Tell Me How You Got Started :)

Hey mate

I bought my first property a small flat for 140K just after my 20th birthday. Lived in it to get the FHOG which was 10k at the time and then rented it out. Waited two years and then bought a old weatherboard house in a good locatition for 190K. Rented it out for a year and now live in it with my gf. Re-weatherboarded and rewired it. Still needs the stumps done. My plan is to pour my money into my homeloan and try to pay it off by my 30th birthday. Unlike others on here I dont have serveral of properties. The way i look at it is if I can own my house by the time i'm 30 then all i need to do is work enough hours to put food on the table.

Cheers
Timbo

Hey Scotty,

I think knowledge is the key. The more you learn, the better informed you become and the less mistakes you're likely to make. Nothing wrong with making mistakes though – we learn from them.

How I got started
In late 2007, after being overseas for two years my then partner (now wife) and I bought our first PPOR (three bedroom townhouse in Canberra). At this stage our only aim was to pay off this PPOR as fast as possible.

In August 2009 my wife brought up the idea of renovating and selling a house. We ended up having a long chat with a Real Estate Agent at LJ Hooker who talked us through the pro’s and con’s of buying, renovating and selling and property investment in general – he also steered us towards some good books . To this day, I don’t know why he showed such an interest in us (giving us two hours of his time) – it’s easy to think that he wanted to sell us property but he actually talked us out of buying then and there. We are forever grateful and make sure we keep him informed of our progress.

We had our PPOR re-valued and took out a Line of Credit for $50k. This was used as a deposit for IP#1 and IP#2.

IP#1
In October 2009 we exchanged on a 2-bedroom unit in Queanbeyan, NSW. We bought under market value – the vendors being desperate to sell because their tenant was a drug addict who hadn’t paid any rent. Renovations were done after exchange and before settlement.

We spent just over $2,500 on renovations – new kitchen (wholesale price courtesy of my brother in law), tiled over existing tiles in the bathroom, new vanity (free, thanks to my father in law who is a cabinet maker) and new paint. We also did a lot of cleaning…. The property was re-vauled at $40k more than we bought it for.

IP#2
In January 2010 we bought a three-bedroom house in Wagga Wagga, NSW. This is tenanted and is neutrally geared.

IP#3
In May 2010, we exchange on IP#3. It’s a three-bedroom house in Canberra. The deposit we used was from a Line Of Credit we took out  on IP#1 (after renos, we had $40k in equity we could access). 

We're now on the search for IP#4 which we will use this years tax return as a deposit.

During this time, I've also changed careers and have become a mortgage broker. It just made sense, I enjoy everything property related and now I'm able to help others structure their finances to grow their portfolios.

As for the books, my person faves for explaining the fundamentals are:

Building Wealth through Investment Property – Jan Somers
Real Estate Riches – Dolf de Roos
Seven Steps to Wealth – John Fitzgerald

There's also a couple of monthly magazines – Your Investment Property (YIP) and Australian Property Investor (API)

Forums – There's a couple of good Australian ones (this included) that hold a wealth of up-to-date information

When you're ready to start building your portfolio, surround yourself with an experienced team that will make your life easier. A good IP savvy accountant, a good mortgage broker who know's how to structure finances for IP accumulation and good property managers.

All the best

Jamie

I’m still very new to the property investment scene but I got into a couple of years back when a house around the corner from my parents place went up for sale. I was 21 at the time and to this date I don’t know what compelled me to go see the place and with a low amount of savings and some equity my in my parents place which they had given me access to, I put a bid down and got knocked back. This started my property itch and from there I just started reading lots of books, forums and magazines. At this stage of my life I was in my 4th year of uni, had just started a full time job and had very little savings behind me (had to pay uni upfront as I’m a kiwi).

In January of 2009 I bought my first IP which is a 3 bedroom townhouse in Parkinson, QLD. Have to admit it made me very very nervous but it is one of the best decisions I made. I’m now 23 and currently working on a project to convert the upstairs of my parents property to rent out (2 bedroom, 1 bathroom seperate entrance etc.) and hopefully going on to get another IP later this year when the project is complete.

Hi All

I found myself a single mum, so I left my income of $80k and invested firstly in myself with knowledge and information on everything
about property investing. With small amount of money from divorce I purchased my 1st IP not long after (well as soon as I could) I purchased nbr 2.

In the mean time I starting my own business as a mortgage broker as that seemed a good idea to learn and teach others what I've learnt to help them on their journey.

Shelley Veale
Empower Wealth
42 Howard Street North Melbourne VIC 3051
http://www.empowerweatlh.com.au / 03 93268900 / 0409508211

Hi Richard,

I read it the other day. It was a good read

Jamie

That's bad advice. You shouldn't invest in property for tax concessions.

The choice you make comes down to many factors, one of which is your individual risk profile. What do you feel comfortable with? Defence housing could be an ok option if you're risk adverse and don't mind relinquishing control over your asset. A new property will give you good depreciation but you're likely to pay a premium for it.

There's no real right or wrong answer – it comes down to what you feel comfortable with. All three options above, in my book, are better than doing nothing….the one you choose is utlimately your decision.

Jamie

A good idea to get started is to learn how others have done it- so thanks for suggesting this thread.

Educate yourself – books, magazines – careful of the seminars especially the Amreicans coming out here

Good book to start Michael Yardney’s How to grow a Multi Million Dollar Property Portfolio.

Read magazines – API and YIP have case studies.

Good newsletter is Yardney’s Property Update – http://propertyupdate.com.au/

John Edwards from Residex gives good stats http://www.residex.com.au/

picked up by the mag? they read here? or you contacted them?

I am in the process of getting started.
I am about to start a career in construction management/project management at the age of 25. just finishing up uni. studied quite a few courses over the last 8 years.

i am setting up a trust with my business partner soon, and going to be purchasing buildings with renovation potential and developing houses. once i have some better cash flow i will upgrade to some larger developments.

Been reading and studying property… for as long as i can remember… think i started buying property books 15 years ago.

Hi Michelle

Sometimes without being funny your Accountant may not fully understand your position in regards to financing and wealth creation. Sure they may be very good and numbers but buying property and creating equity is a bit different.

Lora – If you would like to drop me an email i can forward you the PDF of the article.

Cheers

Yours in Finance

Good points there thommo,

Step 4 I think can be a bit different if you are developing/renoing. Instead of redrawing (as u get maxed out) sell to realize cash profits and then keep going with more deals. It scares me when people are developing and saying "oh well the market will go up anyway" this isn't shares!

Step 5 – Work for yourself.

I don't know about anyone else but from what I can see, even if people have made their money they still keep doing something. Whether that is coaching others or development, or mortgage broking () they still keep working for themselves to grow their wealth.

D