Investment Insights

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2026

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2026

24 articles

Yan ZhuScam / Warning

Seven Property Types That Are Financial Suicide in Australia

In years of working as a buyer's agent, I have watched clients almost buy properties that would have set them back half a decade. Not because the properties were obviously terrible—some looked fantastic in the photos. But behind the fresh paint and the agent's smooth pitch, there were structural, financial, or strategic defects that would have cost tens of thousands to fix or would have permanently capped the asset's growth.

Updated on 4 Aug13 min read

Joey DonInvestment Strategy

Seven Red Flags That Quietly Destroy Your Property's Value

Your house hasn't grown in five years. Everyone else in the suburb is up 20%. What went wrong? After 1,000+ inspections, almost certainly one of these seven red flags — flood overlays and transmission lines.

Updated on 4 Aug12 min read

Yan ZhuFinance & Tax

Six Borrowing Power Hacks That Brokers Usually Charge For

I have been hunting for ways to stretch my borrowing capacity for months. Then a broker sat me down and walked through six adjustments that banks never advertise. One of them—cutting a credit card I thought was harmless—freed up $100,000 in borrowing power overnight.

Updated on 4 Aug10 min read

Joey DonMarket Analysis

He Spent $800K of Superannuation on the Wrong Property. Here's Every Mistake He Made.

He thought 600 square metres was enough for development. It wasn't. He put the property in his SMSF without understanding the restrictions. Then he planned renovations that would have triggered penalties.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Yan ZhuScam / Warning

Five Solar Panel Traps That Cost Australian Homeowners Thousands

Yes, solar can save you money. But the industry is riddled with traps designed to make installers rich and homeowners confused. After seeing dozens of investment properties hit with unexpected solar costs, here are the five mistakes that keep coming up.

Updated on 4 Aug9 min read

Yan ZhuGuides

The Report That Predicts 10-14% Growth and Why the Crash Callers Will Be Wrong Again

Every platform is full of people predicting a property crash based on an 18-year cycle theory. Meanwhile, SQM Research's Boom and Bust report projects double-digit growth in major Australian markets. Someone's going to be very wrong. Let's examine the evidence.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Joey DonSuburb Analysis

$700K Houses Next Door to Million-Dollar Mansions. Welcome to St Albans.

Most Chinese-Australian investors have never set foot in St Albans. They should: a $700K median growing 8.2% a year, 20km from the CBD — double the growth of Box Hill at half the price.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Joey DonSuburb Analysis

I Drove Through St Albans and Found a $700K Pocket Next to $2M Mansions. Here's Why That Matters.

St Albans gets dismissed by most investors. Too ethnic. Too rough. Too far west. I drove through with a camera and found something the data nerds miss: a pocket where $700K weatherboard houses share a street with $2 million architect-designed homes.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Joey DonSuburb Analysis

St Albans Street-by-Street: Which Blocks Have Development Potential and Which Are Dead Ends

After our Carinlea deep-dive went viral, we got flooded with one question: can I subdivide in St Albans? The answer depends entirely on which street you're on, what zone it's in, and whether the block has a rear access point. Here's the map.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Yan ZhuRenovation & Development

I Invest in Both Stocks and Property. Here's When Each One Wins.

Stocks or property? It's the wrong question. The right question is: which one first, and when do you switch? I invest in both. Here's the complete comparison — with actual numbers, not vibes.

Updated on 4 Aug12 min read

Joey DonInvestment Strategy

Stop Buying Investment Property in 2024. Unless You Meet These 3 Conditions.

I'm literally in the business of helping people buy property. And I'm telling you: most people should not buy in 2024. Here are the three conditions that separate the ready from the reckless.

Updated on 4 Aug10 min read

Joey DonGuides

I Was Overthinking Every Decision. One Habit Change Eliminated 99% of It.

I finally figured out why I always felt low on energy. I was thinking too much. Not analysing, just looping. Since I changed one habit, my decision-making speed and quality have transformed. Here is what I learned.

Updated on 4 Aug10 min read

Joey DonScam / Warning

Wake Up. If You Are Paying Money to Hold Your Investment Property, You Are Doing It Wrong.

We manage close to two hundred properties in Melbourne. And I can count on one hand the number that require the owner to put money in every month. So when people tell me that subsidising an investment property is just the cost of doing business, I have a hard time keeping a straight face.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Joey DonSuburb Analysis

He Spent $1.1M on a Sunshine Property. He Lost $200K. Here's What Went Wrong.

A friend of mine ignored my advice, bought in Sunshine for $1.1 million, tried to convert the ground floor to commercial. He lost roughly $200,000. Let me show you exactly where he went wrong.

Updated on 4 Aug10 min read

Yan ZhuMarket Analysis

6 Sweet Gum Avenue: The Narre Warren Property Paying $935 a Week After One Addition

When we settled on 6 Sweet Gum Avenue, the numbers were already decent. A three-bedroom house on 620 square metres in one of Narre Warren's quieter pockets, purchased for $762,000. Rent as-is would have been about $520 a week. But 'decent' isn't why we bought it. We bought it because of what was hiding in the backyard.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Joey DonMarket Analysis

I Studied 13 Quarters of Tasmanian Data. The Population Numbers Are Brutal.

Everyone who got their green card through Tasmania left for Melbourne or Sydney. I know a hundred people who moved back to Melbourne from Tassie. I don't know a single person who went the other direction.

Updated on 4 Aug12 min read

Yan ZhuInvestment Strategy

Tasmania's Houses Grew Less Than Melbourne's Apartments. Yes, Really.

I've been warning people about Melbourne apartments for years. Then I pulled the ten-year data on Tasmania and nearly fell off my chair. The houses — not units, not apartments, houses — in Tasmania grew by less than Melbourne's worst-performing asset class. Let me show you the numbers.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Yan ZhuProperty Management

Five Things We Check Before Approving a Single Tenant (And What Landlords Get Wrong)

A bad tenant will cost you more than a bad property. After managing 300 properties across Melbourne, our screening process is blunt, methodical, and designed to keep problem tenants off your books before they become your problem.

Updated on 4 Aug10 min read

Joey DonProperty Management

What My 30-Year-Old Self Would Tell My 20-Year-Old Self About Money, Career, and Property

At 20, I thought hustle was the answer to everything. At 30, I realised that three or four decisions — not 10,000 hours of grinding — determined my entire trajectory. Here's what I wish I'd known sooner.

Updated on 4 Aug10 min read

Yan ZhuScam / Warning

3 Things You Should Never Tell a Real Estate Agent (And 1 Question to Always Ask)

Agents are professional negotiators working for the other side. The information you volunteer in the first five minutes of an open inspection can cost you $50,000.

Updated on 4 Aug10 min read

Yan ZhuRenovation & Development

Australia's $12 Trillion Housing Market: The Uncomfortable Truth Politicians Won't Say

Australia's entire superannuation pool sits at $4.3 trillion. The residential housing stock is worth $12 trillion. When a country's single largest asset class is three times bigger than the retirement system it was designed to replace, no government — left or right — will allow it to fall.

Updated on 4 Aug13 min read

Joey DonGuides

Two Types of People Who Should Genuinely Never Buy Investment Property

I'm not going to sugarcoat this. Some personality types are genuinely incompatible with property investing. If either of these descriptions sounds like you, please read carefully before committing to a 30-year mortgage.

Updated on 4 Aug11 min read

Joey DonMarket Analysis

My Mate Waited for Rate Cuts. He Got Lower Rates and a $100K Bigger Mortgage.

If you're holding off buying because you expect rates to drop, you need to hear what happened to George. He waited. He got his 2% rate. And he paid $100,000 more for the exact same house.

Updated on 4 Aug10 min read

Joey DonRenovation & Development

Do Not Trust AI to Choose Your Investment Property. The Data It Reads Can Be Faked.

China's 315 consumer protection investigation exposed a factory operation that manufactures fake product reviews at industrial scale, polluting AI training data. The same technique works for property suburbs. If someone wants you to buy in Moe, they can make ChatGPT recommend it. Here is how.

Updated on 3 Aug10 min read

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