As more Australians turn to property investing, brokers are in a prime position to help clients take the emotion out of their decisions.
Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) board director and ASPIRE Property Advisor Network founder Richard Crabb (pictured left) warns that “too many investors buy with their hearts and not their heads.”
“What we often see is that emotion clouds judgement,” Crabb told The Daily Telegraph.
Propell Property managing director Michael Pell (pictured right) added that many investors purchase in familiar areas simply because of sentiment.
“It may be a beautiful place to raise kids and have a family but it doesn’t always make sense from an investment point of view,” Pell said.
Brokers can use these conversations to emphasise fundamentals – not lifestyle appeal.
Crabb recommends focusing on “population growth, infrastructure, employment and yield.”
Crabb said too many investors buy before clarifying their objectives.
“They don’t know what success looks like,” he said. “Is it income? Is it growth? The right investment property is the outcome of a plan and not the starting point.”
For brokers, this is a chance to deepen client relationships through strategic conversations about loan terms, cash-flow goals, and portfolio timelines.
Even the best property can underperform if financed incorrectly.
“You may have bought a great property, but if you’ve done it in the wrong structure or if you’ve financed it wrong, it can actually diminish the returns,” Crabb said. “If you buy it in the wrong entity or the wrong ownership structure you can’t change that without having to pay stamp duty and other costs.”
This makes brokers’ advisory role pivotal. By collaborating with accountants or financial planners, brokers can ensure each client’s loan structure aligns with their tax position and wealth strategy.
With RBA rate cuts improving borrowing power into 2026, structuring loans and ownership entities correctly could make the difference between a solid investment and a stalled one.
Investors often sell too soon out of frustration, Pell noted – missing major growth cycles.
“A great example of that has been Brisbane,” he said. “The market was flat for 15 years before 2021, and then from 2021 to 2025 it basically doubled. But a lot of people sold in 2020 when COVID hit.”
“They’ve made the mistake of not holding on for the long term and they’ve missed a four-to-five-year bull run.”
Brokers can remind clients that property operates in cycles and that maintaining buffers, stable repayments, and good tenants helps weather slow markets.
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