My Book Is Out Soon! Successful Property Investment

Cate Bakos finished her degree with honours in Chemistry at Monash University in 1996, but held property as a passion long before embarking on a career in science.
After her first purchase at 21, Cate continued to invest in property while developing her career in sales and marketing with Orica. Upon winning a marketing award and a cash bursary in 2003, she made the bold and brave decision to move her career to real estate.
Starting out in an office in Sandringham and enjoying great buyer interaction shaped Cate’s approach towards home-matching and guiding buyers through the property selection maze.
Cate qualified and worked as a mortgage broker when her baby girl came along, and she considers those four years of dealing with borrowers and banks one of the most valuable ‘apprenticeships’ she could have served. Her appreciation of lending policy, loan restrictions, borrowing capacity calculation, investment loan structuring and cashflow analysis has shaped the property advocate Cate is today and stands her apart from most of her competitors.
Cate studied Property Services in 2010 at Swinburne University and obtained her real estate license afterwards. She founded Empower Wealth Property Advisory P/L as a director in 2011, and later left her directorship in 2014 to launch Cate Bakos Property; a boutique Melbourne business catering to her loyal clients. Over this time Cate has proudly assisted over 1000 clients on their various property journeys. Cate’s unique edge is her ability to tailor each investor’s strategy to their cashflow needs. While some investors are suited to negatively geared growth assets, many are restricted by negative cashflow options. Aside from her familiarity of, and passion for understanding the intricacies to Melbourne’s metro suburbs, Cate has extensive asset-selection experience in Victorian regional markets including Ballarat and Geelong.
Cate has been a commentator on Fox Business “Your Money Your Call” with Margaret Lomas, has featured on Melbourne Property TV, and contributes regularly to publications including Your Investment Property, Australian Property Investor, Smart Property and Property Observer. Cate features in Domain and enjoys regular interview opportunities on Real Estate Talk with Kevin Turner.
In 2013 Cate was a finalist for the Telstra Business Woman of the Year, a finalist for the REIV Buyer’s Agent of the Year, and was the proud national winner of The Buyer’s Agent of the Year with Sterling Publishing’s Your Investment Property. In 2015 Cate was awarded “high Commendation” from Sterling Publishing’s national “Investor’s Choice” awards.
Cate enjoys time (especially Sundays) with her husband and daughter in Yarraville’s village and is a supporter of Melbourne’s inner west community.