Financially free at 32 – My 10 year property journey

Thanks for the kind words. Drop me a message, always happy to chat

If you're looking at Logan and surrounds I can recommend Simon Loo @ House Finder. He's a member here on PC.

 

Believe it or not we actually did it the hard way, never accessing equity, just providing 25% (20% deposit 5% cost), in growing the asset base. It was only after a cycle we realised we have so much equity that's not utilised, paying so much tax, hence we tweaked and changed the finance strategy after that.

 

@Jack Chen Truly an inspirational story !!

 

Used money from our offsets (attached to our PPOR) to pay down the PPOR loan and drew it back out as a new equity loan. Used the borrowed funds to purchase dividend paying shares. Got the dividends paid into the offset and combined with our aggressive savings, managed to build up the offset balance back up quite quickly again. Rinse and repeat.

Everyone's situation is different though. Always good to talk to a financial planner or mortgage professional to get personalised advice.

Always pains me the opportunity cost of not accumulating more aggressively earlier on.

That's exactly what I did for my first few properties. Was still living at home at the time, and everyday just focused on working and saving like mad. Luckily for me Sydney units were still largely in the $200k-$350k range so didn't take too long to save up 20% deposits.

Then realised that my conservative nature was slowing down my wealth creation plans, and eventually turned to using equity to fund the 25%'s for future purchases.

 

Jack,

I believe I've shot you a Facebook msg before although reading your story is great to hear.. Congrats and it's inspiring to read! Very interested to have a chat, if you're heading to the CBD or Wenty PC meetups over the next couple of weeks I'll see you there.. Will read through the rest of your story as well

A question I had, with a bit of self interest as I've got property there, is how you've found your Zillmere purchased have performed from a capital growth perspective? Assume that at those prices they're houses (mines a townhouse) so not comparing apples with apples although still curious!

Thanks for sharing man, love your work!

 

Again appreciate you sharing this Jack! Excited to check out your journey and hear more, write a book about it! haha

 

May have to have a chat with you sometime soon Simon!

 

Thanks mate!

I'll be at the CBD meetup! Look forward to catching up in person.

I just ran a desktop valuation on both Zillmere properties (houses) and so far I've had 17% and 21.4% capital growth since purchase in 2014. Fairly consistent high single digit growth on an annual basis.

Slow and steady wins the race

Will be quite happy if this persists for the next few years. I still think the best of Brisbane is still ahead.

How's your Zillmere townhouse going?

 

Thanks Jack, will be good to catch-up and put a voice to the name and face haha
Yeah fingers crossed.. Hasn't gone terribly well although hasn't gone terribly either
Cash flow neutral and positively geared, bought in early 2015.. Haven't seen much if any capital gains although looking to get a bit creative on how to get into property #2

 

Great story Jack, thanks for sharing. Shuts down any argument that units and appartments can't be good investments.

 

Same fundamentals apply - buy well located property below/at median price where people can afford to buy and can easily commute to well-paid jobs.

"Over the full year Sydney's median unit price increased by +5.4 per cent to $774,100, while the median house price tapered off in the final quarter of the year to be just +2.1 per cent higher in 2017."
Pete Wargent Daily Blog: Units outperformed houses in 2017

 

This explanation really helped me grasp the debt-recycling concept- gracias

And noting using equity early on in the accumulation phase of wealth creation- muchas gracias

 

@Jack Chen thanks for inspirational story.and wish you all the best for the future.

I started my investment journey last year and we are on track to secure another 2 properties this year and a $2m portfolio by end of next year. hearing successful stories from people like you in this forum keeps my flame alight.

 

just curious, im finding debt recycling with shares to be a very risky prospect,

unlike property which doenst go down (just for arguments sake)

even a blue chip share can down a few % based on a bit of bad news.

to me buying shares for the dividends is not worth it, especially with large sums of money

 

Good golly, I suggest you go and have a good read of some of the share threads here especially the ones on Peter Thornhill.

 

Not worth it in what sense? Where else would you rather invest in for a passive income stream in retirement?

 

Hey Jack, when purchasing your first IP, a lot of investors here seem to recommend capital growth (houses and townhouses) over flats. However, your first four were flats. Would you recommend going that route again?

 

Units or houses, can both have good capital growth, it depends on Supply-Demand. well located units ( older style, low raise, no lift or swimming pool) can often outperform some houses. rental yield is important as well.

 

Agree with the below 2 statements, there's definitely a place for shares although perhaps not for yourself as you suggest! Ultimately there's risk in any investment including doing nothing, it then comes down to your own risk tolerance

 

I've done well with flats (all in coastal locations in Sydney) and houses and generally speaking if your budget and financial situation could afford a well located house I would probably go house everytime. I agree both dwelling types can do exceptionally well but I feel homes have that added flexibility and capability of really adding value which I have come to value greatly in any asset nowadays .

As always its a balancing act of yeild and growth for most .