Be discerning when seeking expert advice online
Investors need to be increasingly careful when relying on ‘expert’ advice, particularly online, according to wHeregroup’s director Todd Hunter.
With the emergence of social media and the internet, property advice is everywhere, to both the detriment and advantage of investors.
“Investors need to know the companies or people who they are following on social media and truly trust them before taking their advice as gospel,” Mr Hunter told Smart Property Investment.
A Google search of “property investment advice” reveals more than 2.5 million unique Australian-based results.
“Currently there is no legislation governing property investing advice which allows anybody to say any area is the "Next Hotspot”.
“You will, however, pick up some great tips from some investor experts, it’s just a matter of siphoning through the material and taking snippets of information onboard from many people to form your own opinion,” he said.
The best source investors can really rely on, he explained, is their own common sense.
“There's an old saying that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.”
Smart Property Investment’s editor, Phillip Tarrant, said that SPIonline is one way savvy investors can tune into the latest and most pertinent of property information.
"With factual information that steers clear of spin, our new property data allows investors to search for any suburb across Australia and have instant access to the latest cutting edge maps, graphs and statistics.
“Weekly newsletters, RSS feeds, videos and a wealth of resources, have all been brought together on the one website, it really helps investors stay ahead of the game,” Mr Tarrant said.
Reviews, event listings and a number of other features are now available for free.
Pointing to the ‘Resource Centre’ tab, he explained that detailed information on important topics such as strategy, the markets and finance can be found, and accessed, for free.
Investors can also share their own property investment experiences, and read trusted sources of information through Smart Property Investment’s new forum and blog features.
"Investors must always take care, both online and offline, to ensure that they are going through the most reputable source of information," Mr Tarrant said.