As our Wealtheon Fin360 Members know, we recently held our first special event of 2025 which was all about PROPERTY!

We had a great interactive and informative session with two of Australia’s top minds in the property and lending space, Scott Aggett and Gawain Johnstone, and we’ve put together some of the top questions and answers that came up during our session for you to read and ponder.

You can read all about it along with the most asked questions and expert responses below.

Property Q&A Master Class February 2025

Top 3 Questions & Answers

Your Question: Where do you see the biggest mistakes that newbie or amateur style investors and mom and dad type investors make when it comes to today’s market and the property market in general?

Expert’s Answer: The biggest mistakes made by newbie or amateur investors include:

• Buying in the wrong entity – not setting up the investment properly from a legal and financial perspective.
• Not understanding their true borrowing capacity and hold costs.
• Not having a clear investment strategy and understanding their risk profile.
• Buying properties based on convenience or emotion rather than focusing on long-term returns and fundamentals.
• Being heavily influenced by media, local agents, and popular opinion rather than doing their own research.
• Lacking the commitment and time to truly understand a local market before investing.
• Buying the “cheapest” property in an area without considering factors like location, growth potential, and rental returns.

Our experts emphasized the importance of taking the time to do proper research, working with experienced professionals, and having a clear long-term strategy when making investment decisions, rather than making emotional or uninformed choices.

Your Question: What do you see as the best way for buyers to position themselves financially before purchasing, and who are the first people they should speak to?

Expert’s Answer: The best way for buyers to position themselves financially before purchasing is:

• Speak to a mortgage broker first to understand their true borrowing capacity and serviceability. This is crucial.
• Work with the mortgage broker to structure the purchase in the right entity (e.g. personal, trust, etc.) based on their long-term goals.
• Have a clear financial plan and understand the hold costs beyond just the purchase price.
• Initiate regular check-ins with the broker to review their portfolio and refinancing options as their situation changes.
• Avoid just focusing on the “cheapest” property – look at the broader fundamentals and how it fits their long-term investment strategy.
• Be prepared to spend time researching the local market in depth, rather than making rushed emotional decisions.

Our experts emphasized the importance of taking a holistic, strategic approach to the financial preparation, rather than just looking at the purchase price. Working closely with a mortgage broker and financial advisor is key.

Your Question: What’s your outlook for the property market in the short to medium term?

Expert’s Answer: Our experts noted that the outlook will depend heavily on what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) does with interest rates in the near future. They suggested property may continue to grow if rates go down once or twice in the first half of the year.

However, both experts emphasized that supply issues are a major factor to watch, as there are not enough homes being built currently to meet demand across different markets.

They suggested to not pay too much attention to short-term interest rate movement, and to focus on the long-term fundamentals rather than short-term fluctuations, as buyers should factor in affordability upfront and then hold potentially the property for the long-term.

The experts noted that there are pockets of strength and weakness across different markets, so a broad generalization about the entire property market is difficult. They emphasized the importance of looking at highly localized data and fundamentals rather than relying on media headlines.

Overall, the experts took a measured, long-term view on the property market outlook, focusing on fundamentals over short-term predictions.

As always, if you’d like to learn more you can get in touch with us at hello@wealtheon.com.au or via our website.

If you’d like to get in touch with either of our property experts, you can find Scott via his website here: Scott Aggett | Expert Property Negotiator and get onto Instagram to connect with Gawain here: Open Bridge Financial (@openbridgefinancial) • Instagram photos and videos