Information is power - Reventon Property Podcast - S01E09 - Ft. Andrej Kirps

🎙️ New episode of the Reventon Property Podcast is live – featuring Reventon’s own Andrej Kirps

Watch now on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfDevVhdzythVK7OizPRB6hz8XfDPj_RV&si=W2BRBUqrO8keyOJe

What separates a good property investment from a great one?

In our latest episode of the Reventon Property Podcast, Reventon Founder & CEO Chris Christofi and GM of Sales Lachie Morrey are joined by Andrej Kirps, Reventon’s Acquisitions & Client Experience Officer, for a deep dive into what really goes into finding and securing the right investment property.

While most investors focus on the purchase price, this conversation explores everything that happens behind the scenes to protect clients, uncover opportunities, and ensure every property purchase is backed by research, due diligence, and long-term strategy.

One of the biggest themes from the discussion?

The property itself is only part of the equation.

The process, research, negotiation, inspections, and ongoing support can often make the difference between a successful investment and an expensive mistake.

Some of the key insights we unpack in this episode:
• Why off-market opportunities can help investors avoid competition and secure better value
• The role building and pest inspections play in protecting investors from costly surprises
• How experienced buyer advocates negotiate beyond price to create better outcomes
• Why understanding flood zones, overlays, insurance implications, and local market conditions is critical before purchasing
• The importance of pre-settlement inspections and ensuring properties are delivered in the expected condition
• How strong relationships with local agents can unlock opportunities most buyers never see
• Why speed matters in high-growth markets and how delays can cost investors tens of thousands of dollars

One insight that really stood out:

Most investors only ever see the final three or four properties presented to them.

What they don’t see is the hundreds of properties reviewed, analysed, and eliminated before those opportunities ever reach their inbox.

At Reventon, our acquisitions team works through an enormous volume of properties, market data, comparable sales, building reports, and off-market opportunities to ensure clients are only considering assets that meet strict investment criteria.

The episode also highlights why having the right team around you matters. From sourcing opportunities and negotiating contracts, to managing inspections, finance clauses, settlement processes, and property management, successful investing is rarely a one-person job.

As Chris says throughout the episode, buying the first property is often the most important step because it becomes the foundation for the second, third, and fourth property that follows.

This episode perfectly captures what the Reventon Property Podcast is all about:
• Real conversations.
• Real expertise.
• Real property investing.

If you're looking to understand what actually goes into buying the right investment property — and avoiding the mistakes that can cost investors thousands — this is an episode worth listening to.

#Reventon #PropertyInvestment #PropertyPodcast #PropertyInvesting #AustralianProperty #RealEstateInvesting #BuyersAdvocate #WealthCreation #FinancialFreedom

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome back to another episode of the Reventon Property Podcast. We have two of Revonton's very own joined with Lachlan and Andre. Thanks for being your boys. Good to be here. Yeah, great to be here, Chris. So before we begin, tell us a bit about your role, what you do, and how long you've been at Reventon and in real estate.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Right. Yes, I'm the general manager of sales here at Reventon. So I look after our investment team. So we've got you know buyers advocates, sales associates. We've got Andre who works in acquisitions and client experience. And um, you know, the team I look after, our role is you know to work with Revanton buyers and help them find the best possible properties within their budget. Nationwide. Nationwide. Andre.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Beautiful. Yeah, I've been in the industry for coming up to five years now. And uh my role here at Revanton is to, as Lockie said, um help our clients with property acquisition. So sourcing properties that meet their brief. And then also with their client experience journey from contract exchange all the way through to settlement, just making sure that every I's dotted, T's crossed, and make sure it's a really smooth process for them and uh all their clauses and things are satisfied along the way.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

And obviously talking about that, it's important, you know, when you're dealing with builders, banks, solicitors, there's always, you know, hiccups thing can go on, but someone knowing exactly that process that has done it thousands and thousands of times for Revanton I'm referring to can navigate through those things in a calm and smooth fashion.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

That's why working with a big business like Reventon, you know, it's not like some of the smaller agencies where you just have your buyer's agent. Here at Reventon, you know, the first person you'll speak to is the sales associate who will connect you with the right person. You've also got relationship managers who'll hold your hand all the way through the process. Then you've got your buyer's agent that'll help you put the strategy in place and help you find the property. Um, and they're supported by Andre, who does a lot of work reaching out to real estate agents, finding lots of off-market opportunities. Um, and as Andre mentioned, once the once the deal gets done, Andre, you know, has um walks it all the way through to settlement, making sure every pie gets dotted along the way.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

And it's very, very important. Obviously, I had a famous saying that I said to all my clients when they do proceed with a property that our service begins here, it doesn't end. And you're referring to that after service and then a client experience point, which is basically upon contract signing, that we do hold their hand and navigate through every step of the process. Can you tell us a bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah, correct. So most of the time when we help a client purchase a property, uh, there's I guess a process of signing on the contract, but there's clauses or maybe conditions that we've put in the contract to protect that client. For example, a subject-to-finance clause, subject to a building in pest. Um, so making sure that we get those, I guess, clauses satisfied, making sure that they have the right finance team in place, which I guess I've already kind of spoken to, but the banks have now, I guess, verified that, got approvals. And uh from my point of view as well, making sure that we've got the right builders and building inspectors going through the property, checking in the roof, under the floor, moisture readings, all of these things to make sure that there's no nasties and um they're buying a really good quality property in a high growth location.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

You mentioned it before, obviously, those those reports are very, very important because it actually looks at the integrity of the build.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

And it also to train pair of visor looking at things that a normal person or normal buyer wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Correct. Well, building and pest inspection is so important, right? Because um, for the layman, even a real estate agent or especially the buyer walking through a house, you don't really know what's going on with that property. So that's why all of our offers are always subject to building and pest inspections. Uh, we know the best building and pest inspectors in each area that we work, um, and they're really the ones that get under the floor, get in the roof, and you do the moisture readings, look for termites to make sure that there's not any serious concerns with the property that are going to be a headache for the client further down the line.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

So, some of the things you've seen in the past, tell us some bad instances of previous properties that you've seen or that you've worked because you've obviously got a lot of knowledge. Give us some of those examples that people can be wary on.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah, so there's a few things that I guess come up from time to time, depending on how old the property may be, um, or I guess some of the conditions surrounding the property that might induce, say, I guess, pests or termites to be in the property, um, that you can't see. It's not evident when you're walking through. So it's important to get someone to put their head in the roof and have a look around and make sure that they've done their due diligence and we've checked that there's no, I guess, insects or termite damage that would uh I guess uh inhibit the structure of the property from being rentable. Um, but then also things like uh under the floor, has it does it need to be restumped? Is there you know tens of thousands of dollars that need to be put into that property to get it up to scratch for someone to be able to live in the property? Is there maybe uh leaks underneath the floor or under the tiles where it would be deemed unlivable for whatever reason, where there's conditions that are not suitable for someone to live in that property? And we want to avoid those kinds of properties because it is, as I said before, tens of thousands of dollars potentially to rectify some of those issues so we can, uh I guess, remove ourselves from those properties in a worst-case scenario and find another property that would meet the client's brief.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

What's important to remember as well, the building and pest clause, it's another opportunity to negotiate with the vendor, right? Correct. Um, and a lot of the instances, you know, when we do the building and pest reports, you know, you get some that are really good and that's peace of mind for the client. You get others that have serious concerns and we pull out straight away. But the probably the most common one is the middle ground, right? Where there's nothing seriously concerning. There's no termites, there's no structural issues, there's no moisture issues. There's got a number of things that need to be fixed to prevent future problems down the line. That's when we kick in and we negotiate further on the client's behalf to try and either get all of that stuff fixed prior to settlement by the vendor or even perhaps a price reduction so that our client can get those things uh covered after settlement.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

And I think it's important to obviously the integrity of that property structurally is very, very important because you want to make sure that the investment is sound. But secondly, I think it's very, very important that we actually do the property management side of it all. So we want to make sure that we look, we we find a good tenant, but we're also looking after that process. So it's not a purchase and forget scenario, it's a purchase. We're gonna hold your hand, make sure you've bought the right investment, but we're also gonna be accountable because in most cases, and by most, I mean mid to high 90%, the client selects us to be their property manager in the location as well. So it's very, very important that we've checked this even more thoroughly.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Correct. And you want everything as much as possible to be navigated before you get to that settlement point. Because after that point, you're the one who's going to be now responsible for rectifying any issues with the property. So as long as we can make sure for our clients that they're not going to have a headache a year or two down the track when something goes wrong, um, we've picked these things up before they've bought or negotiated on them, like Lockie said, to be rectified. Now that we've avoided any of those issues that we could have possibly gotten into.

unknown 7:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:20

And look, it's important to remember with an established purchase, it's not a brand new property. You're not going to get a perfect rapport. There's going to be minor defects found throughout the report. Of course, it's an old property, yeah. It's completely normal to have five to even 10 minor defects throughout the home. It's more not about the it's not about the amount of defects, it's about what they are. And is that expected given the price that we paid and the age of the property? If it is, then that's okay. That's part of the purchase. But if there's stuff that's not in line with the age or the price of the purchase, then that's stuff we either need to get fixed by the vendor or we need to get a price reduction accordingly.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

I think you made a very, very valid point. It's understanding that and you mentioned before settlement because that's when you can negotiate. If it's asked after settlement, you're stuck holding the baby, so to speak, and you can't really move from that point. So it's important to get in front of it, to be able to negotiate good terms, whether that be a longer settlement, whether that be a reduction in price or something to be able to look at. Give us some of the examples of some of the properties that some of our clients have purchased and what you've seen in some of the valuations or growth of owners.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah. So recently, I'll just a few off the top of my head from I guess recent months. There's one that we bought in in New South Wales. Uh, it was a purchase price of $800,000 for a four-bedroom, two-bath home. Um, $800,000 was our purchase price, but the bank valuation came back at $880,000. Um, where 90%, I think it's 88% of the properties that we buy are off market. So it gives us the ability to be able to negotiate with the vendor on price and really understand what is that lowest bottom dollar that they would be willing to part with that property for. So it enables our clients to get a bit of equity on the way in and really lower their loan-to-value ratio as well. So another one I can think of, I helped George find a property settled about two weeks ago. Our client, uh, we bought a property three-bedroom home in Melbourne's north, and that was a purchase price of $552,000. The lowest bank valuation came back at $595, most of them were above $600,000. So a minimum of what's that, about $42,000, $43,000 of uplift on settlement.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

It's important to remember banks are always conservative as well. So if banks are c uh valuing at 10% over the purchase price, um, you know, that's not that's an indication of how much value has actually been in that purchase.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

A lot of th people think a bank's low job is to give out money, which arguably it is, but I believe a bank's job is to assess risk. They're basically like an insurance. They see exactly what a property's worth because they want to make sure they can get their money back. So um obviously the difference is we do new bills, as you mentioned, but we also do buyers advocacy. And I think that gives us a much more unbiased view when we're sitting down with a client and giving them a strategic plan or that first discovery meeting, which we can really unpack what they're after, what their risk tolerances are, do they want to invest local, interstate? What sort of product are they looking at? Is it a house? Is it a townhouse? In a rare case, it might be an apartment, is it a self-managed superfund? It gives us that flexibility to really help that client.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

For us, you can make money either way. And it's also different in different areas. Some areas, new builds are the same price as established properties, if not cheaper, in which case, well, you're probably going to go and buy something new if it's the same price or cheaper. Other areas, new builds are much more expensive, in which case it's going to make more sense to buy something established. So we look at different areas and we tailor um, you know, what our recommendation is based on the particular area, the particular client, and the exact strategy that they're trying to implement.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

And the state that they're purchasing in, yeah, the legislation, the laws, the taxes, because each state changes from state to state. So, and I think it's always good to have a balanced portfolio because different states outperform other states at different points in time. So I think you can catch the property clock and the property market in different states at different times. So if you're looking at, let's say, Victoria for the sake of this conversation, because we're Victorian, you're only looking at one part of the country. You're not looking at all states. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Yeah. So it's like with Andre's role. So we've brought him in as acquisitions and client experience. So we've touched on some of the client experience stuff with the building and pest inspections, et cetera. Um, but a big part of Andre's role is finding off-market opportunities for our clients in the established space. Um, off-markets can be a really good opportunity for our clients. It's not to say that all off-markets are good. Andre, you know, probably sees hundreds of off-markets a week and probably half of them are rubbish, but the good ones are worth their weight in gold because we avoid competition and we've got the ability to negotiate directly with a vendor. And it's also a vendor that's saving costs as well, which gives us more power in the negotiation. So tell us about what, you know, how you go about finding these off-market properties.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah, so in I guess I would work with a Lochlin or some of our other team here on a client brief. So they might say, after meeting with our team, this is the kind of area that I want to look in based off of the data that we've shown them. And this isn't the budget after meeting with a broker that we've um, I guess, allocated to them. Then that would kind of be given to me and I'll go to work finding properties that are available in that market. I saw a statistic the other day that uh up to one in five, so roughly 20% on average, properties in Australia sell off market or before getting on any of the online portals. So that means we want to sit get our clients 100% of the properties that are available, not just 80%. And we want to get make sure that they have visibility and the information to make a decision on all available properties. So my my job is to, I guess, go out there and find all of those opportunities because we can see what's online, we can see what's on the market. What we can't see is those off-market ones. So I've been able to build uh, I guess, relationships with all nearly all of the real estate agents in the areas that we buy in. And we know not just who are the good agents and the bad agents, but who are the ones that are only gonna bring their property to market, who are the ones that are likely to get deals done before they go to market. And um that's my job is I spend you know hours on the phone um calling up, finding out these opportunities. What when are they coming up? Are they available now? Are they gonna be available in a month's time for when we have that client ready? Um, and figuring out when and where is uh the opportunity there for our clients to take advantage of that.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

It's important to remember a lot of the areas that we're working on, they're very strong investment markets, meaning that usually days on markets are very, very low. So any property that gets listed typically sells in one to two weeks. Usually they do one open home, they get 20 groups through, they get five offers. We don't want our clients buying in that environment on the market. So when Andre can find an off-market property where we're not competing against five offers, where we're not rushed into making a decision, that's where we're able to save our clients tens of thousands of dollars.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

And I think there's where you've made both of you made good points. It's the negotiation, but it's also those off-market opportunities. And some, you've got to understand the motives behind a seller. Some people need to sell a property, which means they're more likely to accept a medium to low offer. So when we understand that, and working with vendors that you said, and and building relationships takes time, understanding what people work like. You mentioned some go to market, some do off-market. But when you build that relationship, you'll have that understanding.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Yeah, correct. And uh as Lockie was alluding to, for some vendors, it's not about price, it's about speed, it's about they've bought another house and they need to settle. They need to settle to move on to the next one. They maybe I'm finding in some markets at the moment that there's not a lot of stock available for an owner-occupier to find another property. So they want to sell off market so they can rent it back from an investor, their current home, giving them flexibility and time to find to find the next property. Um, and there's these other factors that come into it that we can navigate that's not just about price, but for our clients, most of the time, it's finding that lower price. Um, so if we can find a win-win for the vendor, um, without, like Lockie said, going to auction and overpaying where you have emotional prices, and that's what an auction is there to do, to elicit an emotional reaction. Um, whereas even if it does go to market in the areas that we're buying in, they are hot markets most of the time. So there's a lot of competition. And if we can avoid that competition, still paying a fair price, um, where the seller avoids marketing, avoids uh the I guess staging thousands of dollars there, putting furniture in. Uh, a lot of times, if it is an investor, they avoid kicking the tenant out. So that means loss of rent or paying the full uh interest.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

To get a market ready.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Correct. So they're we are, I guess, foregoing paying tens of thousands of dollars. So they're maybe willing to sell for a little bit less because they understand that opportunity cost in the same time and we create a win-win.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

I want to ask something that I'm sure people are thinking. Locally, you mentioned some of these properties are very highly uh sought after, there's big competition. So, as agents, how do we um circumvent that that uh we still have access to these great properties that are going to move fast?

SPEAKER_02 16:50

Well, the off-market space works very well for investors because one of the main reasons why property is sold off market is because there's a tenant in place. So it's hard to do open homes. Property may not present that well because it's a bit messy and there's old furniture and it's hard to get people through. Um so that's why it's sold off market. But for our clients who are investors who want tenants anyway, it's actually not a downside for our clients. So it's actually a win-win for us because not only are we getting it off off market and avoiding competition and securing it for a lower price, yeah. We're also securing a property that already has a tenant in place so that the property doesn't need to be leased and they're receiving rent from day one.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

And it's income from the start. Yeah. So once you're doing your numbers on that, it's a much easier thing to predict. You know what the rent's going to be. You've already got a tenant, they're already paying rent. It ticks a lot of boxes. But I think when you understand all pieces to the puzzle, being the buyer, the seller, the environment, you can actually put together a very, very attractive deal and create a win-win situation for all involved.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

Yeah. Agreed. Yeah, Andre's been a huge addition to the team. He's obviously been with us for a couple of years now. Um, you know, I've well, we've transformed him into his uh most recent role in acquisitions and client experience. And, you know, we've seen a much higher quality level of established stock being available to our clients. Um, and we're seeing that the client experience from contract signing through the settlement is going you know extremely smoothly because you know it's not just the finance clause and the building and pest clause that you're watching, but you're also organizing that final inspection before settlement. Do you want to talk a little bit about that and why that's so important?

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Yeah, so uh every property that you purchase, you you're allowed in the last week, uh definitely here in Victoria, but depending on the location, you're allowed to inspect the property as a final time before settling, just to make sure that everything is in the same condition as when you previously inspected the property. Or for for our, I guess, uh circumstance, if it's in a location outside of Victoria, same as what the videos and photos presented when we purchased the property. So we would get uh one of our property managers to walk to the property in that final week before settlement, just to make sure that the person who is living there hasn't damaged the property or created any situations where there would be um anything that we still need to rectify before the the final situation, but uh final settlement, sorry, but it's rare that that happens, but it's just good for peace of mind to make sure that everything everything's been um ticked off.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

It's like what we said before, it's not a problem you want to be left with after settlement. If you don't do that pre-settlement inspection and then you you get the keys, your property manager rolls down there. Oh, there's furniture throughout the house, there's you know, crayon on the walls, uh, there's all the garages full with boxes. You know, that's really your problem then to fix all that stuff. You've lost all your leveraging palette. Oh, your vendor's not coming back to pick all that stuff once they've settled and they've got their money, right? So, you know, the fact that Andre will schedule that in with a property manager so that we know when we settle the property's in Mickey Mouse condition and everything as it should be, ready to rent the property out.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

But I guess it's two things. A, you want to know beforehand, but B, you don't want to be wasting so much time. You want that to be taken care of by professional outfit, I guess like our company that can navigate you through all this because you don't want to buy property and it become a nightmare in the process because the chances of you buying again, a lot of people get turned off after one bad experience or two. And it's very, very important that you make it as seamless as possible so then you can get back into the market as soon as possible and continue building your wealth.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Yeah, and I guess that's our role as a company in that established space is a buyer's advocate. So we're here to advocate for the client, for the buyer, and making sure that they get the best possible outcome in every single transaction. So um doing these little things that they might not know about, having a that they might not know they have access to a final inspection. They might not know that it's a it's standard to have a certain clauses in place to protect them. It's our job to, I guess, make sure that they protected and advocated for, not just on the lowest price, but every step along the way.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

So here's a rhetorical question. You know there's a final building inspection, don't you? So do you? Yes. Do you still get one? Of course. So even if you have that knowledge, you still want a good company to go out there and do that work for you. Now it's even more important if you haven't got that knowledge. It's our job as consumer professionals to make sure that they tick every box. But even for people that are in the industry like the three of us, you still want to use that report because it's vital. You want to understand what you're buying, the conditions of what you're buying. And more importantly, you want a good company that goes and gives you a good, thorough report because you're investing a lot of money. And it's the st I always say this, it's the stepping stone to your next property, your next property, your next property. Yeah. So the more you understand, the better the property, the condition it's in, the better rent it's getting, the quicker you can go again, go again and continue to build your property portfolio.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Yeah, and we we never um you know step away from the conditions that are that are within our offer. Um, for us, you get selling agents who are very good at getting inexperienced buyers to drop conditions out of their offer. If it's a competitive environment, oh look, your offer's the same as someone else's. Why don't you get rid of this condition and you might get accepted without having to raise your offer? A lot of people that you know don't have that experience go, okay, property's only 10 years old. I'll probably Don't need a building inspection, I'll just get rid of that condition to win the property. Um, you know, we would never do that because um, you know, it's it only has to be that one in ten properties um where there's something significantly wrong that can you know create huge huge issues for you down the line. Um and look, there's it's not just old properties that have issues. I mean, we've seen building uh building inspections on properties that are five, ten years old that have got major issues as well.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

I've heard you say that a few times that you've walked away from properties that are seemingly okay deals. You said, you know what, I've heard you work run off and say, you know what, we'll we'll get the next one. And you've walked away from a deal that a client's kind of I I might take it, but you've walked away and said, no, we'll get the next one.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Well, what are you just recently you were involved with a property, um, an offer that was accepted on a property um here in Victoria. Um, and we've recently pulled out of that one because of the situation with the building inspection. Do you want to talk about that?

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah, so uh there's a a building inspection that we conducted just to make sure that the property is in in good nick, uh, as per you know the inspection that we'd done. Um, but upon the inspector going through the property, you know, there's things that are under the floor that need to be restumped, the floor's not level, um, creating, I guess, structural issues to the I guess structural integrity of the property. So for our clients, that's tens of thousands of dollars to go into the subfloor to rectify the pillars or the stumps that need to be uh, I guess, attended to to make sure that the property's not just livable, but in a good condition where they're not going to get headaches or um it's not gonna collapse, right? So um we were able to rescind that contract and pull out and we're gonna find the next property for that client because we're here to protect their interests now and not just at all costs. At all costs.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

And I think a lot of our clients feel a lot of security with us because we do semi-regularly pull them out of deals. If we're not happy with the building and pest report, we're out. We'll find something that we're happy with. We don't mind you know having to find the next property.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

How many how many? Sorry to interrupt because it just came to my house. Give me the how many I've I know there's one you've helped with three, four properties. How many times do you go back and forth in some cases because you weren't happy with this, you never got this price, you weren't willing to move. How many times?

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Yeah, I mean, throughout the um the engagement period, I mean, it's not uncommon for us to show clients, you know, five, ten, sometimes even 20 properties over a number of weeks, if not months. So for us, you know, we see it from the long term. Um, and for us, the most important thing is getting our clients into a good quality property for a fair price. Um, and if that needs to take us two months um or we need to show them 20 properties, then then so be it. So um, you know, for us, you know, there's not a lot of our clients ask that when they sign up. How long is this gonna take? How many properties are you gonna show me? It's not an exact science. Sometimes the first property is the best, other times it's gonna take us 20 or more properties until we find the right one.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

And I think the key is, and I've mentioned it a few times, it's a long-term relationship. So we want to partner with our clients for their financial independence. And I always used to say to my clients when I was client-facing, been doing this for 26 years, so I was client-facing for a good 15 years, that my goal is not to show you how to buy one or two properties to get you into five or 10. And the way to do that is to make sure you're buying the right properties in the right locations, that have the right structural integrity, that you're doing the right thing by the client. And I always say I will only ask you to trust those ones never again, because our results will do the heavy lifting, our service will do the heavy lifting, and we'll build that relationship in the long term.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

The the one I was talking about before, Andre, I probably should have been a bit more specific, but we've recently had an offer accepted on a property and it was subject to a building and pest inspection. Now we do a lot of work to make sure we know the best building and pest inspectors in each area. So we then called up our building and pest inspector and said, Hey, can you go and book in the inspection? The selling agent called one of our buyers' advocates and said, Hey, that building inspector that you've got, um, he's the only one we're not gonna allow to do the inspection. You're gonna have to find somebody else. I thought that's weird because we know he does a really good job. So we called the building inspector and said, Hey, we've just got an offer accepted on this property. Um, you know, but they're saying that they're not gonna let you do it. He said, What's the address? We gave him the address, and it turns out he'd actually done an inspection on that property in the past, however long ago, and there was a major defect found um under the under the floor. Um and that's why the agent didn't want to allow him back through the property because they were hoping that you'd get a lesser building and pest inspector. That wouldn't that wouldn't find it. So it's really important. You can't just call up any building and pest inspector. Some of them are in the pocket with the real estate agents because they recommend them. Um, some of them um you get very different reports from different inspectors. So it's really important that a lot of detail um goes into picking that inspector.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

And that's a very, very good example because we're always going to pick the best interest of our clients because that's what we're here to, we're here to serve our clients and the people that we work with. But if it usually sounds funny, there's a reason, and one phone call unearthed it pretty quickly. Yeah. But look at the alternative to that story. You put a different inspector, the client proceeds with that property, and then they've got issues.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

Yeah. And as you touched on, we do the property management as well. So it's not in our interest to shove our client into a property with issues because it's going to be our property managers and our team that are going to deal with those issues later. Um, and all it's going to do is cost, you know, future opportunities between us and the client. So, you know, we're very, very, you know, we put a lot of detail into making sure that any property we put our client into, that we're really confident on its condition. Now, as I said, it doesn't mean it's going to be in perfect condition. There's going to be, like any older property, there's going to be things that aren't perfect, but it's just making sure the bones and the main things are all as they should be.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

I think the key to what you're saying is you're making a conscious decision based on accurate information. Now, if you go in there knowing certain things and you've decided to proceed knowing you can rectify them with ABC costs, I'm 100% okay with that. Now, that property management piece that you said 21 years ago when we started Reventine in 2005, I wanted to always be fully accountable to our clients and the client experience. That's why I've put all those services holistically under one roof, because I want to be accountable to what we say to our clients. I want to hold their hands and forward through all the way to the end. But even if that wasn't the case, as a professional in the industry, you want your clients to be making smart investment decisions. And the only way they can do that is by giving them the right information, by making sure you're doing your due diligence, you're on top of everything that you need to be on top of. You present it to them so they can make conscious decisions.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

Information is power. Like you can, if you have all the information, then you're going to make the best decision for you and your family of what you'd like to do moving forward. Obviously, you know our clients have chosen to act, they've chosen to invest, they've chosen that property is their vehicle for investment. Now it's about finding that right opportunity, that right property, providing them with all the information around what's available in the market at that time. Then for that particular property, showing them all the information that we can around that property, doing our due diligence on flood zones, bushfire zones, overlays, things of that nature around the property so they know what they're getting into for that particular purchase. We've mentioned about inspections and like getting the right qualified trades to go through and make sure that they know the information about that property as well, um, in particular around what's happening structurally, et cetera, so that they are informed and can make the best decision of what they do.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Like you mentioned as well. Everything has a flaunt effect when you lift something up and you look under something and ask another a bunch of other questions. What I mean by that is depending on what area, if it's a flood zone, if this or that, that that also impacts the insurances, which means it's a higher cost to maintain and keep that property. So these are the things you need to know before you purchase the property, before you settle. So all these things that you've just mentioned or that you've unearthed or unpacked have a flying effect to the client, which means more costs.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Yep. Correct. It's important to note the screen scrutiny and criteria that the properties go through before they reach one of our Revantant clients. So, you know, once we put the brief together, that brief goes to Andre. Andre looks through hundreds of properties and sends, you know, the top six, seven, eight across to the buyer's advocate. The buyer's advocate then looks through those six to eight properties and then you know picks three to four that they think are going to be the standouts for the client. So, you know, when those three or four properties go to the client, they, you know, to them it might just look like we've got three or four properties, but you know, there's been hundreds of properties that have been gone through to find that gold at the bottom.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

There's a rigorous process behind it. And I think it's easy for a client to come in and say, wow, you you know, are we really going to buy the first one? Um, whereas we're we've been looking at potentially in that market for months, under getting an understanding of the market, understanding what's coming up in that market, knowing what's going to be good value in that market, and then only presenting those opportunities that meet our criteria once they've met our obviously our value criteria, then they've got to meet other criteria.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

It's a very, very clear and understandable thought for a client to think you're going to show me one property because they don't understand that back process, that level of scrutiny, that level of expertise. So being a client coming in thinking that, I think we can all say that's a safe assumption that you would feel that way, wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Because you don't know the back the back work that goes into it. Now, as I said, one of the biggest key differences that I think we offer as a business is we offer local, interstate, high advocacy, new builds. We do it an end-to-end service, and that keeps us very, very accountable. But always, as we tell all of our clients, the first meeting I think is the most important, the discovery session, because you will unearth exactly what you're comfortable with, what your borrowing capacity is. You never borrow your maximum. Obviously, you borrow what you can afford and what you're comfortable with. I made up a word called comfortability, what you what you're comfortable to borrow, and you should always be less because it will help you get into the market sooner. And buying smaller purchases than what you can afford allows you to buy multiple, which I think de-riks your whole investment portfolio. So before we get into our quick fire questions, Andre is there, anything else you want to share with our listeners about when they're looking at getting into the property, some of the things they should look out for?

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yeah, I think it's important to uh for me, that's why I I guess part of my role exists is to find those properties, find those opportunities. If you're gonna get into a particular market or you've decided that property is your vehicle, obviously we're doing a lot of research around what areas to buy in. So that's the first step. Once you've decided that I'm gonna invest in the property, what area am I gonna invest in? So we're showing the clients the data and research that we're doing and our team's doing around what area to invest in. But I think once you've selected an area, it's important to do, I would say, months of research, understanding what is value in that market, what a property is going for, a four-bedroom property, two-bath property is going for this amount in that particular market. Yeah, what's happening in the last three months? Look at not just what people are asking for, look at what has actually sold. So comparable sales. Comparable sales and recent comparable sales. Markets are changing, markets are growing very quickly, rapidly in the areas that we're buying in. And so just then getting, I guess, an understanding of all the available properties. And that's why I I I work hard for our clients in finding those opportunities that are off-market or pre-market so that they have 100% of available stock. Because in some markets, uh, as I alluded to earlier, it's up to one in three properties. I I thought saw a stat 35% in in some suburbs are selling offline or before they go to the market.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

You mentioned before, you know, you look at a valuation, it's very, very important to note that comparable sales to be within the last six months. And most valuations will include three things a similar product, an inferior product, and a superior, a similar, inferior, and superior product. So the house would be something like for like, house that's a little bit worse, a little bit better, and they've got to be within the last six months because markets move, markets change. So understanding those things are very, very important and knowing that information when you're going in to negotiate. So very, very good points. Locke, is there anything you'd like to add before we go into our quick fire questions?

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Not really. Just as Andre said, the these markets that we're working in, they are growing so quickly. So if a client tries to do it themselves and have to reach out to agents, you know, look at different properties, put offers on properties, miss out on properties. Um, you know, it can take months to find the right property if you're being cautious and going about it the right way. So I think one of the big things that we do here with our knowledge in the area and with our relationships in the area and the access to these off-markets is actually helping our clients get into these markets earlier. Speed. Yeah, speed is really important because speed is money. The same properties three months from now from today can sell for vastly more than the opportunity that exists right now.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Speed is money. It's very, very important to act because especially when markets are moving fast. But I'm going to give you an example and I'll challenge our listeners or ask a question to the listeners. Even with the experience that um we have, and I'll use me as an example, 26 years have facilitated over 4,000 property, close to 4,000 property transactions, 12,000 clients. Do I still use a team of people to help me with real estate? Do I still have a good broker, a good agent? Do I still speak to these people? The answer is unequivocally, yes, I do. So I need a good team of people around me, even with my knowledge base and even with what I do every day, I still need a team of people around me that are actively in each of these areas. So when people say do it yourself, well, how would you have that sort of level of knowledge? So just on that, are you guys ready for our quick fire questions? Let's do it. Locke, you know you love this one. Fixed or variable rates?

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Uh right now I think variable because most recent um view is that potentially the next the next movement will be down. So I'd be holding on variable and and waiting for the rates to come back down.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

I agree with Lockie. I think at the moment I'd be on variable.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Um, case by case variable is definitely better if you want to maintain your cash flow and you you can look at a split with parts fixed and parts variable, that will control a little bit of your interest rate fluctuation. Uh, one great asset or multiple average ones?

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Um one great multiple average ones. Well, for us, diversity is pretty important. So I think having multiple properties is beneficial if you can, but I'd like to have multiple great uh assets.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

That's what I was gonna say. I think define average.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

Like if you're if you're gonna buy cheaper in the in the context of this question.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

I think cheaper doesn't always or like a lower price doesn't mean lower quality or it doesn't have to. It just means a different potentially location. Um, and so I think if you can buy multiple assets at a lower price point, diversifying your risk, I think that's a better option, especially while you get started.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Spot on with both, I think multiple properties in different locations because you will catch different areas of the market at different stages. So having a diverse portfolio, as the gentleman mentioned, is super important. Land size or location.

SPEAKER_02 37:16

Um, well, land size is super important. We want to make sure our clients are buying family homes. So um, you know, I think we want to make sure that yeah, the land size is there.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

I'm gonna maybe differ a little bit. I think location. Um, land size is obviously very important. I'm not taking away from that, but I think you can't change where that land is. The location does a lot of the heavy lifting. So if you're buying in the right location, I think you're you're gonna be set.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

I think they're both correct, and I think it depends on the area, and it depends on the product. Different areas, different products. Uh the location will usually do the heavy lifting in most cases, though. Um lifestyle suburbs or greenfield in the top one?

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Uh I like lifestyle suburbs. Um, so yeah, areas with high owner-occupier percentage, lots of professional people living there, families. Um, that's the sort of areas we typically look for.

SPEAKER_01 38:09

Yeah, I'm trying to find established properties here in my role. And so I'm going to be biased and say lifestyle suburbs.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

I love lifestyle. I live in lifestyle suburbs, but I love investing also in Greenfield suburbs because there's a lot of upside as things tend to move. Buy interstate or state local? Right now, um Yeah, let's use now as an example.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

Last few years we've been very heavily investing interstate. We haven't seen a lot of opportunity here in Melbourne and Victoria, um, but we are starting to see that turn now, and we're starting to see Victoria and Melbourne slowly pick up. Um, and it is offering good value at the moment. So definitely a lot more open to Melbourne and Victoria now than what we were two or three years ago.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

By weather data suggests, if that's local, um, I think you've bought your owner occupy a home very well. Um, but if it's not, then you have to be open to that because especially I believe when you're starting out a portfolio, you want to see growth at the start to be able to replicate that process and continue going. So I think if you can um get growth at the start, then you you're gonna do well.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

I think that's a great answer by what the data suggests. It's kind of what Lochman was saying. The data was suggesting here and now it's suggesting there. So it's a very it depends on the timing of the market because that goes on data. Very, very good, very well put. Timing the market is important or overrated.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

I think timing the market is important. If you want to start, if you want to grow a portfolio quicker and quickly, um, then it's important that you get into the right markets at the right time. If you're buying at the peak of the market and you have to wait for it to decline before it goes up again, that's going to really hold you back from moving your portfolio forwards.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Yeah, I agree with Lockie. I think if you're starting out a port your portfolio, timing the market is beneficial. If you're a bit further along and it's less about capital growth, I think timing the market isn't as important for that kind of client. But most of all, most often I would say, sorry, it's um timing the market's important.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

Reading the forward indicators is super important and why certain suburbs have grown or will grow, because it's very, very important to understand that data. Timing the market is super important, but timing the market is equally as important. So buying an asset you can afford to maintain for seven to ten years. And I say this, it's a bold statement. You'll always make money in residential real estate in this country. You'll always make money if you can afford to keep it for the right amount of time. Now, negative gearing, very, very topical, friend or foe?

SPEAKER_02 40:36

Uh I think it's a friend. I think it's a needed thing. Um so you know, we're we're a fan of negative gearing here, obviously. It's still available on new builds, it's now not available as it was on the established properties. It's something that now needs to be deferred later over the life of that asset. But um I I'm a fan of negative gearing personally.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

I don't see why negative gearing is such a bad thing. I think it's a good thing. I think um the changes in the budget are good for new builds, but I think if you can still afford to hold on to a property, uh at the end of the day, negative gearing is a tax outcome. So if your preference was established before and you can afford to hold on to that property without the negative gearing, the changes really just offset the negative gearing against future gains. So I think that there's a it's not the worst that the new budget announcement, but uh I'm still a fan of negative gearing in a nutshell.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

I'm a fan of negative gearing. A lot of people have built their wealth in this country through negative gearing. I'm not opposed to positive or neutral gearing either. And I think these answers change as the timing's changing. What will not change is investing in real estate being a good idea, investing in real estate being a good investment, and that helping you achieve your retirement. Seven out of ten millionaires in this country do it through real estate. A lot of people have their wealth in real estate. We live in real estate, it's usually a good investment. Last question, which is always a tough one, lot one to ten, how much of you like being on the podcast?

SPEAKER_02 42:02

Well, I'm I'm on most of these podcasts, so I'm running out of numbers, but um I'll go with my uh lucky number 11 today.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

I gotta beat Lucky 12. If you want to see more episodes of the Reverend on the Property podcast, remember to like, share, and subscribe. Thank you very much for tuning in. We'll speak to you soon.