That will be the message from Philippe Brach, chief executive officer of Multifocus Properties and Finance, at The Property Buyer Expo to be held in Sydney from 30 October – 1 November.
“It’s crucial. We get so many people who ring or come and see us who are confused and really don’t know what they want to do,” Brach said.
“They’ll say they want to buy a property, but they don’t know what it’s for, they don’t know how much they can or need to borrow; they just don’t have a strategy, when really it’s like everything else in life that you need a plan for,” he said.
Brach said the motivation behind investment is a factor shared by all the people he deals with, but how people wish to meet their ultimate goal varies from person to person.
“The motivation for investment is to create wealth and feel secure,” he said.
But how do you want to do that? Do you want to move from an active to a passive income for an early retirement, or do you want to work towards having an income for when you do retire?”
Brach said any good investment strategy needs to be a mix of long and short term goals.
“First of all you need to do the discovery. What is your borrowing capacity, what equity do you have built up, what is your attitude towards risk? From there you can move on.
“Then you can start looking at actually buying, for some people that might be buying one property to start with or it might be buying two or three or one a year.
“That’s where there’s no one-size-fits-all. Everyone’s finances and situations are different which is why you need that strategy that suits you.”
While developing a strategy is a vital starting step, it’s not something that should be set in stone, Brach said. He recommended investors review their strategies annually.
“People’s circumstances change, you might change careers or lose your job or have children or decide you want to invest in a different manner.
“Things outside your control change too. For example, the current APRA crack down could mean you can’t borrow like you used to.
“That’s why you should sit down with the right professionals every year and see how things will affect you and work if you need to change anything and how you can do that.”
The Property Buyer Expo takes place from 30 October until 1 November at the Sydney Showgrounds in Homebush. Come say hi to the YIP team at the Expo and hear from some of the best minds in Property. Get your free tickets by entering the code YIPPBE when you register at www.propertybuyerexpo.com.au.
