XY+ Workshop: Helping clients with investment property advice (Facilitated by Dylan Martin)

This first XY+ Workshop was facilitated by Dylan Martin. Here are the summary notes from the discussion.

How do you help younger clients who want to know if they:

Can and should invest in property?

Peter Banicevic mentioned that 70% of people want to buy property. But whether or not buying one is a good fit is a different story. As a Financial Adviser, you need to understand your client’s motivations first – because investing in property is different from living in the property.

So, most of the initial conversations are mostly around behavioural psychology. Some questions to ask clients:

• • What are your motivations for buying a property? Is it for living in or investment?
  • Are you looking for a property that’s close to where you live or want to live?
  • How much are you willing to invest in this property?
  • What do you want your retirement to look like? (to see if the property falls in your client’s retirement)

As a Financial Adviser, you’re in the best position to be your client’s soundboard and as you ask questions about their motivations, you can often help guide them to answer their own questions and decide if property investing is for them.

Can they afford to invest in property?

Determine if they have unused borrowing capacity. Crunch their numbers by modelling what it might look like if they purchase an investment property before introducing them to a Mortgage Broker.

If you find your clients aren’t financially or emotionally ready for such a purchase, you might like to ask some open-ended questions to help guide them to the conclusion that they’re not yet in a position to purchase an investment property.

How can you help them decide if they should invest in property?

For first-time property buyers, a crowd favourite is the first home super saver scheme (FHSSS) which allows clients to save money for their first home inside their super fund. This will help first home buyers save faster with the concessional tax treatment of superannuation.

Samuel Bonello, Inbam Devadason, and Peter Banicevic are some of the Financial Advisers who’ve experienced helping their clients in property investment. Samuel has an in-house mortgage broker and finds it easier for him to handle property-related inquiries. Inbam Devadason is a Mortgage Broker himself and assists his clients in property investment once they’re ready to have the conversation. Peter connects with an independent property service to do research and purchase so it takes a lot of things off his plate.

Recommendations from this session:

• Samuel Bonello recommends The Property Coach podcast and checks out their binge guide to gain more knowledge around property investment
• Peter Banicevic recommends Propertyology an independent Property Service that has Property Market Analysts and Buyer’s Agents.
• Robert Warry recommends the MyProsperity Property Tool to process property reports for clients.