Episodes

Settling on a property development strategy can often be an evolutionary process as you learn what works and what you enjoy. That can involve a few twists and turns before you find something effective and repeatable, which is what happened with my latest guest. Anselm Mathurin is a Caribbean based property developer with a terrific story to share about following a dream and learning along the way. Like most property developers, Anselm has faced some challenges in getting his projects out of the ...

Selling off the plan property is vital for many development projects to get out of the ground. Marketing and selling an idea and vision requires specialist skills. So I'm speaking with Ben Khong from Chisholm & Gamon about off the plan sales. Ben has been working in property sales for a couple of decades, mainly selling off the plan so brings a wealth of experience to this conversation, and lots of practical tips for your next sales campaign. We talk about how you can seek out the best agent to ...

With escalating build costs, delays obtaining materials and softening property values the development sector is once again facing a raft of challenges that are effecting the bottom line. This volatility and uncertainty is having an impact on finance and lending with variations to time and cost quite common. So how is this affecting the lending markets and what sorts of responses are lenders putting in place to protect themselves and their clients? Let's discuss all this and more with previous gu...

Cashflow may not be something you first think of when you get into property development, however it becomes a crucial component when you become a full time developer and need ways to generate an income between profit events. What types of projects are good for cashflow? There can be many but one stands out for its ease of getting built and its popularity with a certain segment of the market. Henry Vila from Stone Horizon, a developer and a builder, talks to us about modern style rooming houses, ...

Getting your first development project underway is an exciting time. Until the wheels start to fall off and it looks ugly, what happens then? How do you turn things around and kick start a fledgling developing career that has stalled? Baheer Komak really struggled to get some traction with his property developing and his first project, a small 3 unit site was almost a total disaster before he turned it around by changing course. Baz is now running multiple development projects and has come a lon...

Finding profitable development sites is a core responsibility for a property developer but increased competition in a hot market can make it very challenging at times. While most property is sold on the open market and found through popular sites such as realestate.com.au, plenty of transactions happen off market facilitated by people like buyers agents. A buyers agent acts on behalf of a buyer and leverages their network of agents and contacts to find properties that meet the brief of their cli...

Messy and costly legal issues in property development can often be avoided through good upfront advice and planning with an experienced property solicitor or lawyer. What are some common contractual issues and legal potholes that you should try and bypass? I speak to a property lawyer to find out. My guest on this episode is Kristy Muhlhan from Burke & Associates Lawyers. Kristy is the head of their Property Law Division and she shares a wealth of tips and ideas about keeping the legal side of p...

Anybody who has been through a few planning applications would know that strange things can happen along the way. Getting a permit is not always as easy as it sounds, particularly if there is some contentious element or interest groups start to mobilise against your application. This is exactly what happened to well known former professional basketball player Andrew Bogut when he tried to get a permit for a redevelopment project he wanted to do on some land he owned. Instead of being a straightf...

The classic pathway into property development is to start with renovations and then move into smaller developments and then on to small scale multi unit projects. And that is the journey that Paul Wilding has taken. I’ve known Paul for a few years and he’s been doing a number of small unit projects around Melbourne, some in similar areas to my own projects. Paul shares his insight into what he has learnt along the way including the importance of understanding market dynamics, how to start and gr...

This month I wrapped up a 14 townhouse project that I have been working on for nearly five years. It has been a long, challenging and eventful project. There have been many many lessons and I will share some with you. We have finished with all the settlements in the complex. I have one remaining unit left unsold which is currently on the market and I'm looking to get that sold in the next month or so. I had always planned on keeping this unit till the end of the project because it is bigger and ...

There’s nothing like experience to provide some hard won lessons on what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to delivering a property development project. While every project is different, there are some fundamentals that can be applied across projects to help things go as smoothly as possible. Matt Chamberlain from Chamberlain Property has delivered more than a dozen small scale development projects and shares with us some of the tips and ideas that have worked for him. We cover the impor...

Many developers look to grow their business quickly, trying to scale and improve their returns. But scaling rapidly comes with risk, as you expose yourself to more debt and leverage. However, slow and steady might just win the race. My guest today has taken a measured approach to growing his development business, and we'll discuss his deliberate approach to scaling and growing a property company. I am speaking with Peter Siassios from Inland Property Group. Peter is doing some awesome townhouse ...

Property developing is often a solo pursuit for many but partnering up can be a great way to accelerate your business and complete more projects, however there are some important boxes to tick before you join up with someone else. There are many benefits to joint venturing and we will discuss what these are along with some pitfalls to avoid and mistakes to sidestep. "If you are not at the next level and you want to be, there's a reason." Zoltan Celedes - Arena Equity Property Development Joint V...

Finding a great property development site only to discover it has a restriction on the title like a single dwelling covenant can be very frustrating and often leads to a potential project being ruled out. However, getting covenants lifted or modified is not an impossible task, but it can be tricky. Fortunately, we are speaking with a previous guest who has lifted not only one, but two, restrictive covenants in two very different ways. So let's find out what's involved with varying or removing a ...

Partnering up with somebody to do a property development project is not uncommon but would you do it with your sibling and take on some big towers? But before we get to that, here’s a quick update on my townhouse projects. Construction is moving along nicely with project 1, most of the site is at lock up stage, which is good. Actually had a meeting with a council enforcement officer last week to discuss noise complaints from a neighbor but fortunately we were compliant with our obligations so no...

Building to sell is the classic model that property developers often follow. They create value, realise the gain and then recycle their capital and do it all again. But when market conditions change this may dramatically impact the bottom line and render this model unviable. So what do you do if you are starting a project or half way through? Well, one option may be to repurpose your project and exit that way, or you could choose to hold on to the stock and ride out the change. Adapting your sto...

Decades of experience have taught Rod Fehring a thing or two about property development, and he shares some of the lessons learned along the way about how to create a successful property development business. In this episode we explore those lessons, the standout projects and the future of Australian residential property. Project update - Project 1 - framing well underway, couple more sales, 75% sold - Project 2 - assessing build quotes, readying to make a decision on who to appoint, about to la...

Delivering high rise tower projects was the driving aspiration for Jonathan Hallinan from BPM Corp, and he rushed to get there from a humble start on a renovation project. Jonathan has followed the quintessential property development path, starting off with a small property purchase, doing a renovation and subdivision, then getting into small multi unit townhouse developments, graduating into apartment projects and finally leaping into high rise buildings with hundreds of units in them. Jonathan...

Amassing a $4.5 billion dollar portfolio of property assets is a pretty impressive feat for a property development company, and in this episode I am speaking with the head of the organization about how they achieved that and the lessons learned along the way. My guest on the show is Rod Fehring, the former CEO of Fraser's Property Australia. He recently stepped down from the role but has taken up a position on the Frasers Property Australia Board. Strategic Growth and Sustained Value During Rod’...

Daring and dangerous are two words you would not normally associate with property development, but my latest guest suggests that may in fact be a way to create something fresh and exciting to bring to market, and carve out your own space in a competitive sector. Can you be daring and dangerous and still deliver successful projects? Let's find out... Before we get to that, I have to say I have some amazing guests lined up for the next few episodes and I can’t wait to bring them to you so stay tun...

Developing property in another country is not something most people would turn their minds to, but opportunities exist everywhere and maybe it’s not as hard as you think, as my latest guest explains about his experience developing in Japan. Some developers focus on a particular location and become an area specialist, others branch out and explore across a city, some go further and look interstate, but very few look beyond the borders of their home country. In this episode we speak with someone w...

Decay, dispute and disappointment is how former Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu describes the planning system. In this thought provoking discussion we will cover who cares about rising construction costs and how developers can deliver better outcomes. Most property developers lament at their experiences of going through the planning system. There often seems so much about it that is frustrating and inexplicable for marginal outcomes. That’s why this discussion with Ted Baillieu is so interesting ...

Large property development projects have unique challenges, but some of them are familiar to what can happen on projects of any size. I'm talking with someone who has experience with projects that range in size and sector. As I record this episode, Melbourne has started stage 4 lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID19, which means many businesses are closed and movement is severely restricted. So the kids are home from school and we don’t get to go out much. This certainly has been a strange y...

How can fragmented property investing help property developers grow their business? It is a fledgling sector of the property industry that offers an interesting model to get people involved with property and an alternative funding model for getting projects completed. Before we get to discussing fragmented investing, here's a quick update on what I've been up to. I’m doing fine, just dealing with Melbourne going into lockdown for a second time due to corona virus which is a bit frustrating but a...