Property Mastermind Podcast with Bob Andersen & Hilary Saxton

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.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton unpack this year's Property Development and Joint Ventures Workshop, three full days on the Gold Coast from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October, plus a two hour online kickoff session on Thursday 1 October.

This year's workshop covers the complete A to Z of property development through Property Mastermind's nine step process, from sorting your finance and finding a site that stacks up, right through to banking your profit at the end. It is built for beginners first, and the majority of people who have come through the program started exactly there. But it is not only for beginners. Bob and Hilary explain why so many people come back (the record is nine workshops) and why hearing the process again is what turns knowledge into second nature.

What makes this workshop different is that joint ventures and creative finance strategies are woven right through it. If you have been waiting to save up enough cash to do your first development, Bob's message is simple: you will probably be waiting a long time, and you don't have to. Loan partners, equity partners, options, small capital raising's and land owner joint ventures are all ways to get moving now, whether it is your first project or your second while the first is still under way.

They also talk about the part that is hard to explain until you have been in the room: the networking. Morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and happy hour every day, a community where nobody sits alone, and joint venture partnerships that form at the workshop itself, year after year.

Early bird pricing is on now. Use the code EARLYBIRD at checkout to save $1,000 off the standard $3,997 ticket, ending 13 September. Past attendees can return for just $495.

Workshop details and tickets:
https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/property-development-and-joint-ventures-workshop/

Attended a Property Mastermind workshop before? Reserve your seat here: https://buy.stripe.com/6oU00c9LEaFf5BS4TfdIA1Z

Questions? Email [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every new property developer hits the same sticking points. Not hundreds of them, five big ones. And once you can see them clearly, they stop being reasons to wait.

In this episode Bob Andersen and Hilary Saxton unpack the five questions that stall new developers: 1. How much equity you actually need (and the simple rule of thumb to work it out)

2. Why development finance is nothing like the retail finance you're used to

3. How to choose your patch and become the local expert

4. Why the profit is decided at the start with an accurate feasibility

5. Why you don't need to know everything, you just need the right people around you.

It's all delivered in plain English, including the leverage example that shows how putting in one fifth of the costs can turn a 20% project margin into a 100% return on your money.

In this episode:

• How much equity you actually need, with the one-fifth to one-sixth of GRV rule of thumb
• Leverage explained simply, and why financiers put in most of the money
• Development finance vs retail finance, and why your local bank isn't the lender
• Choosing your patch and becoming the local expert
• Why the profit is decided at the start, not the end, and how feasibility drives everything
• Building your team: the architect, town planner, engineers and builder, so you don't have to know it all

To learn more about our upcoming 3 day workshop, click here: https://www.propertymastermind.com.au/events/property-development-and-joint-ventures-workshop/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.