The financial crisis provided us all with a wake up call in respect of the volatility of various investments, and that we live in uncertain times.

For some, as with any crisis, it provides potential opportunity for further acquistions. I think it all depends on what stage of 'life' you're at and how much you have at stake.

The more important question might be what are you going to do to risk proof your investments.

I would describe my approach to property investment as a bit like superannuation. You have a contribution and accumulation phase which includes an asset mix of capital growth and cashflow units, with the end game as a pension and cashout phase. So if you're at the beginning of the journey with not much in the 'kitty', now might be a good time to buy. On the other hand, if you already have quite a lot accumulated, you might be more interested in preserving & protecting what you have rather than risking it all by accumulating more (i.e. how much is enough).

One thing's for sure. There appears to be some signs of relief with drops in interest rates, continuing housing shortages and rent increases still in play. Lending arrangements might be a lot more conservative from now on. If you take the financial crisis over the last few weeks as an early warning sign, what are you going to do about it?

I have a few thoughts on:
Interest rates
Interest rates have dropped as announced by RBA and will drop further. This will allow more investors and home owners to enter the market place for ownership and residential property investing. I would expect migration of stock market investors will begin to diversify their portfolios into a stable range of investments such as residential properties. Keeping cash in a bank will provide low returns! There are predictions that interest rates will fall further till next year. I don’t think bargain buys in Investment Properties will last long!

Financial Crisis and Investment Lending
I do know banks will still lend money out and follow their respective lending criteria. It’s no point speculating how much they have tightened lending arrangements. I would simply submit loan application as they will give a pre-approval subject to certain conditions. Persistence is the essence. If you get rejection and hurdles by one financial lending institution so try another. I too have had loan fell through resulting from financial crisis and suffered an illness at the same time. My view is to persist with your plan to buy 1 or 2 investment properties as there is no result if simply deferred the process because of temporary ill health and because of the challenges present themselves. What would happen if I did not purchase? Yeah there is no result. Some building societies may do better than others. So switch to another bank or other lending institution. The financial markets are different here than the USA so problems do not exist to the same extent as in Australia. Does any one beg to differ?

If you do not submit an application and don’t bid for a investment property it will simply become a wannabe or I’m gonna be a property millionaire! Are you waiting for a bargain? Dreams to be realised will require a plan, team of like minded people such as a accountant, mentor, like minded investors etc. Start off small. Stick to brick and mortar such as 2 bedrooms flat for under $150,000 in upcoming regions around Australia. That’s all! Read Gary’s Seeto’s book on investing properties or better still contact him as he will love to hear from you.

Your journey to wealth creation
I have heard so many doom and gloom stories from time to time. HA! The newspapers do excellent job spreading gloom! After all they interested in is the need to sell more newspapers! Isn’t that right! Listen to investors who have a proven track record!

Over decades I keep hearing I will buy investment property later. The result will be a nil result because they have deferred their investment purchase. An unfulfilled dream is not very satisfying isn’t that right?

I hope more readers in this forum will ask themselves what are your plans and when this plan can be started?