How much do I need upfront?
When you start your property investment journey, you’ll come to us with a pot of money, we call this your ‘initial cash investment’. Your initial cash investment amount can be made up of two parts:
Cash—actual money you actually have. It’s liquid, as in, it’s not tied up in something else like a term deposit that we can’t access.
Equity—if you already own existing property and the current value is higher than what you owe, we can use a portion of that equity.
Cash flow is king
Having a bunch of money upfront is essential to start investing, but the thing that is often overlooked or undercooked is the budget required to cover any additional expenses each month. Simply put, the more money you can spare each month to put towards holding costs, the more we can do with your investments. It’s a very important aspect of property investing, especially if you have a modest initial cash investment.
If you have a Game Plan™ that is focused on capital growth, the chances are you will own one or more investment properties where the monthly expenses are higher than the monthly rental income. These are called holding costs and the monthly flow of money in and out is called cash flow. The intention here is that the total holding costs add up to be way less than the capital growth of each property over time.
Getting started
Whether you're looking to buy just one investment property or you already intend to discuss a long-term investment strategy with us, we are going to put together some Game Plan™ options for you to consider.
In preparation for what comes next, have a read of these important guides that outline the main services that Milk Chocolate offer:
Guide to the Game Plan™
A comprehensive breakdown of how to tailor one to suit your needs, what they consist of and how to use them.
Guide to Construction
Our construction team manage and execute renovation, subdivision and builds to increase equity and rental yield through quality construction.
Guide to Purchasing
Understand our purchasing ethos, the mind-blowing amount of research we undertake and the purchasing process.
Guide to Property Management
An all-inclusive solution that keeps both you and your tenants happy throughout the tenancy and beyond.
We’ve put together some information to help you understand the steps involved when you jump onboard with Milk Chocolate. First, we highlight the main steps in the timeline below, so take a look and familiarise yourself with what happens next.
Part 1 — Onboarding (2-3 weeks)
Sign the Purchase Agreement
Pay the Initial Purchase Fee
Complete the ‘Better Insights’ questionnaire to provide us with information on your current situation, any existing properties, investment goals and family home preferences.
Part 2 — Kickstart meeting
A 1-hour session to meet the team and discuss your questionnaire responses.
We send you the ‘Reverse Brief’ for you to approve and sign.
Part 3 — Review your options and select your Game Plan™ (6-8 weeks)
We will create three options that take a different approach, providing a range of outcomes.
While we work on that, keep an eye on your inbox for our helpful guides in preparation for the next steps.
Pick a preferred approach and provide feedback
Final Game Plan option published for review
Approve your Game Plan™ and subsequent first purchase.
Part 4 — Your first purchase is underway
The first property search begins when we activate the brief.
Follow our progress on your search tracker.
Once purchased, track portfolio performance on our platform.