How we analyse and choose new property developments to recommend to investors.

This week we celebrate the construction progress at Lowanna Beach Resort with visible change now occurring on site and the excitement felt by all who have purchased, invested or been part of the development process. As we reflect on the journey that has enabled the development to arrive at this point we felt it important to share with you a little more of what goes on behind the scenes of projects such as this that we partner with and how we choose properties to present to our database of investors.

You will have seen that we have been promoting Lowanna Beach Resort for some time now, in fact since the project launched and we’ve widely promoted the sales success from that launch period, which exceeded all expectations, through to now where we have less than 10% available of the 112 residential apartment development.

However, what you don’t see and may not be aware of is that behind the scenes we are not just guiding the sales of the apartments to investors where the apartment specifications match investment strategies, but we are also actively working with the development and construction teams on a weekly and sometimes daily basis to understand, inform and ensure the success of the project.

In the Direct Collective family of businesses we have Investor Property which you would be familiar with through our weekly newsletters, articles and social media presence. Another less public facing member of the Direct Collective family is Optiwise which is a property development advisory service. Through Optiwise we work with developers to guide them on creating successful developments that deliver what the community needs and meet Council requirements for approvals, are built with quality and longevity in mind, generate good returns for investors, ensure cash flow throughout the project and deliver a return for the development team.

There are many moving parts and intricacies involved in residential property developments, but with our decades of experience we know what it takes to make a good development come to fruition that delivers for all parties involved.

With projects such as Lowanna Beach Resort where we are involved from very early on in the project, we have the insight on the project combined with our intel on the market movements and forward projections to see where the true opportunities lay.

It is only when we are convinced of the capability, quality and opportunity of a development project, trust in the behind the scenes processes and personnel and see the realistic, favourable investment returns that we then recommend the housing lots to our investor database.

If we are not as intimately involved in a project such as Lowanna, we will undertake comprehensive due diligence to assess a project’s viability and opportunity. Among many things we look at:

• The experience of the developer in delivering the type of product they are offering
• The experience of the builder, their financial stability and reputation in the industry
• The location of the development and whether it is close to amenities, natural or manmade features and transport options, we also consider future infrastructure, transport corridors and weather event impacts.
• The proposed timeframe for completion to understand the impacts of other factors such as movement in the market and other competing or complementary developments.
• The product offering and whether this meets the needs and demands of the current and future community
• The price of the residential offering and whether this is in alignment with the market conditions and construction industry pricing to confirm its viability
• The expected rental return at current market conditions and factoring in future predictions for market conditions.
• The proposed body corporate managers and property management team if applicable to understand the future management arrangements and quality that may impact future values and rental performance.

A lot of research, analysis and conversations take place well before our clients and prospective clients are recommended a property for investment, and you can guarantee that if we have presented a property to you we have put in the leg work and asked al the right questions to confidently make a recommendation to you.

If you’d like to know more about the development projects we partner with and recommend or would like a review of your property investment strategy please reach out to our team for an obligation free consultation.