Measuring Your Real Estate Investment Returns

Congratulations, you have finally found one source ofIncrease in price in 1 year $10,000
information that is both invaluable and easily applicableReturn on YOUR Investment in 1 year 25% (this is
for your future investment decisions.calculated by dividing the Increase in price by Your
We have read many books, reports and variousInvestment)
articles on investments, property investment inIn both cases the property cost the same and
particular. The majority of them contain greatincreased in price the same and over the same
information, some of them even give you instructionsperiod of time. However, in Example 2 the return on
on how to implement that information. However,investment was calculated on YOUR initial cash that
none of them seem to provide the missing ingredientyou invested into the property. The difference is
to convert the intent of the article into the actualmassive - 500%.
result. Their "how to" information is never complete,You see, in this example, the bank that lent you
too complicated or overly simplified.80% of the value of the property is already receiving
Finally, out of all our research, we have found aa return on their investment. It is called interest. They
major deficiency in the information provided by otherdo not require you to give them a part of the
authors -property appreciation as well. Given this, you can not
They do not explain properly why you would investcount the entire value of the property in your
in the first place!investment return calculations.
They do not explain how to measure yourOf course it is not as simple as that. There are other
investments!considerations that need to be included in the
What is the point of investment if you do not have acalculations to be precise but the basic idea is correct.
very specific goal in mind? And if you do have anIf you started applying this method to calculating
outcome in mind, how do you know that a particularyour return on investment, you will discover that
investment will achieve your desired goal?investment property is an extremely high yielding
We hear many times that people wanting toinvestment returning anything from 20% to 100%
purchase an investment property, without necessarilyper year on your investment. Investment property
knowing why they are buying an investmentrivals shares for returns and surpasses shares
property in the first place. We have probed for thethrough removing volatility and risk from your
answer only to receive blank looks, vagueinvestment.
statements and complete incomprehension of theYou have heard from so called experts that
questions.investment property will always underperform shares
Ask yourself, why would you purchase anand other investments. You have heard that the only
investment property?way to receive a high return on investing in property
Is it to create more wealth sometime in the future?is through appreciation (price growth). You have
Is it to help you financially on a daily basis?heard that rent does not give you a high return. You
Is it to generate a specific return on yourhave heard that you have to use Negative Gearing
investment?when investing in property to squeeze out any
Is it because investment property is a betterreturn. Unfortunately, none of these statements are
investment than shares?true.
Do you have answers to the above questions? IfLet us show you why....
you do, how specific are those answers?Let's take an example property with the following
We have found that people will generally answer yesvariables:
to all the above without having any specific outcomePurchasing and Investment details:
in mind.Purchase Price (new 2 bedroom unit) $185,000
In this report we will give you the primary tool thatBank Loan - 80% $148,000
you will need to start answering the above questions.Interest on Loan (Interest rate 5%) $7,400
That tool is the ability to measure the return on yourYour Contribution - 20% (your cash) $37,000
invested funds.Cashflow details:
If you cannot measure your return, you will never beRent per year (Gross) $10,140
able to achieve any of your objectives, or you willTotal Expenses (property management, insurance
achieve them through luck and not objective,etc..) $3,100
measured approach. Luck will not let you repeat yourRent per year (Nett - rental income after all
investment strategies. Luck is only good in casinos!expenses) $7,040
So how do you measure returns?Total income from tax deductions $1,960
Let's step back and discuss what is a return on yourTotal NETT rental income plus tax deductions $9,000
investment. When people talk about percentageFrom this example we see that your final position by
returns or dollar returns on investment, they usuallyowning this property is that you will have a $7,400
define these returns by time and the baselineinterest bill and about $9,000 in income. Therefore,
investment.you will MAKE A SURPLUS OF $1,400 PER YEAR.
So for example if you purchased a property forWhat does that mean if you work out return on
$200,000, after 1 year that property might be worthyour investment?
$210,000. Therefore your return on investment isWell, you have earned $1,400 on your initial cash
$10,000 in one year or 5% in one year. This exampleinvestment of $37,000 (your contribution to purchase
has a specific period of time within which a return isthe property). This represents a return on your initial
measured.cash investment of 3.8%. That is low you might say
However, when you measure a return onand we would agree with you. You forgot about one
investment, do you need to measure the return onthing... this property is paying you money to own it.
the whole price of the investment? When youYou have just bought an asset that pays you from
purchase an investment property, do you purchaseday one.
the property with CASH? Granted, some people inWhat happens to property over long term? Generally
very exceptional and sometimes suspiciousproperties go up in price. In fact, the average
circumstances do buy property with cash! You wouldincrease in price recorded over the last 100 years or
agree with us when we say that this is extremelyso is compound 7% per year. If we apply this
rare. In most cases the investment property isthinking to the above example, 7% increase on the
purchased with a combination of your money and theoriginal purchase price of $185,000 is $12,950.
bank's money.Therefore to calculate the TOTAL return on your
In fact, in most cases, the bank lends the majorityoriginal CASH investment, you need to do the
of the purchase price - 70% to 90% of the purchasefollowing.....
price. This means that generally you only put up your1. Add the income from rent and tax deductions to
own cash as a fraction of the property price. Giventhe price appreciation.
that you have only invested 10% to 20% of the* $1,400 + $12,950 = $14,350
total purchase price, when working out the return on2. Work out the total return on your initial investment
YOUR investment, why would you work out theby dividing the above by your investment
return on investment based on the whole price of* $14,350 / $37,000 = 39%
the property? You did not buy the property entirelyAmazing, your initial investment of $37,000 used to
with cash, therefore you don't need to work out thepurchase this property earned you 39% return on
return on investment on the entire price of theYOUR MONEY in the first year. Of course, unlike
property.shares you are not able to cash out and take this
We can provide an example of this in another field.profit immediately. With property, you have to wait
Say you wanted to purchase an antique chest offor some time before you can cash out fully.
drawers. You know that antiques go up in price withTo put a 39% annual return on your money in
time, especially if they are properly looked after.perspective, it is 10 times greater then the bank will
This particular chest of drawers cost $1,000. You didpay you. It is 4 times greater then professional fund
not have $1,000 so you borrowed $800 from amanagers strive to obtain - the same ones that get
friend and put up the balance of $200. You made apaid millions in bonuses. It is nearly 2 times greater
deal with a friend that at the end of the year oncethen the richest man on the planet, Warren Buffet,
you sell the piece, you will pay him $40 for the loan.consistently makes.
At the end of the year you managed to sell theHow does that compare to all your share
piece for $1,100, or for an extra $100. So you mightinvestments or any other investment for that
think that you have made 10% return.matter? Where else can you buy an asset and have
Or $100 profit divided by the $1,000 purchase price.it pay YOU from day one and increase in price?
You would be wrong. What you really made wasRemember property appreciates in cycles, but it
$100 profit less $40 that you have to give to yourALWAYS appreciates.
friend for the loan. That makes $60 profit to you. ToThis is what property professionals know and do not
calculate your return you need to divide YOUR $60seem to want to explain to everyone else. Now you
profit by YOUR $200 investment. This means youknow how to calculate real return on your money,
made 30%. You only calculate the return on YOURnot the bank's money. You do not have to work out
money and not your friend's and not on the totalthe return on the bank's money, the banks can do it
purchase price of the antique piece.themselves. You need to care only about your funds.
Here is an example of how your property investmentSo when you do the calculations right, you will find
will look. The numbers are purposely simplified and dothat overall by purchasing the right investment
not take into account various expenses:property, you will make up to 100% returns on your
Example 1 - Return on investment based onmoney. In the worst case scenario you will only
$200,000 property purchased with an injection ofmake 30%. Either way, the returns are phenomenally
20% of your own money.high by normal standards.
Purchase Price $200,000All this can be done without any risk and in some
Increase in price in 1 year $10,000cases, with absolutely guaranteed rent!
Return on Investment in 1 year 5% (this is calculatedNow what do I do?
by dividing the Increase by the Purchase Price)Hopefully we have shown you that property is a
Example 2 - Return on investment based onremarkable investment that is hard to substitute. Not
$200,000 property purchased with an injection ofall properties are the same and you need to watch
20% of your own money.out for those that may stand empty for long periods
Purchase Price $200,000or give you tiny tax deductions.
Your investment of 20% $40,000