Buying Investment Property is more intricate than most people can imagine. It is not simply finding a "nice" looking apartment is a "nice" neighbourhood, and voila, you're an investor. No, some planning and thought needs to be invested.

The single most important factor for investment property, is the affordability - your Cash Flow. In an ideal world everybody would love to buy property that will cost you nothing. That means, after you have taken the bond and paid the initial costs, the income after expenses would cost you nothing, instead, it must put money in your pocket. Right?

Maybe, but these properties are scarce, in fact, they are virtually non-existent, unless you probably inherit them.

There is a fine balance between the Cash Flow plus the Capital Appreciation of a property. In plain language, you have to know how to calculate the probable medium term outcome of the Net Rental Income and the Increase in Value of a given property, as to estimate what the combined growth will be over a given holding period.

To help you, we have compiled a simple calulator to help you calculate your risk vs. reward with a few strokes, and make an educated decision whether a given property is a good investment, or not.