There's a well-known saying in property investment - "The best time to buy an investment property was yesterday. The second best time is today". Experienced and would-be investors alike know that the sooner they invest in property the sooner and more significant the gains can become. However, often the timing may not seem perfect and the investment journey can be delayed. 

In this post we take a look at 3 reasons why now really could be the best time to buy an investment property. 

With the noticeable increase in apartments and townhouse complexes in and around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie in recent years, many investors are considering which is a better investment opportunity: a house or an apartment.

Just looking at the way the skyline has changed around suburbs such as Wickham, Charlestown and Warners Bay, there are seemingly never-ending opportunities to invest in apartments. But should you? In this article we take a look at the pros and cons of both houses and apartments as investment properties. 

So often, we meet with investors who have had a poor experience with another property manager. The tales are usually very similar, along the lines of "Our property manager used to be great, but then moved to another role and we're left with someone who doesn't seem to know what they're doing". 

Our reaction to experiences like this used to be one of surprise. But negative experiences with property managers and real estate agents have become so common, bad experiences are considered normal by many working within and with the industry. 

Now, the commonly-heard anecdotal negative experiences have been quantified by research, and there are 5 main areas which can be identified as reasons for poor property manager engagement and retention in the industry. 

When meeting new landlords or tenants, we often receive comments such as "We hadn't heard of you before". This is understandable - our family-owned and run business is far from a household name, and that's fine with us!

But let's reflect on this. Does being a "name brand" in real estate really translate into superior service or reliability?

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has announced they will be doubling the number of audits scrutinising rental deductions for the 2018-19 financial year.

According to the ATO, in the 2017–18 financial year, more than $47 billion in deductions were made by over 2.2 million Australians. As a result, Assistant Commissioner Gavin Siebert has said that this year rental deductions will be a top priority for auditing. 

Quality tenant selection in the first instance and a professional property management approach will do much to avoid the need to even consider how to remove a tenant from your property. However, it is still possible that at some stage in your property investment journey you will be faced with the challenge of how to remove a difficult tenant. 

In this article we cover how a termination notice must be issued to a tenant, the amount of notice required to terminate the tenancy, and what happens if the tenant doesn't leave as ordered. 

​When an applicant is interested in securing a rental property and moving ahead with tenancy, the real estate agent will often request payment of a holding deposit. 

The holding deposit removes the ability for the landlord or agent to enter into a lease agreement for that property with any other person within 7 days of the holding deposit being paid (or for a further period as may be agreed with the tenant). 

However, there are some circumstances in which an applicant may have paid a holding deposit but after paying the deposit, finds that they are no longer able to or willing to proceed with tenancy. The applicant may have had a relationship breakdown with a potential co-tenant, an alternative property may have become available which is more preferable to them, etc. 

In these cases the question arises - is the rental holding deposit refundable?