And so another year has flown by... it doesn't seem as long as 12 months ago that we compiled our 2018 gallery of images from our cameras and here we are wrapping similarly up for 2019!

We are spoiled by beautiful sights and scenes around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie. In concluding the year, we'd like to share with you some of the nicer images we've had the joy of capturing from our local area throughout 2019. 

If you've considered moving out of your family home and converting it to a rental property, but with a view to returning at some point in future, you may be familiar with the six-year capital gains tax rule. This important rule offers a significant tax benefit to investors in this circumstance, but there are only certain circumstances under which it will apply. 

Every week we are contacted to provide rental appraisals on investment properties. Over time we've come to realise there is a question many investors wonder but rarely ask - "Why did you estimate lower rent than the other agency?".

We realise of course that when we are contacted by an investor to provide a rental appraisal, we are usually one of many agencies contacted with the same request at the same time. Unfortunately, an agency's response to a rental appraisal is a very one-dimensional way of assessing the value the agency they will bring in managing the investment. This has been covered separately in the article The 3 Criteria Most People Use To Select A Property Manager (And Why They're Flawed).

You may have heard or even participated in the ABC's Australia Talks survey project. 

In July 2019, the Australia Talks National Survey asked 54,000 Australians to share their thoughts and feelings on almost 500 questions "about their lives and what keeps them up at night".

While the topics covered were varied, a summary has recently been compiled highlighting a selection of findings specific to the differences in points of view between landlords and tenants. 

Most interesting were the opinions of renters about the affordability of rentals and housing in Australia. 

In a rather amazing and rare story, a Sydney property developer has placed a home on the market for sale with an asking price of roughly $1.5 million which he did not purchase, and which was not gifted from family or an acquaintance. It has been awarded to him legally under the rule of adverse possession.

In this article we discuss the law of adverse possession and the history of this extraordinary case. 

An investment property is a wealth creation vehicle. An investor of course wants to return the greatest revenue they can reasonably achieve while the property is in their possession, through capital growth and increases in equity to strong rental return and ideally a positive cash flow. 

In conversations with landlords, we often here that their previous agent handled the rent collection just fine, made maintenance arrangements as needed, and found new tenants when required. However, once a tenant was signed on to the property, things seemed to go into automatic pilot, set-and-forget. This at times included neglected to monitor and action a potential rent increase from time to time. 

​In this article we discuss our approach to completing rent reviews and actioning increases in rent.

The marketing of many Newcastle real estate agencies can make them all seem much the same. "We'll always call you back", "We look after your property as if it's our own", "Number 1 Agent in XXXX Suburb", etc. 

How do you separate the marketing promises from the actual service experience you are likely to receive from the real estate agent? If you have a family member, friend, or colleague who has direct experience with an agency, this is a good way to get a read on the agency's performance. 

However, more likely you will need to read a number of real estate agent reviews. Here are some tips to ensure you make the most of your research.