• Ensure I have a solid core group of people in a program who I’ve spoiled rotten, and who’ve already received great results
• Make sure that I’ve not only looked at survey results, but talked to EVERY SINGLE founding member personally on the phone regarding their needs (and to check in and see how they’re doing)
• Make sure that I’ve heard about THEIR SPECIFIC property and life problems IN DETAIL and am putting stuff out that directly targets it
• And that every single piece of content is directly the result of their need.

Hi everyone

I have something special for you today – yes Christmas has come early for you all!

Due to the massive response to the Property Millionaire book release in which i have co authored, we decided to celebrate by allowing you to ask me a question related to property investing – any question you like!

Our server nearly crashed with the huge response so i decided to run a teleconference and answer all the questions at once and guess what? I recorded it!

So here is your special gift – a copy of the recording for you to download. Just click on the link below and its all yours. Have a listen and i would love you to drop me a line in the comment box below.

http://www.jenniebrown.com.au/seminars/property-millionaire-questions

Bless Ya!

If you are new to property investing then this answer is gold! Read below and discover the fourth installment of these revealed questions and answers from the Property Millionaire book:

Q: If someone wants to get started in property today, what is the best advice you can give them?

A: Work out what it is you want to achieve from property and life. The majority of people get into property to make money because they have something – usually lifestyle – they are dreaming about. It is vital that you work out what you want to achieve with property, and why you want to do it. Once you are clear, you need to educate, educate, educate yourself to find the most direct path that will work for you. I achieve goals all the time and I miss goals too. But I celebrate each win, even if it’s a small one.

You can get the full version of this answer in the new Property Millionaire Book

Welcome to the final blog in this series. If you missed the first three please go back and read them by clicking on the following links:

http://jenniebrown.com.au/debt-vs-cashflow-property-investing-for-life

http://jenniebrown.com.au/is-property-investing-debt-worth-it

http://jenniebrown.com.au/the-property-investing-alternative

So we looked at the double edged sword that large debt can be on your portfolio. On one hand its sounds great to be able to leverage to the hilt and accumulate a massive portfolio. For me though, I don’t want to be handcuffed to the bank. 

People are forever telling me they want "financial freedom", but being mortgaged is NOT being free. I mentioned in my first post about having a “why” behind your investing. Well, why would I want 200 houses with 200 problems associated with it?

I invest so that my time is free to do the things I love – not manage tenant and maintenance issues. I have found that using small amounts of debt quickly gives me the freedom to do profitable deals that yield large chunks of cash to pay down the debt quickly. That way I own the property faster. By working the debt in this fashion I am advancing my property investing three fold; firstly my debt is getting paid down fast, I don’t have the nightmare of a massive portfolio and best of all my cashflow is skyrocketing because my debt is so low.

It’s a win-win-win!

So I want you to think about this. Think about your make it, keep it strategy. And whilst you're looking at the making it, also start thinking about the keeping it and how you can move forward and start to build a passive income portfolio.

Have a reason for why you are investing in property. Get really clear on what your outcome needs to be and you may just find its easier than you think. And think about including a strategy for being debt-free. 

We worked out that it's better to own a smaller number of properties outright than to owe the bank for a larger number of properties.

Yes there is an alternative and if you are wondering what I am talking about you will need to go back and read the previous posts. You can click on them here:

http://jenniebrown.com.au/debt-vs-cashflow-property-investing-for-life

http://jenniebrown.com.au/is-property-investing-debt-worth-it

We came up with this idea where we would make chunks of money and then use that to build up a Make it Keep it portfolio – A MIKI.

So for example, let's say that we buy or build or strata a four-unit development. The plan would be to sell three and keep one. We could continue to replicate this but each time we would keep more units.

So the first project would give us 1 and the second project would give us 2 and so on until we could eventually own a whole block of 4 units. This is a simplistic way of looking at it but you get the concept right? To start off you might want to just do a duplex and slowly work up to a triplex and before you know it you will be pricing up a six pack!

Each deal is relative to your own experience. Buying a six pack of units might seem out of reach to some but you have to climb the ladder to get the view so start at the first rung and work your way up.

Can you see what I am doing here?

I am creating a situation where I own the property outright and by doing it with chunks of money, I have more control over how much debt I want to take on. In addition, in the meantime, it's a good idea to pay down what debt you do have on your portfolio as quickly as possible.

Have a think about this and I will wrap it all up in the next post.

You would have read in my previous post that years ago we decided to lay out our wealth creation plan and part of that strategy is the make it keep it rule I created – the MIKI.

We worked out that we needed 200 properties in our portfolio to create the income we desired. This also meant 200 tenants and 200 maintenance issues to meet our financial goal. The tenant issue wasn’t the only concern; with 200 properties comes a lot of risk and we knew that our passive income could very easily be eroded by maintenance issues such as a broken stove; or an air conditioner on the blink' or if we needed to repair a kitchen or a bathroom or paint the inside of the house.

Another big risk is the debt associated with 200 properties. Let's just say initially that we bought those 200 houses at $100,000 each, and we mortgaged them at 80 percent. So 200 houses at 100K at 80 percent, that's going to be a $20,000,000 portfolio. A 20-million-dollar portfolio sounds great but in this example we've also got 80 percent of it mortgaged. So that's $16 million worth of debt.

I don't know about you, but who wants $16 million worth of debt?  We certainly don't.  And the reality is that that leaves $4 million worth of equity, which is at the mercy of the market.

Debt is a double edged sword.

It’s a fantastic leverage tool to allow you to grow your portfolio but if the market turns and you don’t have a plan B, that debt can hang your entire portfolio. Let’s say that the market dropped; suddenly your 200 houses are not worth 20 million anymore, they're worth 18 million.

It's highly likely the bank could reassess your loans and say, “We want you to lower your mortgage to 80 percent of the current worth of 18 million.” All of a sudden you need to top up your mortgage to keep it at an 80 percent loan to valuation ratio and that can hurt. 

In this example, that top up, by the way, is $1.6 million.  (GASP)  Take into consideration that you could sell off a few properties (hopefully they've gone up in value), but you still have to keep the whole thing geared at 80% … well, let's not even go into that mess.

That’s when we really got clear on what we needed to do. There is an alternative and I will tell you about in my next post…..

I’d like to explain to you my make it, keep it philosophy. I came up with this quite some time ago. I don’t know about you, but I like to make money and I also like to keep it. So I call it the make it, keep it philosophy, or, as I’ve nicknamed it, the MIKI.

Investing in property has a lot of ups and downs so it is critical that you have a really good reason behind what you are doing. I am talking about the “why” behind your investing. Money is a shallow goal so you have to have something that really drives you to succeed.

Something that is just as important as your reason for investing is your strategy to be able to keep the money you make, which is why I created the MIKI.

Quite a number of years ago, we sat down and tried to work out what might be the best way to create a passive income through property and then how we would sustain that wealth and effectively apply the MIKI.

At the time we looked at a number of strategies. Positive gearing was the one being touted the most, so we looked at that first. We did the numbers and figured out that we would need something like 200 properties to create the income we desired at the time.

This all seemed well and good but with that many properties comes a lot of risk and a lot of problems – 200 in fact…. But I will elaborate on that in my next post.

When you are putting together your wealth creation plan make sure you have a strategy in place to keep the wealth once you make it.

What’s your MIKI strategy? I would love to hear your comments below.

Hi everyone I thought this would be a timely video for you to have a look at now that we have completed the six part series on subdivision.

Its a fantastic property investing strategy so click on the video below to view my thoughts on subdivision and then if you haven't done so already, go back and read the six part series again – there is a stack of information there to help you get started on your subdivision strategy. To read my six part series on subdivision click on the links below:

Part One – http://jenniebrown.com.au/know-your-subdivision-parameters

Part Two – http://jenniebrown.com.au/finding-a-subdivision-deal

Part Three – http://jenniebrown.com.au/who-do-you-ask-about-subdivision

Part Four – http://jenniebrown.com.au/subdivision-costs

Part Five – http://jenniebrown.com.au/manage-your-subdivision

Part Six – http://jenniebrown.com.au/selling-your-subdivision

We are at the final stage, be sure to read my previous 5 posts on subdivision before reading on. You can view them here :

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Post 4

Post 5

Finally we get to see the fruits of all our “hard work”. So far we have discussed the parameters of a good subdivision deal, how to locate one, who to ask about how it’s done, what the costs are and the importance of good management.

Now we get to test the market.

Like all property deals it all comes down to the numbers. If you have done your feasibility correctly you should have left plenty of margin for cost and time blow out as well as unfavourable market conditions.

Depending on the type of subdivision you may have ended up with a vacant block, a removable house, or a brand new dwelling. When preparing your project for sale it’s so important to ensure you know who you are selling to. Getting the marketing right is paramount to your success.

If you have split off a vacant block of land then it can be often difficult to sell to the market given that it will perceived as just a block of dirt. In this situation it is worthwhile considering different options to achieve a quick sale. This could entail packaging the land up with a builder as a house and land package where you provide the land and the buyer negotiates building a home with a builder.

Another option could be to acquire an artist’s impression of a new dwelling on your block of land; this will give the market a great perspective of what is possible with your site rather than just a heap of lawn to mow.

Whenever you sell a property always do your research on finding a real estate agent. Find out what sort of success they have had recently, how their commission structure works and what sort of list they market to.

See the selling process as a structured piece to your puzzle, not just throwing a sign up the day before it goes on the market. Spend a bit of time analysing who you will market to, how you will communicate with it and what timeframes you envisage for the entire campaign.

A lead up to the sale date can generate excitement in the area simply by erecting a “selling soon” sign half way through the subdivision. People are curious and giving them a taster will whet their appetite in anticipation of what’s to come.

Finally, remain realistic and unemotional about the sale. It is human nature to become attached to something that has taken your time and effort but it’s important to stay focussed on your original feasibility and be flexible with the changes in the market.

Don’t get greedy and keep in mind your holding costs; look for the win-win outcome and you will be surprised just how smoothly things may run.

Great news everyone! The all new "Property Millionaire" book as just been released and I am one of the contributing authors!.

Its already a bestselling book and explores how ordinary Aussie’s are making stacks of money investing in property.

Check out his fantastic interview i did with one of the co authors that attended one of my Bootcamps this year – its a brilliant story Pre-order your copy now as demand for this book is very strong and you don't want to miss out on getting your hands on a copy to reveal the secrets that will help you to make more money in your property investing.

Order Your Copy Today