MyProp.com.au Highlights of interview… June 2011
• Reasons for developing and launching MyProp.com.au
• Who will MyProp appeal to?
• What does it do?
• Who will the software program assist?
• What are the financial benefits?
• Who will MyProp appeal to?
Property Insight MyProp is a new software development, can you tell me why you developed it?
Antony Shingler MyProp.com.au That’s a really good question for me.. My background was working with a property subsidiary of a merchant bank in London, so I have been involved with property for most of my career. When I moved to Australia I started to purchase a number of residential and commercial rental investment properties. I also built a new house as a development and refurbished others.
Property Insight You will need to explain how a former property advisor has come to build a property software program.
Antony Shingler MyProp.com.au I suppose the idea came asking my accountant over some time if he was aware of a suitable investment property software program that could help keep track of my property investments and residential reno's. Unfortunately, filing pieces of paper is not one of my strengths and I needed a investment property software program where I could keep track of all the paper work and conversations with our managing agents and suppliers. But the opportunity came when with a partner we built a software program called Xpnsit.com.au. This was designed to assist PAYG and personal tax payers to get their tax back from the ATO. It was an immediate success being promoted to some 1.2 million union members to assist them. The experience of developing Xpnsit I suppose gave me the confidence to develop this software program. We have in effect built an online property investment advisor and manager. Had it been available a little while ago I would have definitely purchased it! It’s an investment property software program built by a rental property investment owner for residential and commercial property owners.
Property Insight Are there many rental property investors that MyProp will appeal to?
Antony Shingler MyProp.com.au. Certainly less customer's than Xpnsit as there are 11.4 million PAYE and personal taxpayers. MyProp should as its regarded as a niche product as its focus and appeal is to the approximate 1.75 million tax payers who own one or more residential rental properties and this investment market in growing. Whether they own one rental property or several the system should be of great value. MyProp also assists owners undertaking renovations and new builds.
Property Insight To what extent will the property software assist property investment owners?
Antony Shingler MyProp.com.au. Its core function is to track all the income and expenses associate with each property that can be shared with a customers accountant, tax advisor or mortgage broker. It prints a tax report and has a vehicle log book. However, a valuable part of MyProp's tax manager it tracks depreciation for each property. If you have a Quantity Surveyors depreciation report, MyProp allows users to enter the Division 40 and 43 values and the tax MyProp tax manager takers this in to account. If capital items are later purchased, such as a washing machine or floor coverings, the tax manager will depreciate these at the correct rate.
My accountant always tells me part of his job is to educate his clients in to providing “accurate” information. If he gets this it saves him time and them money. MyProp does this. However, there are about forty tax deductions that are claimable with each investment rental property. Most are fairly obvious like, council rates, insurance and professional costs. There are also about twenty legitimate personal tax deductions related to managing a property or portfolio. The good thing is that MyProp tracks these as well providing more accurate details for your tax advisor which means at the end of the year, more tax back.
Property Insight Are there any other features we should know about?
Antony Shingler MyProp.com.au. Yes, two important features. An online diary to keep track of important dates. ie. rent reviews, lease and insurance renewals, together keeping notes of conversations with consultants and suppliers. The diary also allows the user to upload photos and plans of each property. This is handy when discussing the property with property advisors as they can also see the property and layout. The other is the Landlords Property Overview that shows each property's capital and rental growth since the time of purchase. Thats illustrated by a graph showing the year and associated growth. This is combined with another graph that gives an indication of the Loan to Value Ratio (LVR). All this information may be shared online with an accountant or mortgage broker, they know when you are ready to purchase another rental investment property. How's that for wealth creation?
Property Insight Thank you for your time.
Antony Shingler MyProp.com.au. My pleasure - thank you.
