Articles
Checking an investment before you commit
Practical, Australia-specific guides to the searches and documents that tell you who you are dealing with. Most cost nothing. None of them take longer than an afternoon.
- Due diligence
- Investor protection
- Property
- Queensland planning
- Verification
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Why Queensland Development Approvals Take Longer Than the Timeline Says
Code assessable, impact assessable, and the gap between the statutory clock and the real one. What drives approval delay and how to test a projection.
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Management Fees in Property Syndicates: How They Are Structured and Where They Go Wrong
How syndicate management fees are calculated, why caps matter far more than rates, and what to do when drawings exceed the amount you agreed.
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Property Development Syndicates: How They Work and Where Investors Get Exposed
Development syndicates concentrate risk where the pitch does not show it. Where money is actually lost, and the contractual controls that protect it.
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What an Information Memorandum Should Tell You — and What to Check
How to read an Information Memorandum properly: which fee, funding and access terms actually bind you, and the questions to ask before you sign anything.
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How to Run an ASIC Company and Director Search
What ASIC's registers reveal about a company and its directors, which searches are free, which are worth paying for, and how to read the results.
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How to Check if Someone Is Bankrupt in Australia
Search Australia's National Personal Insolvency Index for $15. What the bankruptcy record shows, how to read it, and what it means for money you are owed.
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How to Check a Queensland Real Estate Agent's Licence
Queensland agent licences are public and free to check. What the register shows, what a licence does not guarantee, and how to verify a claimed credential.
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A Guide to Avoiding Investment Scams in Australia
The forms investment fraud takes in Australia, the warning signs that show up before money is lost, the checks that catch most of them, and what to do next.
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A Due Diligence Framework for Investments
A repeatable framework for assessing an investment, from preliminary screening to documentation, with the specific Australian searches to run at each stage.
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Guide to Finding the Right Brisbane Real Estate Agent
How to research, shortlist, interview and verify a Brisbane real estate agent, what commissions actually cost, and the warning signs worth acting on.