Hi, I'm MrDobalina. Mr Bob Dobalina

Hi all, like many others I just came over from SS. In the short time I was a member, SS helped to refocus what's important and get our property investing back on track.

I recently had enough and quit corporate life. I can't think of anything worse than putting on a suit and trudging through the city offices. Recently went all in and I am currently running 4 projects and building 17 units in total. All due for completion by the end of the year, with the plan to retain all which will form the basis for our retirement fund. End result LVR will be ~30% and significant CF+.

The biggest problem is managing expectations from the other half. We are mid-30's ... and the missus has an expectation that I'll be working for much longer time...

 

Wow, I take my hat off to you. Well done!!!

 

Good job! Awesome position to be able to build and maintain the 17 units

 

A short introduction does not do justice here Bob. An interview is what is needed here!!

 

I have the same challenge with my wife. She cant comprehend why i want to retire from corporate life and doesnt understand what i will do with my time. Congrats on getting there so quickly, i am mid 30's and probably still have another 5 -10 years to go.

 

Far from it. I would pale in comparison to many others from SS.

 

Wow that should be an easy conversation - play golf/fish/charity work/travel - you earned it and it sounds well deserved!

When you say all in, how much did you invest?
How much did you really leave in the bank? PPOR?

Couldn't agree more with you about suit life....

 

Congratulations, you're in an awesome position.

 

Definitely keen to do more charity work.

Some of the devy sites were acquired a while ago, whist others last few years. We are spending about $3.7m on the constructions. Some finance, some cash. Left plenty in the offset to take advantage of any arising opportunities in the next 12 months.

 

Wow great position to be in. Perhaps your story of how you got to where you are currently if you don't mind?
Would be greatly inspirational to a lot of us.

 

Story isn't anything exciting. Probably result of time in the market and kept chipping away at it.

- The start was a result of a combination of factors: early 20's, got made redundant, got lucky with a contracting job earning decent money, mother-in-law encouraging us kids to get into property.
- Bought the first IP. Within 18 months, bought 7th IP. Rented close to work but bought in suburbs with bad socioeconomic problems but good future potential for redevelopment.
- Sold 1 to get some cash to travel and live overseas for a few years. Big mistake #1 in hindsight as its worth 3 times as much now.
- Over extended and bought a massive development site just before GFC. Big mistake #2. GFC hit and the bottom fell out of that market. Value probably halved. Ended up selling the block 7 years later for what I originally paid for it. Net result was big losses each year as the IO payments were huge. The real killer was the opportunity cost, as it kept us out of the market for 7 years and we missed heaps of buying opportunity.
- Sold a couple during the GFC to build cash buffers. Mistake #3 as they would be worth 2.5 times in today's market.
- Fortunate to be have earnt some decent money running own business and saved some cash.
- Leveraged and bought a couple more IPs during that time and sold a couple to bank some profits.
- Stumbled onto SS about 18 months. Got inspired and decided to get off my butt and be proactive again. Got started on the process to build units on the devy sites we held onto....
... And here we are today...

 

And all this time I thought you were a bum! Well done and hope it all works out for you.