Property Investment
5 min read
Author: Andrew Nicol
Managing Director, 20+ Years' Experience Investing In Property, Author & Host
Reviewed by: Laine Moger
Journalist and Property Educator, holds a Bachelor of Communication (Honours) from Massey University.
Want to invest in property? You might consider using a property investment company.
These companies help you create a financial plan and then find properties to invest in.
It’s a bit like if you use a company such as Milford or Fisher Funds to look at other types of investment.
Because property investment companies:
It can be hard to choose the right one for you.
In this article, we’ll go through 5 of the best-known property investment companies in Auckland (in no particular order).
First up is Opes Partners. Yes, that’s us — the company I own, and the website you’re currently on.
I get it — including ourselves might seem biased — but here’s why we’re on the list:
Opes Partners is one of the biggest names in this space, so if you want to know what’s out there you need to know we’re an option.
We’ve got offices in Christchurch and Auckland, plus remote team members around the country.
To help you invest we use our Wealth Plan framework. This is a five-step process designed to help investors buy and manage investment properties over the long term.
We also offer a wrap-around service, including:
So you can use us to get your mortgage, property management, accounting and property all in one place.
We’ve also created our own software to help you create your plan. This includes:
No other property investment company has created tools like these for their clients. That’s a fact.
And unlike some other companies on this list, we don’t charge a fee to use our service.
Instead, if you choose to invest in a property we recommend, the developer pays us a marketing fee.
Opes Partners also produces New Zealand’s #1 investing podcast, The Property Academy Podcast. I host that with our economist, Ed McKnight.
We also run webinars and have NZ’s #1 property YouTube channel.
Ed and I often write for Stuff, the NZ Herald, OneRoof and Woman’s Day.
Property Factory specialises in New Build properties.
The company launched in 2010 and rebranded as Property Factory in 2016. It was originally run by Campbell Venning, and is now led by Andrew Wilson.
They have a team of 16 and work with developers like Wolfbrook, Golden Homes and Mike Greer.
Unlike some others on this list, Property Factory is a real estate agency, not a financial advice firm.
So, they don’t help you build a financial plan, but they do help you find and buy investment properties.
Their sales team is registered with the Real Estate Authority, so you’re working with licensed real estate agents.
They also don’t charge investors a fee. Like us, they’re paid by developers when you buy a property.
Positive Real Estate has been operating in New Zealand for 15 years, although they have a longer track record across the ditch – 22 years in Australia.
They’re headquartered in Wellington, but they have 15 staff spread across offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The NZ operation is headed by Sue Mathieson (née Irons).
Their approach is centred around education and mentoring and you pay to join their Lifetime Mentoring Programme.
The programme starts at $4,995 and goes up to $9,995, depending on what you’re after.
This includes a structured investment plan and coaching support to guide you all the way through to retirement.
You can go through the coaching programme and then choose not to buy a property through them.
Until recently their coaches weren’t licensed financial advisers. It’s good to see they’ve now moved to become a registered financial advice provider.
I think it’s important that any company you work with is registered on the Financial Services Provider Register.
Momentum Realty is part of the enable.me family. It’s one of their ‘specialist services’.
So, if you’re working with enable.me and keen to invest in property, they might introduce you to Momentum Realty.
But before you look at properties, you’ll usually go through one of their financial planning programmes. These cost anywhere from $1k to $12.5k (including GST), depending on how much support you’re after.
My understanding is that to get property investment advice, you pay the higher end of that range.
Momentum Realty is led by Russell Benshaw, a licensed real estate agent with over 23 years’ experience.
Like Property Factory, Momentum is a real estate agency, not a financial advice firm.
That means he won’t help you build a full financial plan. They’re here to help you find and buy New Build investment properties (although to be fair if you’re working with enable.me, you’ve likely had the financial planning bit sorted already).
When it comes to properties, Momentum recommends a mix of progressive payment and turnkey builds.
That’s a bit different from some of the other names on this list.
They’ve got properties listed in Auckland, Canterbury, Wellington and Otago. They also have properties in Gisborne, Northland, Southland and Bay of Plenty. So, a broader range of regions than most.
According to their website, they work with 11 developers, including big names like Golden Homes, Wolfbrook and Mike Greer.
Staircase Financial Management is based in Auckland and has been operating since 2001.
It used to be called NZ Invest, but it appears to have changed its name around 2016.
Staircase offers a one-stop shop for property investors.
They can help you buy a property, but then they also provide mortgage advice, property management, insurance and accounting ... all under one roof.
I obviously think that’s a good thing because at Opes we’ve been doing that for years. So I think that bundling these services together is valuable.
Staircase also doesn’t charge for their financial advice. They’re paid by the developers they work with, along with income from their subsidiary companies e.g. property management.
They can help you invest in properties in Auckland, Tauranga and Queenstown.
When you work with Staircase you’ll work with a financial adviser. Through this process you’ll work through a goal-setting workbook to map out your investment plan.
Staircase has a strong 4.8-star rating on Google. This is a good rating for the financial services industry.
The company you should use depends on the service you are after.
Each company offers something a little different.
Another option I often say to people is: “Look at their websites, read their articles, look at the education each company puts out online. Then choose the company that seems to know their stuff best.”
That way you know the company that seems most clued up on the investment industry.
Managing Director, 20+ Years' Experience Investing In Property, Author & Host
Andrew Nicol, Managing Director at Opes Partners, is a seasoned financial adviser and property investment expert with 20+ years of experience. With 40 investment properties, he hosts the Property Academy Podcast, co-authored 'Wealth Plan' with Ed Mcknight, and has helped 1,894 Kiwis achieve financial security through property investment.
