on SS, read books, attend local meet ups and network.

Look at a few target markets where the numbers stack up and become a master of these areas know what is a bargain in them and then take action.

Thats 101 property investing from me. :)
 
Has anyone else used Metropole to formulate a master plan to get them to their goal?

I am looking for a mentor that will show me what to do and when to do it or at least advise me on my decisions based on where they have already been.


3M
Yes and Hell no. Find out what they say not to buy and buy those. They are salesmen even if they say they are not. Selling overpriced property. You might like to check M Ys credentials his real estate license status . Do your DD on any BA.
 
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Do Not Use Metropole Property!

Do Not Use Metropole as a Buyer's Agent!!! The so called Property Strategists are very convincing in terms of the investing strategy but the Buyer's Agents who goes out and seemingly finds the "right" property for you, certainly do not practice what they preach!!! Because they get commission when they buy any property for you, they just about "force" the property on you. We were shown a 2BR "dilapidated" unit in St Kilda and informed it was a great buy, off the market, for $520K. The renovation cost (which they also receive commission) was about $40-50K and their commission about $30K! So, all in all, the unit would have cost us $600K in 2013! Now bear in mind that this is just a normal unit, NOT art deco, about 60m2, no land component, ground floor, lower ceiling than normal, etc. As we were seasoned Investor, we purchased an RP Data report and it was only valued at $480K! Luckily we backed out.

We also used Metropole in Brisbane, as we were looking to purchase in Melbourne and Brisbane concurrently, which was another big mistake!

The unit they bought us were far from our key selection criteria and it comes to a point where they "force" the sale on you and because you were so eager to buy "something for fear of missing out", you will eventually submit to their coercion. The unit they bought us in Brisbane was WITHOUT AIR COND/FAN, which is supposed to be a key criteria over there and being from Melbourne, we overlooked this. They also initially told us there is good land component for the unit only to find out later that the supposedly land component is common area and does not belong to the unit!

Believe us, you are way better off working for yourself, doing your own research about which growth suburb to purchase, etc!
 
Hi all,

I am just starting out and would like to create a game plan for how I am going to build my portfolio in order to reach my goals. All assumptions going well, this game plan hopefully will show me that my goals are achievable with the seed capital I have to start with and the time I have left before retirement.

I understand Metropole offer a service where they assist you to create a portfolio strategy / game plan that will get you to your goal. No guarantees of course as a number of items are out of our control however, a game plan is created against which you can track your progress towards your goal.

Is this a service they provide? or are they just buyers agents who get paid a fee for handling the buying process for you?

3M

I think it would be wise to do a couple of searches on SS and research further. At one point Metro were providing project management services for developments and there is a thread about this, not sure whether they still do this? This project was not a great success and costly fees. Have also heard mixed opinions on their BA service.

As far as their strategies go, I think they still go with buy blue chip areas for growth and continue to access equity to fund short fall. After GFC I think many got burnt with this one as continued growth did not happen. This is not a strategy that I would want to follow today, what is it...... 2 steps backwards, one step forward and then hit a pot hole:eek:

Good luck with your research

Cheers
MTR:)
 
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Hi Bearsticky,

Since my original post I ended up going with Metropole to purchase my first IP. Primarily to ensure I moved forward in starting my portfolio. Otherwise I would suffer analysis paralysis and would most likely stall and achieve nothing other than wast time.

All in all the service was average and yes I did experience a little bullying when I hesitated on a few properties that were presented to me. I settled on a property that ended up costing me a further 40K in upgrades.

I know that I have potentially payed too much in total and will need to sit on the property for at least 10 years to break even. (I consider break even to mean if I had to sell, the captial gain minus all costs would restore my original working capital before the purchase was made.)

Another interesting thing, although I was prepared to buy anywhere in Oz depending on where the best deals would be I ended up buying in Melbourne. Might be coincidence.

Ultimately the process has taken me through the motions of finding, purchasing and renovating my first IP. Including setting up the financial structures and obtaining a LOC. If I didn't pay someone to push me through this I would not have started.

The unfortunate reality of this whole exercise is that although I have enough funds in my LOC to pull the trigger again it all falls apart once servicability is considered. The reality is my income is not about to increase to where it needs to be in order to purchase more property which will be -ve geared if you want any chance of capital growth.

The way I see it you will need a minumum of four properties substantially paid off to make this game work for you in retirement. To get that you need a serious amount of cashflow income to service the purchases while rents grow.

Accessing Equity is pointless without servicability.
 
I think its unfortunate that you paid too much and now have to hold for 10 years, why did you pay too much??? Am I missing something here.
 
I thought that the idea of a BA was to take the pressure off and to scour the market for the better opportunities. Not to deal with a one stop shop.
 
I don't have heaps to add, just some narrow observations. Take them with a grain of salt as they cover a small sliver of the inner west, and just a few properties.

With that out of the way...

I noticed a few properties of theirs listed with over the top asking rents in the inner west floundering without interest on realestate.com.au for extended periods. I think one was up for 10 weeks or more. I'm talking 8-15% above market rent. No idea if that was the buyers being greedy, them wanting to toot their horn when someone finally signed a lease ("Look at the great rents we achieve") or simply poor judgement at fair market rent.

I also saw one purchase I know they made which I thought was way over market value in the same area. Though that could have been disclosed to the buyer. In a rapidly rising market, paying a bit over can be ok to secure a fantastic property. But you'd want a BA to be able to get a fair deal too, given their fee.

I've just had a look and none of the said rentals are still online.
 
Richard
How did you find out about their purchases, Metro do not show acquisitions on their site, some BA do show some of their previous acquisitions including details.
 
I went to an event their Sydney bloke (George Raptis I think?) spoke at and they showed a photo of a place they'd bought in the inner west for a client recently.

I happened to have inspected it.
 
I don't understand why buyer agents commissions are based on the purchase price ie. 2.5% of purchase price.

That's the same commission structure sales agents use. It's used to provide an incentive for them to sell as high as they can. The higher the price, the higher the commission.

I don't think this structure is suited for buyer agents. :cool:

Andrew
 
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I went to metrapole when I was starting my research in 2011. Mike yardney and George raptis spoke, pay us $10k and we find cheap places, we organise the renos, they were focusing on randwick mostly, $450k for a 2 bed unit. I'm sure the price is well above that now.

They had one guy in the room say he bought through them last year and made 100k,

I just didn't have the money back then lol

John
 
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