How did you get started?

There are so many inspiring posts on life after discovering property investment and SS.

But how did you - successful Somersofters - get started in your journey? How did you put together your strategy? How did you implement your strategy?

I've read a couple of Jan Somers and Lomaz books, read the forum (but I'm sure I've only covered the tip of the iceberg), organised my finances and went for home opens. Still I'm not any closer to finding my first IP

 

Well I was like you once...bought my first PPOR in 1994 (or was it 1993) ...then did nothing but pay it off till 1999...then bought another ...and another...where I am now headed towards 25+...

I read Somersoft and Lomas....but the one thing which sticks out...is what the Nike add says "JUST DO IT"..once get one...the next one is a bit easier..once you have done a couple it becomes part of your DNA..

I for one is just a simple Rasta...if I can do it...you can too!

 

I was trying to "make money" with a tiny portfolio of shares in 2001 my last year of uni.

My Dad said something like "Stop playing games and buy a house like a normal person", so I did, in Canberra.
Actually the second reason was out of frustration, I couldn't get anyone to rent to us as a "group" of uni students. This was an unseen signal that the market was ripe for buying, but at the time it was just alot easier to buy than it was to rent.

3 months later, my room mates were my tenants paying $70 each, and the ATO was refunding my tax on 2/3rd of the cost.

Then I found Jan Somers book, moved overseas, and decided to continue. Unfortunately my second IP was an off the plan apartment settling in 2006, fortunately it was in Sydney and recovered well..

Then Somersoft itself helped me get #3 in 2008 - I learned Westpac gave 85% loans with no LMI. So I took LMI on the cheaper existing property to get some cash deposit out, and used the 85% no-LMI loan to buy the more expensive 3rd property in Sydney to save on LMI.

Then after that, it was alot more fun.

 

@Catalyst

my own journey is here

https://propertychat.com.au/community/threads/hi-from-be-developer.180/#post-1216

 

Wow! Buying a house or even better....became my roommates' landlord....was totally not on my mind when studying at uni. Brilliant, @DanW

 

I got to 40 and realised I needed to start trying to improve the wealth and prepare for retirement.

Did all the above that you have done (reading), then selected a suburb I thought would be a goer and started to research it, then bought.

You can go around in circles forever and procrastinate until you go grey - as plenty have done - but it's not that hard; pick an area, then fine-tune the research and buy something.

If you can afford a $100 per week to waste on crap, you can afford an IP.

Try to not be neg cashflowed of course, but in the end it's not that big a deal.

 

For me it was as simple as someone telling me to read "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and an enormous light bulb moment that I couldn't/don't want to sell my labour forever and I need assets that produce passive income

 

How did I get started?

I was lucky enough to touch the heart of a really successful investor who got me on track and it all started from there. Throughout the years I have also sought out some tremendous mindset and property investment mentors who had a profound impact on me and my journey. The rest is all extremely hard work, thousands of sacrifices day in, day out with blood sweat and tears literally. Honestly, there were so many times i would be having dinner with my wife, then gf, and a call for overtime would come and i accepted it. Jumped in the car and raced to work driving as tears dripped from my eyes. Oh so many sacrifices but i wouldn't change a thing. I'm sure many others on here made equally and even more sacrifices along their journey. That's why when i read @Bayview post the other day i have complete respect for him and others like him.

 

I took my passion of Getting the Edge/Strategy in gambling and brought it to real world markets.
It still works every time.

 

Such a player.

 

We had just moved into our first house back in 2003. We were struggling to pay the mortgage! Going backwards, neither the wife or I were on high $$$ roles/jobs....I hadn't got a "real job" yet.

It's was a shiny new big 34sq single storey that we built as our first home....we were the typical "want it all now" first home builder

I did some rough maths and realised if we moved out of that big shiny new house and rented it out and bought in a less desirable area a much smaller house as a PPOR....we were actually better off in terms of cash flow week to week.

So we did.

Also joined somersoft around the same time and it just grew from there!!

It helped getting a job that paid a few more $$$ also....

 

Interesting. Was it still possible to buy as a student in those days without financial assistance ?

Not sure if this can be done nowadays without smashing it through more than one jobs + some handy help from parents.

 

Someone held a blank cheque to my head and shouted "BUY!"

 

@Catalyst check out the interviews in SS they are a great read! I've read them a few times.

But where are you at? Have you found a broker and arranged finance so you know how much you've got to play with and also a plan of attack

 

Was watching morning TV in 1992 and saw Jan Somers being interviewed promoting her book Building Wealth Through Residential Real Estate Investment, so went out and bought the book.

The following year sold a small share portfolio and used it towards a deposit for my first PPOR.

Over the following 7 years we had basically paid the PPOR off. In 2000 went out and purchased our first IP and basically purchased a prop per annum over the follow decade.

Some years we purchased none, other years we purchased two depending upon cash flow and equity availability from our existing portfolio at time of looking to purchase.

Today we hold a multi million dollar portfolio spread across most states of Australia.

 

Guidance from my father, saw what he did during my childhood and would like to even replicate 1/2 of what he did. He keeps telling me that I will do better than what he did as he didn't start till he was in his late 30s and I am not even 30 yet.

 

I worked out at Ayers Rock for a year at 18 to save for a deposit on a 1 bed on the Gold Coast.
After that, did nothing until 2013 when I purchased 3 places in the US, namely Houston and Charlotte.

 

I was "kind of" a student, it was my last year of uni but I had already started working full time.

I worked all through uni, part time IT jobs etc. But I started getting hungry once I saw the money, and in the end decided to do my last year as part-time so I could accept a full time job offer. The degree took 6 months longer but it was worth it.

None of this was part of a plan, except the working through uni part. I was lucky in a way that it was so hard to rent a place, that it drove me to buy one instead. Kind of funny looking back at it.

I was also lucky to know a workmate who also rented rooms to his friend. He guided me that it was possible to declare everything to the ATO and actually get a refund instead of a tax bill for your own home.

 

That's pretty doable!

 

Glad to read that gf became wife