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Living your Luxe Life on the Sunshine Coast.
We have conversations with people who have found “home” on the Sunshine Coast & explore how they connect home with lifestyle & community.
As Property Buyers Agent we also discuss the macro economic factors impacting economic growth & property growth & where we are in the property cycle.
We overlay local market nuances of different sub markets from Noosa Heads to Maroochydore, to the Hinterland.
I hope you enjoy the series Living Your Luxe Life.
Hi. I'm Christine Mount from Luxe Coastal Property Buyers with Living Your Luxe Life podcast, where we help connect community, property buying with certain specialists. So we've just spoken to Shona from The Expatriate about why she purchased in Pruguayan Beach, a very interesting podcast, but now we're going to get down to business. So Shona is the co founder of The Expatriate, where she helps expats from all around the world buy property at any point in their journey when they're an expat. So tell me a little bit about The Expatriate.
Speaker 2:Okay, so The Expatriate was founded by myself and my life partner, Adam Kingston. So Adam Kingston also runs Australian Expat Finance. So obviously, he's a like, we're mortgage brokers who help Aussies buy back in the country. Yeah. And so what he found from, like, chatting to his clients, he's going, hang on.
Speaker 2:It like, you know, he wanted to set up like an online platform that connected, you know, mortgage brokers with buyers agents with, you know, tax accountants and tax depreciation specialists, but also then financial advisers. Because quite often, you know, when expats are either buying an owner occupier or an investment property, they're going to need either an accountant, a tax depreciation specialist or a financial advisor because there could be a capital gains tax event, super comes into it, do you get what I mean? There could be a way that we can help our clients save money or, you know, at least try and protect their wealth through this whole process. Because if you get it wrong as an expat, it could be very costly.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. It's so true. So it's about wealth protection. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Wealth generation. Absolutely. And how to meet their lifestyle needs in that process and bring it all together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then we all get to have a fun night out and share a few drinks and some good food. And we also means that we're connecting Aussies if we're doing an event in Hong Kong or Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, that we're connecting Aussies in those places and then they can have some mates too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, and I think this is really critical because I think a lot of people don't consider their financial planning and even the timing of when you move back can impact the tax you're paying on bonuses. Oh absolutely. So I'm gonna say thank you for inviting me to be the guest speaker at your event in Singapore because I think we went to Singapore a few months ago and we did that with St James and the tax accountant financial Tristan, yeah. Yeah, on the tax side Tristan Perry. Yeah.
Speaker 1:He's actually really helped one of our clients. Absolutely. Who are expats in Singapore.
Speaker 2:It's almost like a wage that can save them sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it's like and the so the client from Singapore really was all about sort of legacy Yeah. Land and luxury, bringing that together. Because he'd been in Singapore thirty years, oh, an expat for thirty years, a lot of that was in Asia predominantly. And you want your forever home.
Speaker 1:And it was very, very important for him when he's talking about the land that his family generational, all his grandchildren will wanna come and visit him. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:So where can
Speaker 1:the family come to connect and play? Yeah. So we found this beautiful acreage property, 10 acres, which I'll do a bit of rewilding and had, you know, creek frontage, Queenslander in pristine condition.
Speaker 2:Sounds stunning. Oh, they're so happy.
Speaker 1:But part of the process was speaking to Tristan before he came out here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So because if you get it wrong, it can be very expensive. Yeah. And I've got no, I'm not a tax advisor, but I just know, I don't know enough, go speak to an expert.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and find
Speaker 1:it out. The really interesting thing is like we engage with the clients about two and a half months, three months before they came out to inspect the property. So they got a great sense of all the different markets, as in where they could live, why would they want to live in those
Speaker 2:And little then so when
Speaker 1:they were inspecting, it wasn't just brand new. And they sort of attract the market about what prices were coming on, what they were selling for, spoken to their techs and all these kind of things. And then when we're actually made the final choice, Tristan came back again and he had more questions for Tristan. So like it was part of a Zoom call as collective community. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So it was so important. So thank you for introducing
Speaker 2:that Oh to no, it's look, and even if, you know, Adam and I don't have a part in that, it doesn't matter. It's about expat community as a whole. Yeah. And making sure that whoever comes into contact or into the realm of like the expatriate, know, they know that it's good, solid advice, good information and then, you know, if they can take that and save themselves some money or generate some wealth from it, then fantastic.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That sounds really valid point because these guys didn't need finance.
Speaker 2:No. Yeah. So that's you. So I was saying But
Speaker 1:but you've created that community. Yeah. Our word all sort of comes back sort of in a in a sort Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, look. We're it's not all about us. It's like, we're not selfish people. You know what I mean? We we we just wanna make sure that whoever comes in contact with us, then, you know, they they're looked after.
Speaker 2:And you really enjoy doing what you do. Yeah. We do like it. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's a pretty
Speaker 1:good pretty good job to have actually, isn't it? When you're when you're actually also part of your life is living in a last sought location, you know what expats are considering and yes, they will buy other properties in capital cities. They have to meet what's aligned to them.
Speaker 2:Of course, yeah. But we
Speaker 1:had some pretty fun engaging conversations with clients.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And it's so interesting that right now, South East Queensland is a hot area. We've got the Brisbane Olympics coming. It's definitely up there on the list because quite often people would have already a house in Sydney, Melbourne, and then they're going, okay.
Speaker 2:We need another one somewhere else. And and Sunshine Coast is definitely on people's radar, especially from Sydney and Melbourne if if they are in those areas like the North Shore or something, kind of get why this does translate like a little bit like Taramurra or the Kringai region. Yeah, no that's
Speaker 1:a really valid point. You're asking me as well before where did a lot of my business come from? It's all referral partners. Yeah. And we actually had someone, Greg Turner, who's with our team.
Speaker 1:He's based in Barrow, so outside Sydney. And a lot of people from Sydney do want to buy. It's in South East Queensland. So we also have someone, Kayleen based in the Gold Coast, Andrew in Brisbane,
Speaker 2:and then Greg You have someone in Toowoomba too? Or not Toowoomba? Yeah. They
Speaker 1:are all like Kayleen's got thirty years property experience as well, the same age as me. She's worked in commercial. She's very customer focused. Greg is amazing. He does he's got his own business in short term rental accommodation as well in both Barrel and Noosa.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay. Wow. Yeah. So he can transfer people between the two, understands both markets Yeah. Really, really well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It I can understand the crossovers between Barrow and Noosa. Yeah. And they could be the same kind of clientele. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because in Sydney, it is a big I'm originally from Sydney, so it it was a big holiday destination to go down to Barrel on the Southern Highlands on the weekend, it's only two hour drive away so it was a thing from there and I can understand why people would jump off the plane and want to come here in the winter to get away from the cold.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's great that it's so when we're in Singapore with
Speaker 2:you or whatever, if we've got
Speaker 1:clients looking in any of those regions we can help out but then your community expands so far You've beyond got people in Hong Kong that can help out.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So we've got Christina's Buyer's Agency in Southeast Queensland helping. Then we've got people who help us directly in Sydney and Melbourne, but we have Sydney based tax accountants as well and Australian based tax depreciation specialists. And then we've got relocation specialists who who help people actually come back physically. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So they basically find them places that are more like a short term rental and and then do the move for them. Yeah. So it's it's it's quite a cool little it's quite a cool community. It's important that I should also add that, you know, for financial advisers, there's financial advisers in each region because they have to be licensed in each region and then we have financial advisors who we connect with actually in Australia as well. Because there's all these different rules and regulations on their licenses just like mortgage brokers we have our licences.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's absolutely brilliant bringing that community together. You know if you had people moving from Singapore, Hong Kong, say Asia, is your advice any different to if they're coming from America? Was it
Speaker 2:same similar key considerations? I don't think so. As in like, number one, depending like, we're talking about strictly mortgage broking. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Then it's like, look, US is okay because The US like the lenders all then would assess the currency of what you're going what what you're paid into.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And so as long as the the currency is is a top tier currency, it's not a problem. Yeah. So quite often, depending on the lender that that you do go with, there's actually probably only one or two lenders who actually favor expats employment in a beautiful way and they don't discount you so much that you can't actually afford something. So it's almost like an expat mortgage broker, the choices are very simple, you probably only got one or two lenders to choose from compared to an Australian mortgage broker where you've got like 40 lenders to choose from.
Speaker 2:So it ends up being, it's Yes and no. In other words, we have to pick a lender who views your employment situation in a favourable way. And we know that because they actually discount foreign
Speaker 1:And income coming
Speaker 2:it depends on the tax rate, they also apply. So it depends if they want to apply the Australian tax rate to your foreign income and your foreign income could only be generating 8% or 13% tax rate. But then instead of being taxed at your currency tax rate is being taxed at ours. So it's quite complex in a way, but there's probably only one or two lenders who who would watch the business.
Speaker 1:I think the key thing is that that Adam always mentions is that those lenders change sometimes. Oh, absolutely. Change overnight. Yeah. And then you have to go and find someone else who's well aligned.
Speaker 2:And then we have to then go into bat for you in the background going, come on, look. There has to be a lender who helps these people. These people are in fantastic situations. They're usually more money than Australians living in Australia. Unusually quite good benefits too.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You know, the private school kids, the private schools could be paid for, their accommodation could be paid for. And so as long as like we try and explain all these scenarios to a lender, means that we can then usually get a deal over the line, but that's how I guess we work is that we present you to the lender your whole scenario as a whole package in a way that is favorable to you to make sure that we can get you a good deal. Yeah, well and that's
Speaker 1:because it's good to, really important to get a good deal, but also then help people navigate and it's much more complex, know, what papers that you do actually need, compared to if you are living in Australia. Do you see any mistakes that expats typically make before they come to see you?
Speaker 2:One is they quite often haven't done their tax returns for a few years and so that's why I guess the expatriate's been set up. Yeah. And so then we can say, hey, we really need you to speak to a tax accountant first. Yeah. And so therefore we know if this is the right time for you to buy.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Because it may not be the right time for them to buy. Yeah. And so as long as I get their tax sorted first and then come and what's then
Speaker 1:to so interesting? Together. Yeah, it happens together. Yeah. Once I get all that sorted, often from my experience, the tax accountant is then suggesting they buy another property in two years time, investment property.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I think it's all about, this is about wealth generation and wealth protection, whilst you're earning that income with the disposable income. Yeah. So then when you eventually repatriate, you actually can live the lifestyle that you want because you don't have superannuation.
Speaker 2:Yeah and this is like the key right and the only time where you can possibly boost your superannuation is by having a super contribution when you've sold an investment property. Yeah. And so therefore that's why we also want you to have a chat to your tax accountant to see how much you can plug into your super. Yeah. You know, from the sale of an investment property just in case, know, just to make sure that you are okay in retirement.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's about like a bit of a package. Yeah. Yes. You'll have a capital gains tax event from selling an investment property, but it can go over here if you're living in that country.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So And that's the only time you'll probably sell an investment property is is that if you are literally going to be living in the country. Unless the numbers work, do you get what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it's very, so what you're touching on it's so important to get that tax advice and you do want to sell an investment property once you're abroad to enable you to buy your forever home, you need that tax advice to know the implications.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. To make sure that you've done your depreciation schedules there's deductions and it makes it work for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It it you know, it could be that the, like, you know, the real estate agent costs compared to, you know, buyer's agent's costs compared to, know, your tax depreciation schedule. It it might be a a nominal capital capital gains tax event. Yeah. And it might be okay and you'll under something that's fine.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But it's something you need to consider. Yeah. And what about
Speaker 1:the expatriate expanding to Hong Kong?
Speaker 2:So tell Oh me a little bit about that. So we're in a position obviously with our clients being all over the world that we're going to base ourselves in Hong Kong Yeah. Between Adam and myself. So he'll be there definitely full time. August.
Speaker 2:And then I don't think
Speaker 1:That probably means we've got a visitor coming up. Could be Greg Riving. Yep. So
Speaker 2:what was that? Yeah. So then we're moving to Hong Kong. So moving to Hong Kong basically so we can be more with the community over there.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you'll be traveling back and forth to here. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I plan it's a little bit like what you're suggesting for some of your clients. We we plan to have this place through winter. So for three months of the year and then the other eight, nine months of the year, we rent it out to people. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But can I
Speaker 1:just say thank you for sharing
Speaker 2:your You're welcome?
Speaker 1:We'll continue we'd like to continue the conversation with you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And
Speaker 1:I'm sure we'll do another podcast in the future. Yeah. Thank you for sharing all your insights. You're welcome.
Speaker 2:Thanks. Lovely chatting. Thanks. Yay. Let him in.