Booking a profit

By ANNE GIBSON

When property adviser and author Andrew King asks other investors about their goal, he is invariably told "five, maybe 10 houses".

King is mightily unimpressed with that answer.

Few people stop to think about what they really want from their property investments, he says. Fewer still work out exactly how they will get what they want.

So boot camp for wannabe buyers could well be King's new book Planning For Property Success in New Zealand (Random House, $24.95), released last Friday.

The 160-page paperback is an easily digestible entree to the daunting world of residential investment, sounding some sensible words of caution at a time when the market is as hot as it is now.

"For many investors, 10 seems to be a magical number - although I have no idea why and, when asked, neither do they", King writes in his introduction.

He then goes on to outline the importance of setting goals, analysing financial and personal situations, developing strategies (one important step, he says, is to pay off your home and personal debts before investing), assessing bargains, handling debt and a checklist at the end to tick off.

The book follows the best-selling The Complete Guide To Residential Property Investment in New Zealand (Random House, $24.95) which King co-wrote with another investor and adviser, Lisa Dudson. Published this year, the book has already sold 10,000 copies, making it one of the most popular of the genre.

Last month King sent out his first issue of Property Prophets, a bimonthly newsletter.

But King says writing is no way to get rich, and more time spent buying and selling property would have made him lots more money.

"I never want to encourage anyone to invest in property," he says, noting that the market which is now soaring could eventually change.

But if people are keen to jump into property they should at least arm themselves with the maximum amount of information. Sidestepping common traps is the aim here.

King is well-qualified to write about residential investment. The president of the Auckland Property Investors' Association, he is also the former owner, publisher and editor of monthly magazine Kiwi Property Investor and spent most of last month organising the association's annual conference held in Auckland.

King's Planning For Property Success outlines various strategies to follow, depending on what type of property you have bought, whether it be an ordinary property, a bargain, a fixer-upper, a development property, a "pay off debt" property, or one that falls into the "borrow and never pay off debt" category.

Philip Macalister, the editor of online money management magazine Good Returns and monthly magazine Asset, sells investment books on the internet and says The Complete Guide to Residential Property has been by far his best seller.

"Interestingly enough, this book has sold to overseas buyers too," says Macalister. "This tends to indicate that there are many expat Kiwis who have heard about what is happening in the property market and feel it's a good investment. Another driver is that quite a few of these buyers have been in Britain but New Zealand property looks attractive to those bearing sterling."

Macalister's next best-sellers for property investors are Your Investment Property by Anita Bell (Random House, $19.95), The Rascal's Guide to Real Estate by Olly Newland (Addenda, $39.95), Real Estate Secrets by Andy Gilbert (David Bateman, $24.95) and Property Investment In New Zealand by Martin Hawes (Shoal Bay Press, $29.95).

For more technical information, try Landlording in New Zealand by Frank Newman and Property Tax in New Zealand by Mark Withers, suggests Macalister.

Macalister also plans to begin publishing a new property investment magazine, saying investors need more information.

Seminar organisers and enthusiastic residential investment advocates David Hows and Phil Jones are also into publishing guides for investors. Hows was the former national retail manager of Max Fashions but with business partner Jones decided to switch to real estate.

The pair bought Kiwi Property Investor from King, revamped it and are printing it as a full-colour glossy. They are associated with a property investment book, Real Money Real Estate (Action International, $34.95) by Brisbane-based Brad Sugars, who also runs property investment seminars.

Jones and Hows are now running their seminars on how to make money out of property in Australia and are franchising their business.

Lately they have had exchanges with an Australian real estate ethics advocate and trainer, Neil Jenman, himself the author of a swag of books which take a more cautionary approach to the trade, including Real Estate Mistakes (Rowley Publications, A$19.95) and Don't Sign Anything! (Rowley, A$39.95) which are insider's guides to tricks of the trade and avoiding ripoffs.

Their fights have been staged in public, via Jenman's website (jenman.com.au) where he pulls no punches in criticising the pair, and in an article in Jones' and Hows' magazine, which questions whether Jenman is was what he claims.

Jenman's books have not been well-received by the Real Estate Institute either; it's president, Graeme Woodley, said this year that few people in New Zealand paid much attention to the Australian.

Another book that is unlikely to be on many agents' must-read list is How to Avoid the New Zealand Residential Property Crash, by Christchurch financial planner Charles Drace, which argues that residential property values are in for a long decline.

In the Real Estate Institute's latest journal, Woodley points out that Drace made similar claims several years ago, before the latest rises in property prices.

Whatever the arguments, investors keen on dipping their toes into property have a wealth of information to choose from.