Property Investment Magazines - Where to buy recommendations

[Fuzzboy]

Hi all,

I recently purchased my 1st IP in Elizabeth Bay (Sydney). I initially became interested in the area because i use to do a fair bit of work their as a valuer, as saw some good opportunities after doing plenty of research.

I no longer work in the valuation scene and have begun reading some property investment magazines (e.g. Australian Property Investor) you find at you newsagent, in a bid to look and research my next IP. These magazines regularly suggest places to buy and sometimes forecast crazy capital growth (e.g. Chippendale, Ultimo, Glebe above 40% over 3 years).

My questions is do people regard these magazines as useful or remotely logical/accurate in their claims? Has anyone ever bought into an area after reading about a suburb in one of these magazines?

Fuzz

 

[kissfan]

Has anyone ever bought into an area after reading about a suburb in one of these magazines?

Hi Fuzz.

I personally wouldn't buy into an area just because a magazine (or anyone for that matter) advises so.

If it were an area I was looking at already, the article may help my thought process, or perhaps it may pique my interest to do my own research etc.

So in answer to your question, no, I wouldn't buy somewhere just because a magazine said so. Just like a car review wouldn't tempt me to buy a car I wasn't already considering.

Regards
Marty

 

[our obsession]

What Kissfan said goes for me too, I like the magazines, they interest me, but I buy in areas I know quite well, and have, (and continue), to study and research..

Having said that, I think there are investors that buy, (what they consider good deals), in places they may not even have visited..

I don't think I have ever really read anything in the property magazines that I might disagree with, it's more.....? I'm off in areas exploring for myself, learning how I best learn and discover stuff...the other thing is lots of opinions and info shared is but that, certainly where I invest and consider good deals (may well be true for me), but not necessarily others.

 

[Propertunity]

My questions is do people regard these magazines as useful or remotely logical/accurate in their claims? Fuzz

A couple of things to bear in mind Fuzz. It is not the magazine per se` that writes the article - they are usually quoting someone else - some so-called property expert.

There are many like: Residex, BIS Shrapnel, Terry Ryder fromhotspotting.com on so on. NONE of them get it right 100% of the time. But they can be useful I suppose. The key is to do your own reseach as they others have said.

By the time a "hot tip" is published in a magazine with a readership of 10's of thousands.......well you might have missed that boat, or not.

 

[RedPanda]

Agree with the rest. Wouldn't buy on magazine recommendation however I do research the areas showcased in the magazines if I haven't looked at them earlier and if those areas are the kinds I am looking to invest into.

Cheers.

 

[R377]

those magazines have been hyping up the sydney market since 2007. if you have 1 in nsw i would be looking interstate just to keep as many bases covered as possible.

terry ryder usually predicts hotspots at least 3-6 months before you read about them in a magazine. those suburbs you mention he wrote about last year.

 

[MTR]

I think in some cases by the time it is in black and white the areas identified as hot spots have already taken off.

What I like to do is look at areas that surround the hotspots as they tend to be undervalued/cheaper and these areas in some cases will also take off.

Cheers, MTR

 

[Player]

What they all said plus don't believe everything you read as far as stats and supposed facts/numbers.

In the latest API, the NSW spotlight is on Wagga Wagga. The author states that it is 5 hrs from Sydney; 5 hours from Melbourne; close to Canberra and 11hrs from Adelaide. It's location cannot be denied as strategic, however to claim that it is within 1000 km from 80 percent of Australia's population is somewhat misleading. Leaving aside Perth and Brisbane for the moment there are many more (large) regional cities into Qld and WA that that would account for more than the remaining 20 %.

Nit picking maybe, however don't believe everything you read. Having said that I subscribe to API and find it interesting to read and a useful resource to back up or refute my thinking, however only after I've checked out and verified what is written.

As for hot spots, once it is in the press, those horses have bolted.

 

[Collector]

What they all said plus don't believe everything you read as far as stats and supposed facts/numbers.

In the latest API, the NSW spotlight is on Wagga Wagga. The author states that it is 5 hrs from Sydney; 5 hours from Melbourne; close to Canberra and 11hrs from Adelaide. It's location cannot be denied as strategic, however to claim that it is within 1000 km from 80 percent of Australia's population is somewhat misleading. Leaving aside Perth and Brisbane for the moment there are many more (large) regional cities into Qld and WA that that would account for more than the remaining 20 %.

Nit picking maybe, however don't believe everything you read. Having said that I subscribe to API and find it interesting to read and a useful resource to back up or refute my thinking, however only after I've checked out and verified what is written.

As for hot spots, once it is in the press, those horses have bolted.

I aggree with the article, pretty close i reckon

Calculation

NSW = 7,041,400
ACT = 345,000
Vic = 5,364,800
Tas = 500,300
SE QLD = 2,831,400 (4.29m - pop of QLD x 66%)
E SA = 1,232,000 (1.6m Pop of SA x 77%)


Total = 17,314,900


Austrailia population is 21,839,387


21839387 x 80% = 17471509.60

Enter details into this site and you will get a 1000km radius of Wagga

 

[Player]

Nice link. It does capture Bris and some of SEQ. I stand corrected.

 

[Jacque]

I wouldn't rely on any forecasts of cap growth- how do even the "experts" know what's going to happen around the corner? Think 9/11, our current GFC, governmental policy changes (FHOG Boost, Housing Acceleration Plan, Vendor Exit Stamp Duty) There are so many variables that can upset so-called "forecasts" that they're hardly worth relying on.

 

[Peter Parker]

What they all said plus don't believe everything you read as far as stats and supposed facts/numbers.

In the latest API, the NSW spotlight is on Wagga Wagga. The author states that it is 5 hrs from Sydney; 5 hours from Melbourne; close to Canberra and 11hrs from Adelaide. It's location cannot be denied as strategic.

To me, stating that a place is 'within X hours of <insert much bigger city>' means that the promoter doesn't have anything much to say about the place.

Places should attract people for their own sake, not how far it is from other places. This is especially the case for places outside everyday commuting distance and especially for residential real estate. Although Wagga isn't in this category it's not uncommon for a small declining town to be marketed as being 'it's only 30 minutes to Horsham', or similar.

I really don't think there's a residential property investor who based their decision on a place because its roughly midway between our biggest cities. But such a location could be useful if you're an intercity trucking company looking for somewhere central - for them it could truly be 'strategic'.

For ordinary homebuyers, the things that count are things like proximity to jobs, family, schools, etc, as well as attractive aspects of the town.

For investors, with other things being equal, somewhere an hour from one capital city would have more nearby accessible jobs than one halfway between two.

And besides there's far more air services between Sydney and Melbourne than to a regional town and for such trips service frequency is more critical than travel time. Those that regularly need to drive to both cities would benefit from locating halfway, but this is only a very small proportion of people, with the vast majority working locally.

 

[13910]

I read both Australian Property Investor and that, how do I put this nicely, advertorial (?) called Your Investment Property. Basically - I love the profiles on people. Finding out different people's stories, how much they've accumulated and how does it for me. Everything else, meh. I read it because I paid for it.

Okay, that's a bit harsh. Mostly the other stuff expands my horizons of what I might consider. Learning about the pros and cons of mining or holiday towns, for instance, is a good thing. Would I lean towards one because of the magazine? No.

It's the same as anything - even if I was paying a financial adviser, I wouldn't simply take his advice.

Don't forget - the section of the magazine you mention is a regular feature. They have to have somewhere to put in there each month. Just because it's in the spotlight, doesn't mean it's the best place to invest in that state. It means it's a good place in the state to consider...that they haven't run in the previous year's worth of issues.

Thanks
Greg