Second Mortgage Loans - Articles & Advice

The Criteria That Determines Your Property Investment Success

In order to satisfy your Investment Objectives you will need to set certain
Buying Criteria - against which you will rate each and every investment you
undertake.

Again, these Criteria are ranked in what has (over the years) become
accepted as being their relative importance, for making a sound property
investment.

1. Tenant Calibre & Lease Term

By themselves, these two Criteria could prove to be the two most important
to you - if you intend to achieve any of your investment objectives.

Ideally, what you'll look for is a strong corporate (or government) tenant -
with a minimum of a 5-year lease term. With that in place, you're well on
your way to making a successful investment.

2. Recent Construction & Flexible Design

Generally, whenever a property has been recently constructed, it means it
will have ongoing appeal to subsequent tenants. And again, this will help
to ensure that many of your objectives are met.

And it also means you'll start to enjoy significant Tax Benefits.

Likewise, a Flexible Design means that you are not left with an inefficient
floor layout, if your principal tenant were to vacate at the end of lease
term.

In other words, you'll have an easily adaptable layout - which will allow
you to draw from a wide market, when re-letting is required. At that point,
you can enjoy further Tax Benefits - from depreciating any of the
refurbishment works that may be required.

3. Lease Structure & Absence of Competition

Lease Structure relates to things like ... the frequency and method of your
rent reviews, who pays the operating costs, and to what degree a tenant is
responsible for total building maintenance ... all of which will impact
upon many of your objectives.

Absence of Competition relates to how many similar properties there are,
nearby to yours. This determines whether the market could become
over-saturated - which may affect your return from the property, or make it
difficult when it comes to re-letting.

4. Good Position & Emerging Trends

All other things being equal ... the better the Position, the better your
property will perform. But, as you've seen from the earlier criteria,
Position alone should not be your sole determinant.

In recent eBulletins, you've already analysed some of the investment
opportunities emerging through demographic trends. But equally, new trends
are emerging in relation to construction, design, energy conservation,
security, lift technology, automation and so on.

All of which can dramatically improve the performance of any properties you
may already own; plus enhance under-performing properties you may be looking
to acquire or develop.

Therefore, you need to keep a keen eye out for hidden opportunities to
(inexpensively) gain a competitive advantage.

5. Passing Yield & Zoning

If your Passing Yield (ie: the current income for an existing investment) is
derived from rentals that are "above market", it means that you're unlikely
to receive any increases from your initial market reviews. And if your
future reviews are fixed, incremental reviews (or tied to CPI), then you'll
only be adding to (and deferring) your problem until the lease expires.

On the other hand, your Passing Yield may be at (or below) market rentals.
And this should mean you'll be able to enjoy an improving cashflow; and
maybe, even some Super Growth - if you've seen an opportunity which other
investors may have overlooked.

6. Zoning relates to your property's present and potential future uses.

Sometimes a property can have a Non-conforming Use Permit which could allow
a residential property to be used as an office. While it can be used now
for offices, it may only ever be able to be developed for residential
purposes.

If (historically) there has been a large number of these types of
non-conforming properties in a given locality, some inner-city
municipalities have been introducing "mixed use" zoning to legitimise, and
actually encourage, the co-existence of such a rich diversity of uses.

It's something you need to be on top of, as there are specific zoning and
density changes occurring on a regular basis. And you can often make
windfall gains if you're astute.

7. Title Options & Vendor Motivation

If (with little expense) you are able to subdivide the Title for a parcel of
land, or an entire building, you are then able to significantly enhance your
property's value AND, therefore, it's marketability.

You may still choose to sell the property as a whole. But any new purchaser
is attracted by the flexibility of being able to sell off a portion of the
property, should the need arise. And people will pay you a handsome premium
for that flexibility - well in excess of your cost of creating it.

Vendor Motivation is important; but ought not be your principal reason for
buying a specific property. Having assessed all the fundamentals, and
satisfied your earlier Criteria, a motivated vendor will invariably provide
you with some additional interesting benefits. And these can range from:
leaving some money in the property at a low rate, on second mortgage; to
allowing you to up-value all the Plant and Articles, so that you can
depreciate them from a much higher base.

With a motivated vendor, your prime focus quickly moves away from the price
and starts concentrating on how to structure the most attractive contract
terms.

Chris Lang is the Managing Director of Gardner and Lang, a leading Melbourne-based Commercial Property firm, Gardner + Lang. Visit www.gal.com.au to find numerous articles on property investment selection criteria, trends and case studies. Chris has also produced a FREE E-book entitled "Negotiating Your Way to Success". For a FREE copy, visit: http://www.gal.com.au/rsl/private/negotiating.html.

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