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Lauravia Google

3 months ago

Honest feedback from a first-time interstate investor buying in Melbourne Pros: -Provided good suburb analytics and insights into areas with strong growth potential, and suggested solid property options in desirable suburbs. -The contract allowed the property to be advertised and inspected for rent two weeks before settlement, which was helpful. Cons: - The benefit of early advertising was reduced because settlement fell on a Friday, meaning property managers couldn’t inspect or progress leasing over the weekend. This caused unnecessary delays. The property management company they recommended advised us to email Empower to request a date change; we received one reply and then no further communication. Other reviews may be correct when they say that once your money is in, communication and support drop off. - It would have been very helpful to know upfront that 60+ day settlements are standard in Victoria. Had we known earlier, we could have made offers on other properties before prices rose. Our finances would’ve been completely fine. While we could’ve done our own due diligence, clearer guidance early on would have been far better than being doubted about our finances throughout the process. - There was repeated confusion around the 10% deposit. We were told it was in addition to the bank deposit and stamp duty, even though both we and our brokers explained it all balances at settlement. This was surprising given their experience purchasing properties regularly. Overall: Empower Wealth were professional and responsive at the beginning, and we did secure a good property in a strong suburb. However, clearer and more proactive communication around settlement timelines, deposits, and greater attention to detail would have made the experience much smoother and more efficient for us. UPDATE: I followed the instructions provided in the company’s response and emailed as requested. I received a reply advising that someone would contact me the following day, however no one did. Unfortunately, this reflects a similar experience to when I originally raised these concerns directly and was palmed off with no meaningful resolution.

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Steph Reidvia Google

3 months ago

I was a long-time fan of Ben and Bryce’s podcast, which is why I engaged the services of their company, Empower Wealth. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with their service, and don't recommend them. In short: we paid $5,500, had 4 meetings, we did a lot of runaround to collect (and pay for) other specialists’ advice, and after reviewing this information, our property advisor ultimately gave us very limited, generic advice that didn’t suit us, then we never heard from Empower Wealth again… Longer version: My partner and I are both medical. Good savings, no kids, minimal spending and jobs that move us around. We live in Brisbane and were looking for a place to live in and potentially rent out later if we had to move. We also wanted to follow Ben and Bryce’s advice - to act now, to pay for good advice, and to choose the right asset from the start. Ben and Bryce talk about the data advisors have behind their good investment choices, on location, gentrification, surrounding infrastructure and home-occupier appeal. So, we engaged a Qualified Property Investment Advisor at Empower Wealth. The first issue was that the initial meetings involved us gathering advice from other specialists to give to our advisor, before getting any advice from him. He told us to speak to a mortgage broker (which we had already done), financial advisor, insurance broker and accountant first (which all cost a further $3K). He asked us to fill in the Empower Wealth portal with all our ingoings/outgoings. Then he explored who we were and what we wanted. I asked him where/what to buy based on what he’d learned about us and the data he had: he said he couldn’t tell us, because where we want to live is a personal choice, and he recommended we go on realestate.com and domain and pick some suburbs and houses we liked. Lol, what? Like we’d already been doing? Aren’t we paying for your advice? I asked if what we wanted was buyer’s agent instead (which Empower Wealth also have), but he said no. The second and main issue was the limited advice he eventually gave, which was to buy a $1.4mil property in Melbourne, because the market growth was better there. That was literally it. We said we live and work in Brisbane, we need somewhere to live in Brisbane, but acknowledged that being from Melbourne there was always the possibility of moving back some day; based on that he continued to push buying in Melbourne. We didn’t have the time or expertise to set up a rental or IP in another state. We'd still need to pay rent in Brisbane. We didn’t know anything about the Melbourne market. What suburb? What house type? Around what schools? If he was recommending we invest in a different state, in a market we know nothing about, I would have loved some advice on what property to invest in. I kinda thought that’s what we were paying a ‘Qualified Property Investment Advisor’ for, but I guess not. 6 months after we engaged Empower Wealth, we got an email saying out adviser had left, and we had a new one. We never got an email from the new advisor. Actually, we’ve never received an email from Empower Wealth after we paid them (other than marketing emails). It’s been > 4 years - no follow up, no check in on whether we achieved our goals. After being initially so excited to sign up to Ben and Bryce’s company, we felt like fools. We paid $5K to be told ‘buy a house somewhere you like in Melbourne’. And we didn’t get any advice on the market we wanted to buy in. I genuinely have no idea what we paid for. Perhaps the advisor we got wasn’t great? Perhaps my expectations of what a property investment advisor does were wrong? I’m so confused what this company is even about. I tell all my medical and nursing colleagues to stay away. To finish, we bought a beautiful north-facing house in a blue-chip suburb in Brisbane, that we found on our own, that we love. The growth in Brisbane over the last 4 years has been better than Melbourne. I deleted the podcast and the Empower Wealth portal, and I’ve learned an expensive lesion to not give my money to an advisor ever again.

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Bruce Bamvia Google

4 months ago

I was really impressed with Saquib’s professionalism and efficiency. He made what’s usually a stressful process feel completely effortless. He took the time to explain everything clearly and ensured my return was handled with care and precision. I’d happily recommend Saquib to anyone looking for an accountant who’s both skilled and genuinely pleasant to deal with.

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Andrew Slotvia Google

5 months ago

The Empower Wealth mortgage broking team have been incredible to deal with — especially Luke, who went above and beyond to find the right deal for us. His attention to detail, clear communication, and genuine care has made the whole process seamless. It’s easy to see why Empower Wealth has won customer service awards — they truly put their clients first. Highly recommend!

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Connor Linehan-Cunninghamvia Google

5 months ago

We worked with Luke from Empower Wealth and honestly couldn’t recommend him enough. He made the whole process super easy for us from start to finish. Luke was really accommodating quick to reply and took the time to explain everything which made such a difference. He and the team made what could’ve been a stressful experience feel really simple and straightforward. We’re really grateful for all his help and would definitely recommend Empower Wealth to anyone looking for a mortgage broker.