If I was twenty five again I would only change one thing …… which is not entrust our savings with a financial advisor. BIG MISTAKE!!! We are now in control of our own future with our rentals, very happy and with achievable goals in place.

Hi GP

Good question. As we are relatively new to property investing (10 months), it is good to read how others are managing this.

As for ourselves, we owned our own family home 100% and last year set up a family trust. We have since purchased four rental properties under the trust, which are positive cashflow. We have also had capital gain in that time on our own home and our rentals. We have borrowed all but $3000.00 in the purchase of them, using equity in the family home.

We are not concerned if the housing market rents flatten out or house prices drop a little as predicted, because firstly my salary can subsidise the rent and secondly, we have enough in savings to pay off three quarters of the mortgage over the rentals if needed.

We decided to purchase this way as we thought that by keeping our savings, and mortgage basically 100% in the purchase of the rentals, we would have money in reserve and be using the banks money to our advantage. With the remaining equity in the family home and with capital gains received, we still have the ability to purchase further rentals without breaking our savings. We are comfortable in the way we are heading at present.

We would like to purchase as many rentals as possible without over committing and then sell off a portion in around ten years to pay off most of the remaining mortgage utilising capital gains, our own savings and ten years of tenants paying rent. I imagine two bust and boom cycles (if and when?). We could then reach our goal which is to be retired at 45 and living on passive income.

Does anyone else on the forum have views if we should be doing something differently to maximise our returns. I would be interested to read positive and negative comments. We can only learn from everyone’s experiences.

Regards

SPT