How property investors can find the next Gladstone in 2013: Terry Ryder
Investors continue to focus attention on Gladstone, arguably the number-one boom town in the nation, as I wrote in my Property Observer column in October.
I get asked lots of questions about the wisdom of buying in Gladstone.
The problem? The optimum time to buy there was two years ago. If you buy now, you’re paying for someone else’s capital gains.
The question I get asked – about Gladstone and other growth centres – is this: why didn’t I know about this place in 2010?
The answer: because you didn’t know what to look for, nor where to find it.
Gladstone’s capital growth over the past two years was a no-brainer for anyone with the habit of acquiring pertinent information.
This is something all wannabe investors should do, but few know how to start and even fewer are willing to spend time and money.
Therein lies the answer to another question: why do so few attain their goals as investors?
Many want a shortcut to the next growth area. They want the inside information but aren’t willing to get any dirt under their fingernails.
People with that mentality are in the wrong business. They have a bleak future as property investors.
The alternative to paying for good information is hard work. If you don’t want to pay for market intelligence, you have to acquire it at the expense of your own time.
The good news is that all the information you could ever need is out there. Anyone with internet access can find it.
The bad news is you have know where to look and you have to be willing to spend time.
For Terry's updated outlook sign up for the free webinar on Thursday, December 6 at 12.30pm on Regions versus capital cities - where to invest in 2013?
Most look in the wrong places. They read metropolitan newspapers with articles written primarily by non-experts with a focus on the wrong issues.
Newspapers love printing lists of suburbs and towns which have shown the highest growth in median prices in the past 12 months – and misrepresent the figures as growth in property values, which they very often are not.
For investors seeking the best places to buy, this is worthless information. At best, it tells you where you should have bought a year ago. For the purposes of this discussion I’ll overlook the many vagaries and anomalies inherent in median prices or alternative methodologies, which often lead to misinformation that sends investors down false trails.
Investors need to seek out information sources that tell them about more relevant things than median price trends. Like where the new roads and rail links are being built, where new businesses are being generated, where mines and factories and power plants are being created. It’s all about infrastructure and jobs, which translate in short time into demand for real estate.
Intelligent use of the internet makes it relatively easy, but it requires discipline. If you’re serious about property investment, you have to commit some time every day.
Accumulate information. Gather knowledge. Learn which locations have growth economies. Notice which areas have proactive councils. Be among the first to know about new developments. Pick up on places set to benefit from new infrastructure.
Gladstone, which has a massive future as an industrial muscle city, will continue to deliver growth for property buyers. But investors should be hunting for locations that look the way Gladstone did five years ago, before it started building three liquefied natural gas processing facilities.
They won’t find them unless they develop the habit of gathering intelligence.
Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au and can be followed on Twitter.
For Terry's updated outlook sign up for the free webinar on Thursday, December 6 at 12.30pm on Regions versus capital cities - where to invest in 2013?