I’m (hopefully) going to embark on my first year of uni this year which will virtually condemn myself to live on low income for the next four years. As such, I doubt I’d be able to try property investing despite research over the past year or so.
I was wondering two things:
1) As I have a long timeframe before I can commence investing (Even in the best case scenario I wouldn’t be able to raise enough finance and don’t have any previous industry experience to become a bird dob) are there any indepth topics of research I can do to prepare myself as best as possible? I recall Steve mentioning in one of his books people who overload with information without the practical experience, however I am unable to get that experience. I’ve read many books and intend to check out the other recommendations mentioned in this forum; have set a long term goal of attending seminars as soon as I can raise the finance and have discussions with parties (such as my parents) who have prior investing experience. I intend to start investing at the end of my first year of employment (teaching.)
2) Is there anyway I could gain experience in the industry without finance? I’ve heard of bird-dogging and originally thought that was a possibility, as I often read of great deals in the local newspaper, however after reading relevant topics on this forum I realized it wouldn’t be possible as I don’t understand the legalities involved nor have any prior experience which would appeal to buyers. My age is also a barrier (I’m 18). I doubt anyone would take the risk of having a young, inexperienced business partner. I’ve read of other schemes that wouldn’t be applicable to my situation.
I live in the Geelong area (VIC) so would anyone know of any ways I can further my knowledge, I would be greatly in their debt. I would be very interested in finding people who can help mentor me. I’m living independantly and don’t have much disposably income so I would really appreciate any advice people can offer, as well as links to relevent topics I may have missed in my search (my apolgies!)
Thank you in advance for any help anyone can offer
I’s amazed by your determination and plan in property investing. My only suggestion is to keep nurturing your knowledge by reading, or attending seminars, and this forum. And keep saving from what ever income streams you could get hold of. After you can gather a certain amount, at least 10% of a property value, then you could start acquiring your first investment.
I beleive you could get some more opinion form this forum. And good luck with your wise direction.
cheers,
If you educate yourself and really want to invest there is no reason to wait so long. Don’t let age be a barrier, be confident in what you do and who cares how old your are!! Maybe you could find money partners to help you get started? There are so many possibilities out there, all the best!!
I see where your coming from but I’m on centrelink benefits and, with part-time work, the maximum amount I could earn is $15’000 a year – probably the lowest I could offer as a deposit. I understand taking risks is an element of investing however financially, I have a lot to risk. It might not be a loss of money but I’d have to sell what limited possessions I have if something went wrong.
Also I’m not sure how the income earned would affect my centrelink benefits, but its difficult enough living on what I’m earning now (without work, less than $10’000 a year) without it being impacted. I rely on this to cover living and education costs and sacrificing any of the money could really affect uni life.
I’ve thought about an investment partner but I’ve read posts on this forum and they’d definite prefer someone with proven success and prior experience as opposed to someone who has read a few books.
Due to my financial position, it might take some time to educate myself as seminars with the information I’m after can cost upwards of $500 which can take months to save. Its hard to put what you’ve learnt into action when you don’t have the funds to pay for the learning, lol. I see the 4 years as enough time to save for, and attend possibly 2 seminars a year as well as stock up on household items that would mean I could live in reasonable comfort while renting, as steve mentioned making sacrifices in the short term to help the long term. I’m hoping that in buying hobby items now, when i don’t really have any debts, might make those sacrifices easier to bear in the long term.
In response to learn&share, there aren’t many income streams that would be made available to me over the next few years other than earnings from part time work and centrelink benefits. I’m thinking of trying my hand at getting some of my work (photography and writing) published once I’ve improved my skills to try and get a passive income stream, but it might take some time and money to learn about both industries.
Thank you both for your advice. Reading books can only take you so far as you need experience and not many people I know have investing experience.
Hi,
If you are keen to get started, have you considered part time uni and full time (or almost full time) work?If your full time work requires you to educate yourself, all of a sudden all your uni expenses become tax deductable and uni gets a little cheaper. You will earn more, gain on the job experience and may be able to start investing sooner…
Depends on your chosen profession.
Mat
Hi there,
Another option maybe to buy a house and sub-let the other rooms to other Uni students. Let them pay your house off while you study. A combination of Fist home owners grant, parents supporting you by way of a guarantee perhaps, maybe an equity partner etc.
There are some pretty sharp minds on this forum that could point you in the right direction. If you do some home work and get prices of a cheap house, rates, insurance etc the super number crunchers that contribute here might show you how to get into an investment by way of PPOR started. Hopefully by the time you finish uni you will have some equity to start your future in property investment. Another option?JTW
In response to Matt, part time uni isn’t an option. You can’t teach without a licence and to do that, you need a 4 year degree, although im doing it slightly differently by completing a bachelor of arts and then getting a diploma of education. Takes the same time but leaves more room.
Most uni related expenses probably wouldn’t be tax deductable, such as transport. I can delay the fees (not preferable, but it leaves more money to play with) until i can afford to pay off the debt. A car would set me back a couple of grand and it may be hard investing without one (as you need to travel to the properties, real estate agents, etc.) Tax is definitely something I’m going to need to educate myself on though, both in the long and short term. Any book/website recommendations? (keeping in mind I’ve never had to do a tax return) I’ll definitely be doing more research on this done the track but currently i’m research generalised property books so I understand things before i read the complicated ones.
I’ve also thought about buying and subletting. I have enough furniture to deck out a house and one of the areas I’ve been focusing on during my research is right near the uni, which I believe has the potential to appreciate a lot. It would be pretty easy to find tenants willing to sublet as the area is in high demand.
It would be smarter, but wouldn’t the income earnt by subletting be considered as income, despite going to pay off the mortgage? Again, can affect centrelink (unless i can find some passive income streams, relying on them is inevitable) and also there would be some difficulties in raising the deposit and getting the loan. My parents wouldn’t go guarantor and banks wouldn’t lend money to me. I’ve done the research, trust me!
In going along with the subletting, I can do minor renovations (as I learn more about it) to increase the price and the equity I can access if i chose to sell. Also, after reading Steves book, I’m slightly hesitant about buying a property to live in as it limits the amount of equity you can access… although in the short term, that probably isn’t that much of a problem
On a side note, I don’t fully understand the structure of uni. Hypothetically, despite majoring in an arts subject can i do a unit or several from a different faculty? I just finished ‘rich dad, poor dad’ and was thinking that taking a few units from the commerce faculty couldn’t go astray taxes/accounting is something i know little about. In going along with the subletting, I can do minor renovations (as I learn more about it) to increase the price and the equity I can access if i chose to sell. Also, after reading Steves book, I’m slightly hesitant about buying a property to live in as it limits the amount of equity you can access… although in the short term, that probably isn’t that much of a problem. Renting is cheaper and would probably give you more money to work with. Also after sharehousing for 8 months, its not something i’m overly fond of doing again (im social phobic)
For number crunching purposes, the area i’m looking at is grovedale/belmont in Victoria. A house is around 220’000 but talking down and finding good deals, you could probably reduce the price to $180’000. This is typical 3 bedroom home, not the most prettiest but with potential for renovation. I could get cheaper by going slightly further away but I’m looking at the infrastructure: those areas have plenty of shops and buses to get to uni. As I live in the area I’m able to suss out the minor things
A one befroom unit can be bought for $120’000 if your lucky and a two bedroom for $160’000. While realestate.com.au mightn’t have these prices, when looking for a place to rent i always checked out the places for sale.Page 4 of this document has information about calculating the rates: http://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/library/pdf/5146/09.pdf . My apologies in not being able to understand it. However, I asked my parents (who have bought 4 properties in my area) and they said to expect $700-800 in rates. With insurance, I could probably go through a mortgage broker and my dad pays $350ish for home AND contents.
I know the numbers aren’t good but they let you know the average for the area. It would be possible to find cheaper homes (i’ve heard of doing it through deceased estates and such) but that information wouldn’t be able to be obtained online.
Thanks for the recommendations, while they might not apply now they could come in handy later.
Hi their , i am in a very simmiliar position to you , I am 18 and I just finished school , I have been very intersted in property investing for a few years now . Like you too I planned on going to uni however I decided to get a full time job working in th finance industry whilist studying part time , making good money as well might I add .
Not only is relvant work expirience better than any degree (when you dont have any previous industry epxirience) , but you can get the chance to earn money for investing and the chances are if you work for a large company they will pay for your studies anyway ( if its relvant.)
By the time my friends finish uni I will have had 3 years work expirience in a large multinational company almost $60,000 in the bank plus a Degree in Financial Markets paid for by the company at which i work at.
I urge you to step out side the box and think about the different options available to you . Good things come to those who go against the norm. Going straight to uni is easy , following the flow and not having to worry about working , but when you think about it , being young like me and having the knownledge you do , you have an extremly good chance many people dont .
Some possibilities for you to consider include cadetships often large companies will pay for you to study as well as pay you to work at their company . Other options include studying at an insitute im not sure where ur from but in Sydney their are a number of insitutes particuarly in finance such as FINSIA , Tribeca and ASFA all of which enable you to study whilist working.
All of these are options and dont be afraid to aproach a company or write to a company and ask for flexible working , you never know if u write to 10 companies and ask to work 3 days on 3 days off , you never know maybe one or two might write back and you may find youeslf with a job . If you want someone to talk to or whatver , feel free to talk to me on msn or send me an email , [email protected]
One of the differences between our situations is I don’t particularly want to work in the finance industry. I’ve thought about trying to get employment in real estate but as yet I don’t have a car (its a 2 year goal as I also need my Learners and Probationary licence first, which is expensive).
While this partly detracts from the property investing, my long term goal is becomming and author/photographer. I’ve researched the newspapers in my region and the only ones I could work for don’t pay anything for articles, although I’d prefer the experience. I live in Geelong, an hour from melbourne. Other than uni theres a TAFE centre here but the courses I’ve looked at wouldn’t help.
Going with the flow is typical, but its the only option that will allow me to acheive all three of my goals, that is, to earn income from my writing, photography and property investing. I’m hoping to take advantage of what uni offers however, unlike most other students, in terms of personal development and things that can help me further my skill base. One thing I like is people skills which would limit how successfully I could work in a job. I’m hoping uni will help me get over that.
I’m trying to be smart with my part time employment and get a job in an industry relevant to the one i want to work in, such as a book store.
I just finished reading ‘rich dad, poor dad’ where he recommended tying up all assets under a corporation, is that possible here? Because I could use the assets from property investing (although this is majorly long term) to help fund my writing/photography work. Not as a hobby , though, but with the potential of earning income off it. It sounded ok in the book but i was wondering if ti could apply here?
My apologies for tying this up so abruptly but im going to help my parents renovate their property (hehe, I get $20 a day but im more looking at the experience)
If you’re happy to work for $20 a day cash and know how to paint I think you would find endless hours of work. Get a job wokring late nights in the supermarket or something. Work Saturday nights overnight stocking shelves, get a job working in a distribution centre, anything. There is opportunity to work amny hours even when stufying full-time. Just depends what your priorities are. If it’s property investing, and it sounds like you’ve been thinking about it a lot, then spending nights working would probably be a priority over going out. There’s still opportunity for going out at other times of the week anyway.
I think there’s a more important question within this though. Why are you studying arts and education. You have thought about working in the R/E industry and you’re really into property investing and would also like to do photography or become an author. An arts degree and education degree are going to be useless if you actually go down the path you are talking about. So, if I was you, I would be asking myself if I really want to spend years at uni doing courses that will be of no use or relevance to my long term goals.
Once you’ve got that figured out you’ll be in a better space. Way too many people spend their time going to uni just because that’s what people that finish high school do. They get to the end of it and realise they don’t even know why they just did that course.
By the way, I’m not bagging university because I think it is a great education path and I’ve done a degree myself, but make sure your decision is right. Treat it as an investment. After all, it is years of your life that you have to dedicate to it and uni course fees cost a bomb.
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