What is Freedom?

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G’day all

Happy Friday y’all!  How’s that for a Texas drawl?  No?  Ok, ok I’ll stick to the Aussie language J

I was talking to a number of our coaching clients this week and discussing what our reasons are for investing in property.  And, as the sun rises here, on another beautiful morning over Melbourne, the one word that comes to mind is Freedom.  We are blessed to live in this lucky country, and to quote John Williamson in one of my favourite songs of his “Australia is another word for free”

One of the definitions of freedom (apart from the one that says “not being imprisoned” LOL) is the ability or right to act, think or speak as we want.  Now, all quips around political correct-ness aside, we are lucky to have this freedom, and there are certainly many places in the world even in this advanced 21st century, where this is not a given.

To me though, Freedom really means Choices.  The ability to choose what we what to do, where we want to go.  Real freedom is having the option to choose.  People talk about freedom being “not having a job” or use the term “financial freedom” as this holistic, airy fairy term that apparently we are all striving for…but in reality what is the definition of “financial freedom”?  Until we cement this down, we will never achieve it.

If freedom in your life is having the ability to choose; choose if and where you want to work; choose how long you want to work for; choose where you want to go, what you want to do, then is not financial freedom, the ability to choose what you do with your money?

I feel financial freedom really is this – the ability to choose where you spend or what you do with your money; because at the end of the day, really, that is all money is good for – to exchange for goods or services or to gift to others.  It is not some magic pill that makes everything better; not some new age cure for all that ails us; simply the ability to exchange for goods or services we want or use it to help others do the same…

So then financial freedom would, simply put, be the ability to choose the goods and services we want, when we want or to gift to others to do the same…right?  So, what choices do you want to be able to make? What freedoms do you want?  Travel, healthcare, ability to spend time with the family?  Give to charities or create your own? 

My wife and I booked a farm stay on Airbnb in the Blue Mountains and got the grandkids and family all together for Christmas in a large 5-bedroom home.  The cost in excess of $5000 for 4 nights, but this is the choices we want to be able to make, the reason we work hard and ensure our investments are working hard for us – what’s your reasons, your choices?

Anyway, have a great Friday everyone, I’m going back to choosing to film the gorgeous sunrise here in Melbourne this morning J

Happy Investing all! And have a great weekend!!

Happy New Year

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On behalf of the Star Dynamic Property Investments Team, we would like to wish you a Very Safe and Happy Holiday Season.

May this year bring new happiness, new goals, new achievements and a lot of new inspirations in your life. Wishing you a year fully loaded with happiness. Wishing every day of the new year to be filled with success, happiness, and prosperity for you, happy new year.

Wishing you a Happy New Year with the hope that you will have many blessings in the year to come……

Merry Christmas

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On behalf of the Star Dynamic Property Investments Team we would like to wish you a Very Safe and Happy Holiday Season.

2020 promises to be eventful and we hope to be part of your success next year.

The Star Dynamic team hopes that 2020 gives you the opportunity for great success, a healthy life and a prosperous year.

We hope you take the opportunity to relax over the festive season and find the time to spend with your family and friends.

Merry Christmas and we look forward to engaging with you all again next year.Think Abroader…

Linz’s Friday Musings – December 13th 2019

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G’day all

Friday the 13th!  Look out!  Now, I am certainly not superstitious, but I know a lot of people are, so careful around ladders and black cats today hey…hehe

Hoping all your Christmas parties and catch ups are going well this time of year, we have one later today, looking forward to that, and our official Star Dynamic Christmas party next week!

This will be our last newsletter for the year, so you can all focus on your Christmas and family, and I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from all of us here at Star Dynamic!

I was reading two articles this week by two huge mentors of mine in the property industry – Dymphna Boholt in Oz and Dean Graziosi in the US.  Both were writing about the mindset of money and how much impact this has on us and our success and it really got me thinking…

Dymphna even went on to say she was talking to one of her students, discussing their goals and aspirations and the student was insisting that they wanted the money, to help their parents pay their mortgage, help a friend start a business, start a refuge for abandoned horses etc… which are noble goals… thing is this person couldn’t pay their rent and was living off credit card debt, hell, one medical emergency away from bankrupt.

See, what Dymphna is trying to explain to her student, and also what Dean was explaining, is that generally it is that WE do not feel worthy of money or success, so we develop a ‘money messiah complex’.  We want to get rich so we can help everyone else…save everyone so to speak – not for us, because making money for us is bad…

The issue here is that this never works.  Firstly, without a mindset that allows you to be comfortable to gain wealth YOURSELF, you will never actually have enough to help anyone…

Further, by continually looking to ‘save’ people you are entering the Drama Triangle as the hero, always thinking the other person is a ‘victim’ and requires saving.  This can never end well, and oftentimes ruins relationships etc. 

I can’t do a deep dive into the Drama Triangle here, would take too long, but it is a brilliant concept to help avoid conflict in relationships – reach out if you would like more information on this, I can send it through.

I know I have touched on this subject before, but even in this period just before Christmas, be conscious of your money mindset.  Do you feel you are worthy of success, of wealth?  Or are you thinking that you are simply working hard ‘to help everyone else’ not for yourself? 

Be conscious of trying to ‘save’ people.  Don’t get me wrong, giving is one of the most rewarding experiences in this world, and it is incredible to be able to give to others.  I have found the ability to help others, more rewarding than anything I have ever done.  But to do this right, you must also be secure within yourself, confident and comfortable that you are in a good position to be able to help others.  Not trying or wanting to play the Hero…

As a recent Virgin Australia airline steward mentioned to me last week – “ensure to fit your own mask first, before helping other guests…”

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Investing…!!

Cheers,

Lindsay

What are Lease Options?

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Following on from last week’s piece on Land Contracts, another strategy sophisticated investors use to sell properties are Lease Options.

Lease Options – The basics…

This is where you lease or tenant the property to a prospective buyer and give them an option to purchase the property by a certain date at a certain price. This can take several forms, but essentially you agree on a price and a date by which the prospect must take up the option to purchase.

If you wish, you can take additional rental payments, to cover a deposit, if the prospect is confident, they wish to purchase the property, but other times, the prospect just wants the option to purchase.

Advantages of Lease Options is that you can often tenant the property for a higher amount, sometimes over market value, giving the tenant the chance to put together a deposit so they can get financing to purchase.

Further, you can often get an excellent price, as you are giving the prospect the opportunity to purchase a property that they would not have had otherwise.

Full market value for the property and even more – 110% – 120% is not unusual in these cases and 12-24 months to purchase can be popular as well.

Disadvantages are that there is no guarantee the prospect WILL purchase the property; it is just an ‘option’.

Now if you are getting additional rent as a deposit then chances are they would be pretty serious, but you would also need to be sure that your contracts etc was extremely clear what happens with the additional ‘deposit’ monies if in fact the option to purchase is not exercised.

There is no right or wrong here, just so long as all parties are fully aware of the stipulations, whether the deposit funds are returned, or kept.

Further, it helps to get your property solicitor (I would not do a lease option, nor land contract, without a solicitor) do some due diligence and checks on the prospect.

There have been cases where the prospective buyer was never in a position to purchase or even pay the rents correctly, so you will need to screen these applicants extremely carefully…

Certainly an option when looking to sell properties, particularly good in flat markets and can be quite profitable strategies when done correctly