Yeh. We thought so too.

We don’t turn on the news much. It’s depressing, and it’s fear-mongering, and we’re smart enough to know that what makes headlines is what feeds the media machine – good or bad – but mostly bad. Is it not news if it’s a story about hope and the good in the world?!

We are currently on the road exploring more of the great West that sits right on our doorstep. We’ve toasted marshmallows under a billion stars and warmed our hearts with a song or two by the campfire with friends. We’ve set off on foot exploring Girraween National Park and the wonders that nature creates. We’ve swum in what little water is left in the creeks, searched for treasures the Easter Bunny left behind and dropped into a winery or two.

It’s already May, and we are only just coming up for air. And yet I feel like the year is almost over.

For our family the past 2 years have been momentous. A new baby, a big renovation, an active and amazing threenager turned fournager, a life lost, a crushing diagnosis for our nearest and dearest, relationships around us in crisis, an introduction to school life, sending our baby off to school – it’s all led to an exciting albeit scary 2 years.

With so much going on, long-term goals were put to the wayside as we attempted to keep the ship afloat and all of the passengers in good spirits.

Thankfully, Finn is now 2 and wild beyond our dreams. The four-year-old is now five and still terrifying but in fun ways and we’ve grown a lot in our relationships as we’ve cut away the drama and discovered the best ways to help those close to us who are in need.

It’s ironic that the more people we talk to the more we face the bitter reality that no one is immortal, I used to think this was an age thing or a challenge for those that didn’t look after themselves, but then falling into ill health at the age of 30 or 35 or even into your 40’s seems a little young right?!

Life is too short to be ordinary so in the words of Ken Blanchard “Don’t sweat the small stuff” – let someone else do that.

So, on with today’s hot topics.

Let’s talk about negative gearing shall we?

The findings for the Royal Commission are well and truly out and the media storm that followed has blown over, the election is looming and although talk of the market is tough, the property is still transacting. And rightly so, there are moves to make before and if Labour gets into power and ‘axes’ negative gearing.

This is a very emotive issue – largely because it is so misunderstood. Labour is pitching it as a solution to housing affordability and rising property prices. As with most things in life, it’s not quite so cut and dry.

Remember that buying an investment property just so you can reduce your capital gains tax is a poor idea. On its own, negative gearing is a terrible reason to buy a property. It means you have to lose money to save on tax. At best, for every dollar you lose, you get 47c back. There is no justification for that unless you buy a quality negatively geared property or asset that will go up in value.

One of the biggest unintended consequences of labourers’ plan to axe negative gearing is that it will be the catalyst for spruikers to go to town – even more than they already do – on mum and dad investors.

The wealthy will still be able to use negative gearing by offsetting it against other investment income because they are likely to have other assets. The real people it will hurt the most are those who NEED negative gearing in order to be able to afford to invest in a quality property.

We could and might share our views on why is negative gearing bad in a full-length email, but the hard and fast of it is that the numbers the policy is based on are floored and it won’t make our capital cities more affordable.

While we’re on the subject of Labour’s proposed policies, what the hell is dividend imputation and why is everyone talking about franking credits?

We ran into an old family friend while we were on holiday and he shared his own thoughts on Labour’s policy to ‘axe franking credits’. I had to laugh. He’s a smart guy but did he even understand what franking credits are and what the implications of this policy were? Up until early this year when it was plastered all over the media, I certainly didn’t have a good understanding of what the policy would mean to Australian taxpayers or those with taxable income – but then I’m not in retirement or even close to it so why should I. And while I’m at it why should you care?

I found this incredibly insightful and super easy-to-digest podcast produced by the Australia Institute that explains it all in a nutshell – check it out here. You’re welcome.

What’s happening in the Gold Coast Property market?

Ok here we are finally getting to the market part and I really just want to preface this by clearing up the definition of the Australian Property Market – oh wait – is that a unicorn I see.

Sorry to say but it doesn’t really exist, it’s a broad term happily bandied around by journo, politicians, and property wannabe’s that want you to think they know what they’re talking about.

The Australian property market is booming. It’s a tough market. It’s about to bust. Slow down, people.

The market is way more complex than that and as good as statistics are you need to dig deeper and ask more questions before you form an opinion because there are markets within markets and so many facets at play.

If we talk about the Gold Coast property market you could confidently say it’s come off the boil but it certainly hasn’t gone cold – good properties are still in high demand.

Consumer confidence is wavering in the face of the federal election, there is no doubt about it. Most buyers are keeping their hands tightly in their pockets and those that don’t need to sell are staying put.

Finance is still very tight particularly when it comes to investment lending. (But you’re not off the hook either if you’re just looking to relocate, banks are being super tough scrutinizing household spending.)

Investors have almost fallen out of this market. Although we think there’ll be a hotly contested return as cashed-up investors scramble to secure their slice of negatively geared properties if/before Labour’s new policies kick in on January 1.

We secured property at auction on Saturday up against 6 registered bidders, the place was crawling with people – not the signs of a declining market – ticked all the boxes of an A-grade property though.

And that’s just it, you may have heard us talk before about A, B + C grade properties.

While all of the above will perform well in a rising market, it’s the A-grade properties that are still, and always will have buyers lining up to buy them when the tide turns. They are few and far between but if you know what you’re looking for you can be guaranteed success at any point in the cycle.

Just this week alone we picked off 4 A-grade properties for various clients that came onto the market on Friday, were shown over the weekend, and were under contract by Monday.

Good property is still transacting at a rate of knots, as Gold Coast’s most active Buyers Agent we should know right?!

On the flip side – smart sellers with A-grade properties to sell are still getting a premium – case in point, we’ll leave you with this little video from Mark and Kristen, clients of ours who we recently helped sell their home in Paradise Point using our FREE Sales Mentoring service. Stellar result – sold within 4 days of hitting the market for $168,000 more than what they expected to get for it. (No, that’s not a typo).

Regardless of where we are at in the cycle, life moves, children grow up and people still need to buy and sell the property. When your time rolls around, we hope you’ve got our number on speed dial.