Just received this email ... I keep trying to stay focussed on the long term recognising there will be some hiccups short term. If this email does not create some panic I don't know what will. Thoughts ?
HTL It would be interesting to hear what he has to say. I am also very worried about the availability of credit in intl markets. Cheers
Steve NAVRA is promoting a conservative approach as we go forward as well.. Maybe time to swim between the flags
This message is so critical and urgent I'm not to going to tell you right now, please pay so you can consult my crystal ball in your city in a few weeks/months time.
Extracted from another Bill's article: ..."You can make a lot of money if you can do the following two things well: 1. Find a problem or make people think that they have a problem (all problems are imaginary); 2. Provide a solution to that problem (most people would give you their money for the solution); I have also noticed that wealthy people seem to spend a lot of time looking for problems; they get excited when they find them because they know that's where the money is if they can find the solution or find the people who can provide the solution..." I guess no one can't say that Bill doesn't do what he preaches. Cheers, artgul
What's $90 in the scheme of things ? Just a little in Bill Zheng's defence he actually does present very well, and he's pretty switched on. No argument he's out to make a buck, but I'm still going to pay to go see him - given you can 'take a friend' , one or 2 concepts taken away from the day would more than likely be worth the $40-$50 per head. (Residex are presenting too) I don't think anyone on the presentation circuit currently would part with a lot of (what they see as...) valuable information until you paid to attend their seminar. I guess it depends how much you already know and whether the info he presents helps. I'm happy to post notes after the BNE presentation on 12 April if anyone is interested. Cheers Carl
Investors Direct - Multi-Speaker Educational Event This should give some clues I'm hoping to attend the Perth show as have missed him in the past
Howdy I'll do my best to summarise the full day of Bill Zheng and Residex. Apologies for anything that might be vague - I did my best to take notes but was way up the back of the room 1. Worst of the US sub prime crisis not over. Interest rate 'reset' due in June on some loans will cause more issues (missed the full explanation of the way the US non-recourse loans work - 30 year fixed interest but with something about a 3 year reset ?) 2. More bad news and flow on effects from US in addition to sub prime. Bill said the sub prime was a minor event in comparison to what's coming (I missed the exact wording). Australia will feel it but is surviveable. 2 years till serious recession potential - more likely a serious downturn slightly behind the USA. Around that time money will leave US in a big way. Australia has opportunity to align with Asian economies - China / India / Japan 3. Housing at its least affordable ever. Rents have to rise nearer 7% yield than the current 4-ish %. Percentage of income to find home is 50-70% on average. 4. China will export inflation. Some manufacturing leaving China and moving to countries like Vietnam due to rising costs. All our consumer goods plasma TVs etc will start going up in price. 5. Suggested lock some Cash Buffer away now (in a Redraw + Offset, not in a LOC which could get rescinded by bank) using bank/solid lenders. 6. Expect 10-20% growth for another 12 months maybe. Then potential for start of downturn. Expecting high end and specialist properties (anything too far from the median) to drop 20-40% from their highs (their highs expected next year) 7. Suggested strategy - sell property if you need to on the start of the downturn (in 1-2 years), expected to last a few years. Buy on the start of the way up, in 3-7 years. 8. Cash flow will become more important than growth for some time. Things will be very different from the previous market that any idiot could make money in. 9. Good prospects for property targetting Gen Y. Look for units in old blocks or small blocks (ideally no lifts, pools, gyms etc. to minimise maintenance or body corp etc) close to transport nodes and entertainment. Avoid high rise inner city - you want to be renting out or selling something of limited availability and not affected by the herd mentality of investors in large apartment blocks. Example was Sans Souci Sydney $394K median and 5% yield currently. 10. when buying look for 40-70% land value to protect it somewhat from the expected downturn. The last session was Bill trying to sell a 2 day seminar with a lady called Anita McKevitt who claims to charge $1.5M pa to premium clients for her advice, which you can get for the bargain price of $3,997 today only (with a $1K discount if you buy on the day). She's a Scottish ex-UK property developer and TV personality apparently. (more on her in the next post ) Outside of that once-in-a-lifetime bit of puffery, the day was well worth the $90, as I suspected. Cheers!
I would like to review the recording of the seminar (except the DVD costs $100!) to confirm what Anne McKennick said about her past achievements but she definitely said her property renovation started in the Thatcher years in Britain, because Bill introduced her as someone who had been successful in property during a recession. The website for the "Million Dollar Plus club" only seems to have existed for a short time, (coincidentally designed by the same firm that designed investorsdirect.com.au) but she is apparently Bill Zheng's mentor and he said he pays her $120K for 12 hours per annum. Claims he made that fee back in the first hour with her. Anyway I was confused about the suggested history, so thought I'd see if I could find our more about her. Her own site mentioned she's a world leader etc... Anne McKevitt Speaking There is the story of her accident and marriage at Speaker Anne McKevitt Full Biography - Speakers Bureau @ ICMI It says she married in 1998 and is celebrating 18 years marriage, so I assume its meant to be 1988. Which makes sense, as Thatcher was still in power, which would back up what she said about the property reno in the Thatcher years. (Edit - this article ANNEMcKEVITT designideas says in 2001 she has been married 13 years and was 33 years old, meaning if she had the accident wheh she was 20 years old, it happened in 1988. But then this Swell Intelligence says the accident was in 1986 so she might have the old 'lie about your age' issue ) Anyway the presentation said her first reno had offers from Kate Moss and Jamiroquai, backed up by the article above which also says it was the first unit she bought when married. All this seems to indicate the apartment would have been on the market in the late 80's (cos Thatcher was gone in 1990). This would make Kate Moss about 15 (1 year into her modelling career admittedly Kate Moss - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and Jay Kay from Jamiroquai looking at expensive apartments must have had some premonition of his career which was to take off in a few years time (1992 - Jason Kay - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) So Anne is apparently an extraordinary woman to have a major accident, spend 1.5 years rehabilitating, while renovating a unit single-handedly and attracting the rich and famous all roughly at the same time. No wonder her time is so expensive ! Something makes me think Anne might have got a bump on the head in the accident that affects her memory Maybe the late-80's buyers just looked a lot like Kate Moss and Jamiroquai, if they'd have even been recognisable names. Either that, or the reno took quite a few years, which wasn't the impression I got listening to the presentation. Bill's encouragement to spend $2,000 a day (her price has gone up in the last couple of years, it used to be $660 - QUT | News) on advice from someone who has a questionable memory, was the only dodgy bit in an otherwise interesting day. * ( * Not suggesting that maybe her advice isn't worth it, just that the usual 'look at my shiny Ferrari' marketing - I am sooooo rich and successful you poor punters need to shower me with dollars - is a bit old ) Plenty of people put their hands up indicating interest in the seminar. Go figure.
I posted some scribblings about this in Ssoft. I could write pages but it's like blowing hot air, happy to talk in person but wasting time online is not something I need to be encouraged with! Nice research re: the Scottish lass... My alarm bells were playing the 'Ride of the Valkyrie's' when she was talking, but really didn't have any interest to dig further. Also Bill has some whacky ideas about his qualifications to discuss quantum physics, mixed in with some errors in his interpretation of his own graphs and a Tony Robbinseque get what you think most of vibe going..... But... I think his bullet points about action items are pretty spot on, at least I'm thinking roughly the same things.. And I did get the impression he was a genuinely nice guy. Just one slice about how I was underwhelmed by his apparent level of research (he mentioned his sources as guys who manage lots of money)... at the end when he was getting individual questions he responded to one ladies question about how she could stay informed about the US..... Watch Fox News... (Yeh I sometimes watch it but taint for the quality of the news.... more so the business reporters they tend to employ if you know what I mean), also bubble vision was given a plug... If you want to suggest someone get an accurate description of tenancy relations in Australia you aren't going to tell them to read the newspaper or watch 'Today Tonight' now are you?
Normally it would have gone through to the keeper for me too, but my 'take a friend free' mate was a pommy builder who used to work in London, and as soon as she mentioned late 80's and Kate Moss he immediately recognised the BS Maybe she just "mis spoke" Hillary Clinton style ... seeing the supposed fees for her advice at $1.5M per annum then really irked me I agree Bill is a nice guy - and his tips do seem spot on ... I think he's just using every tactic in the book to grow his wealth which includes a lot of marketese, and all those big numbers getting thrown around to motivate us mere mortals Personally I think he'd be better not rolling out people like the overpaid Scot, but he must have his reasons.
Good point, after looking on SS there are more comprehensive notes than mine : Investors Direct Seminar 5th April Sydney-Unreal! - Somersoft Property Investment Forums I'm guessing the last post is yours Insight ? I like the "seminar from a name and dollar figure dropping Scottish lady, love the accent" comment !
Hi all Isn't a LOC and Offset pretty similar do the same thing, why can one be rescinded and not the other. cheers BC
BC An offset is basically a savings account in your name and it would be very hard for a bank to justify taking your savings. A LOC is simply a credit the bank has given you and can easily take it back. However, I don't believe that our lenders will go down this path. Cheers
Hi BV Thanks for your reply: I haven't had offset accounts mainly LOCs so i am not sure that i understand them correctly. To me the bank is still lending you money. Lets look at an example: Val of property $300,000 Loan $200,000 80% LOC of Val is $240,000. $40,000 available. OFFSET Val same $300,000 Loan $200,000 80% of val is $240,000 park in savings account offset to the $200,000 you still have $40,000 available. The Loan is still $240,000 in both cases.... Not sure if i am correct but happy to be corrected. Cheers BC
BC Yes it's like that but... think of the LOC like the limit on your credit card. If you increase it you can take out more money and spend it. But I think it's not something you should worry about. Banks wouldn't reduce your LOC because unlike credit cards you've already paid mortgage insurance on it, you have a loan agreement and are also paying a higher interest rate plus monthly fees for the priviledge. Cheers
Actually - if you look carefully at your loan contract, you may well find something called an "all monies clause", which means that if you default on your loan, they may use any other money you hold with that institution to apply against the loan (including money in savings accounts and others). But this is a completely different situation to a LOC being cut-off, so not the same thing at all.
Bill zheng's latest views Hi all Times have changed and with it, Bill Zheng's company Investors Direct has grown and evolved to meet the needs of today's property investors. From a very successful mortgage broking business focussed totally on servicing the needs of property investors, the company has grown to include Financial Planning (again with a property investing focus), Property Advisory, Investor Education and now even Property Management. All services designed to look after our clients needs. To see what Investors Direct looks like today visit our website at: Investors Direct Financial Group To read Bill Zheng's latest views, why not start with this artice: Newsletter Articles Mark Farrelly Marketing Director Investors Direct
