Property is a constant hot topic in Australia – whether it’s looking at the next home you want to buy, property renovation television shows or a swathe of newspapers, magazines and ‘experts’ talking about investment. As the average punter and also looking to join in on the conversation – property forums provide an opportunity to ask for advice, discuss strategies and even give advice back to those looking for help. But which forums in Australia have the best communities? We’ve created a comprehensive list of some of the most popular property forums in Australia, what we like about them and why they might be a good fit for you.
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Property Chat (https://www.propertychat.com.au/community/)
Arguably the best overall forum in Australia for talking all things property, Property Chat has been running for almost five years after migrating the Somersoft community when that forum was archived. Property Chat provides a highly active community of both general members and professional experts who can help provide their advice, opinions and services to readers of the forum. Moderation on the forum is quite active so spam, off topic content and poor behaviour is removed quickly – meaning most of the content you will see on the forum is of a good standard compared to what you’ll see on most forums.
If you’re a business owner wanting to advertise your services or post from a business account you will need to pay for an ongoing business membership. General forum members can either use a free account or paid which will remove banner advertising and help support the forums costs.
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Property Investing (https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forum/)
The second largest forum by membership, propertyinvesting.com is primarily an Australian property forum, but also includes an active amount of foreign/US property content. Owned by Steve McKnight the famous property investment expert and educator, the forum has a healthy contingent of users which have completed courses or seminars by McKnight so you can expect discussions and investment strategies to often mirror those of Steve. Unlike Property Chat, moderation is far more relaxed so spam is to be expected.
There are no paid memberships so businesses can setup an account and promote their services on the forum. Common businesses you might see doing this include mortgage brokers, financial advisors, accountants, property managers and insurance brokers.
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Somersoft (https://www.somersoft.com/)
A little different to the other property forums in this list, Somersoft is no longer an active forum where you can sign up for an account or post. The previous owners of the forum (the Somers) after decades decided to suspend the forum but still preserve an archive of the entire content of the forum. Arguably the first and most popular for the time that it ran as a property investment forum, Somersoft captures a great historical perspective in the history of what was the largest boom in property, the GFC and returned resurgence in property during the recovery. Whether you’re looking for information on how to complete a bathroom renovation with a small budget or understanding investor psychology, this archive is a great option for those looking more to research than to actively engage in a community.
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Whirlpool Real Estate Section (https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/154)
Whirlpool is one of the most active forums in general in Australia, with topics spanning from internet services, education, tv shows, sport and real estate – which is what we’re interested in. The Whirlpool Real Estate section is very active, however this is a single forum without subcategories making it more difficult/unlikely to find significant specific content if you’re looking at certain locations, strategies or other niche discussion topics.
With members floating between the various forum categories you’re more likely to find more laymen discussing property in this forum than hard-core investors, so be aware of the types of information you might read and advice you receive. Moderation is enforced highly on Whirlpool and it’s not uncommon for forum posts providing recommendations of businesses or the like to be deleted without warning – generally for perceived ‘self-promotion’ or astroturfing (creating fake accounts to promote your business via recommendations, fake testimonials etc.
Discussions can become quite extensive on the forum, sometimes reaching 20+ pages so you can find great debates on topics to help you get a better understanding of Australian property.
So there you have it. Do you have any other forums you talk about property in Australia that you think should make the list?
