Property Mastermind Podcast with Bob Andersen & Hilary Saxton

Development finance has its own language and plenty of fine print. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton work through real finance questions from mentoring students, names removed, so you know what to ask before you sign. Bob explains why construction interest should be charged on what you have drawn and not on the whole loan from day one, what LVR really means in development, how capitalised interest and the interest cap work, what brokers and lenders typically charge in application, line and brokerage fees, why you should read the term sheet and its conditions precedent, and why a property lawyer can still miss finance details. Along the way, a look at the finished North Harbour industrial units and what the design extras cost. The takeaway: in development finance, the headline rate is only one moving part. One broker switch saved a student around $200,000. A short follow-up on more finance questions is coming in a couple of weeks. Free Profit with Property Development Masterclass, Saturday 21 November 2026, 9am to 1pm AEDT, live on Zoom: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/profit-with-property-development-masterclass/ Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After more than 277 episodes, the same questions keep coming up. So this episode is a little bit different. Hilary asks the questions new developers ask us most, and you hear Bob's answers straight from the archive episodes they came from. Bob's own rookie mistake: thinking the market never changes, then spending two years working his way out of a Gold Coast project. Building a spec house in your own name, paying more income tax than you needed to and missing the GST. Why you talk to a commercial finance broker, not your home loan broker, before you look at a single site. The research mistake people make when they choose their patch, and why you never gamble on due diligence at an auction. A nine-townhouse deal that could never have made money, caught with one feasibility check. Why most people allow too little time. Choosing a builder on more than price. A farmer whose 20 townhouses were designed for how he wanted to live, not for the buyers. Where emotion sneaks in and costs you money. And what Bob got wrong choosing consultants in his early days. The takeaway: most rookie mistakes are made before you even buy, and almost all of them can be avoided. The full episodes behind these answers: Episode 134: Bob Andersen's Biggest Property Development Regrets Episode 255: GST Margin Scheme vs Going Concern: GST Mistakes That Nuke Your Profit Episode 197: Rookie Property Developer Mistakes To Avoid Episode 108: Common Mistakes Newbies Make In Property Development Episode 69: Common Mistakes People Make In Property Development Episode 116: How Not To Sabotage Your Feasibility Episode 188: Property Development Market Research Made Easy Episode 241: The Feasibility Lies Developers Tell Themselves Free Profit with Property Development Masterclass, Saturday 21 November 2026, 9am to 1pm AEDT, live on Zoom: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/profit-with-property-development-masterclass/  To book a call with us, click here: https://link.propertymastermind.com.au/book-a-call  Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New property developers don't know what they don't know. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton walk through a week of real questions from mentoring students, names changed, and the mistakes that were caught before they cost money. A broker who didn't understand development finance and put a feasibility out by hundreds of thousands of dollars, fixed with one introduction. A draft building contract that didn't match the finance conditions. A joint venture agreement in conflict near the end of a project. Three builder quotes that weren't comparable. An architect who ignored the brief and designed for a suburb two tiers up. A first feasibility, a weekly accountability call, a deal that fell over and came back $200,000 cheaper, and whether falling house prices mean development can't make a profit. The takeaway: most of these problems look like nothing until they cost you a deal. Having someone to call who has seen it before is the difference. Free Profit with Property Development Masterclass, Saturday 21 November 2026, 9am to 1pm AEDT, live on Zoom: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/profit-with-property-development-masterclass/ To book a call with us, click here: https://link.propertymastermind.com.au/book-a-call Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A lot of people think property developers are builders. Most are not. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton unpack what a developer actually does, week to week, and why you do not need a construction background, a trade or a degree to do it. Bob describes a developer's job in one sentence, walks through a normal week on a duplex under construction, explains what you can leave to the builder, and shares what a project really takes in hours: around four or five a week on average, up to ten in the two busy periods. Hilary and Bob cover the golden handcuffs that keep builders and well-paid professionals stuck, how much learning you need before you look for a site, why investor conversations should start early, a rapid-fire round on what the developer does versus hands off, and the chefs, pharmacists, marketers and telco managers who became developers through the mentoring program. The takeaway: a developer coordinates people to create a project. Everyone else does the work. If you want to do it, you can, whatever you do now. Free Profit with Property Development Masterclass, Saturday 21 November 2026, 9am to 1pm AEDT, live on Zoom: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/profit-with-property-development-masterclass/ Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everyone wants to save money on a development, but there is a big difference between being smart with your money and penny pinching. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton work through where property developers can sensibly save, and where cutting corners ends up costing far more. Bob covers choosing between a building designer and an architect, the non-standard windows that added over $100,000 to one duplex, why the cheapest consultant is rarely the cheapest in the end, how over-engineered structural plans inflate costs, where you can trim finishes without touching the sale price, builders and variations, the cheap survey that had to be redone, staging and marketing, doing jobs yourself, and the costs people leave out of a feasibility. The takeaway: the goal is not the cheapest development, it is the most profitable one. Sometimes that means spending less and sometimes it means spending more. The skill is knowing the difference. Free Profit with Property Development Masterclass, Saturday 21 November 2026, 9am to 1pm AEDT, live on Zoom: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/profit-with-property-development-masterclass/ Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most people who want to do property development are waiting for something: enough money, enough knowledge, the right market, the right site, enough confidence. Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton unpack what ready really looks like, and why you are probably closer than you think. Bob explains why he was not ready when he started, short on money, short on knowledge and with nobody to learn from, and went ahead anyway. He and Hilary cover why a perfect property market does not exist, which parts of the process you need to understand now and which can wait, the danger of educating yourself for years without acting, who to have on your team before you find a site, why people stall after their first project, and how confidence is actually built, one action at a time. The takeaway: you do not need to quit your job, know everything, be a builder, have found a site, have a million dollars or feel completely confident. You need a reason, the first few steps, and the willingness to take them. Free Profit with Property Development Masterclass, Saturday 21 November 2026, 9am to 1pm AEDT, live on Zoom: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/profit-with-property-development-masterclass/ Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Property development is a process, but woven through it are the skills that make the process happen: making decisions when nothing is certain, leading a team of experts, knowing your own triggers, and building the confidence to act.Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton pick up where last week's people-skills episode left off. Bob explains what he did when two builders went bankrupt mid-project, the valuation that expired one day before settlement, and the architect and town planner who should never have been hired together. The takeaway: competence builds confidence, confidence is built one step a day, and whether your gap is a hard skill or a soft skill, you can build it. Property development is a game everybody can play, but you need to know the game you are playing.Free Profit with Property Development Masterclass, Saturday 21 November 2026, 9am to 1pm AEDT. Register here: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/profit-with-property-development-masterclass/ Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Property development is a people game. Negotiation, conflict, getting people on site, keeping a builder onside. None of it appears in the feasibility, and Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton argue it decides outcomes just as often as the numbers do. Prompted by a new mentoring student who gets excited by the podcast and then loses momentum, Hilary and Bob work through the skills that turn knowledge into action: communication and listening, negotiation, relationships and trust, networking, and emotional intelligence in difficult conversations. Bob explains how he isolates the real issue when a consultant or builder dumps everything at once, why the two numbers worth negotiating hard are the land and the build, what to say to an agent when a site doesn't stack up so they keep sending you deals, and why a detailed set of plans and a proper building contract prevent most arguments before they start. The takeaway: competence creates confidence, but confidence with people is what gets a development finished. Pick the one skill you need to work on and start there. The Property Development and Joint Ventures Workshop kicks off online on Thursday 1 October, then runs live on the Gold Coast 9 to 11 October 2026: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/property-development-and-joint-ventures-workshop/  Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode Bob and Hilary unpack Joint Ventures.Bob goes back to his first two projects, both joint ventures. The first was a vendor finance deal with a landowner named Tony, who told him "money's the easiest part" and then showed him how to do a four-lot subdivision with a second mortgage instead of a deposit. The second was an equity partner deal with his sister's boyfriend, where Bob put in no money at all. Then they walk through three syndicated projects.Ultra Urban has on the go right now: 16 industrial units at North Harbour, a childcare centre refurb, and 24 industrial units at Bundamba, including the vandalism, the mould, the $120,000 and $350,000 top-ups, and why none of it was a problem. The takeaway: the financier already puts in at least four times what you do and only wants an interest return. If you are short on the rest, there is a joint venture structure for that, and waiting five or ten years to save it up is the expensive option. Learn more about our workshop here: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/property-development-and-joint-ventures-workshop/Hosted by Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton of Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can AI do a property development feasibility for you? Hilary Saxton and Aaron Ralph put the newest ChatGPT model to the test, live on screen. They hand it a real duplex site they have already developed with some of their students and sold and ask it to work out whether the deal stacks up. The actual result on that project was a $604,000 profit at 16% return on cost (ROC). ChatGPT researched, produced spreadsheets, and came back very confidently with a $125,000 loss. Even after Aaron gave it the 3 biggest numbers in the feasibility, the land, the construction cost and the gross realisation value (GRV), it still landed on an 11% return - a deal no lender would fund. Along the way Aaron and Hilary explain what an AI agent actually is, why AI generalises toward the median, what the valuer's methodology is and why it matters for finance, how we run our own models 24/7 to do feasibilities and hunt for sites, and where AI genuinely shines for developers. The takeaway: use AI, but the specialist knowledge still has to come from you. Hosted by Hilary Saxton with Aaron Ralph - Property Mastermind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.