What gave u the Property Bug?

I had to buy a house. Never done it before so I figured I'd do some research.
This was eye opening. Everyone was telling me to buy but the numbers were screaming "not yet!" . Everyone thought I was bonkers.....

Then the Darwin crash happened and I am now hooked.

Saving madly now for the opportunity of a lifetime.

 

I honestly don't remember a time when I wasn't going to invest in property. Back in early high school, I was already reading the weekly realestate listing for Perth, printed in a quaint magazine format, pre internet. I already had a job and was doing basic cashflows on aparments in Vic Park even way back then. On my very meagre salary, I couldn't actually save up the deposit but I already had the real estate bug. I might have got it from monopoly too.

 

Well, when I was in high school I often wondered why I was doing this, I disliked school. I knew that I would probably hate my life if I was work for the next 60 years in a job I hate.

I knew during year 12, that I really didn't want to follow the norm of going to uni and studying for five years, whilst piling on hecs debt and then after all that entering the field before working a job you hate for 60 years and dying. There has to be more to life than that. So I began researching ways to avoid that and so property seems to be the one for me. (I'll diversify later on)

The hard thing though is literally everyone in my family and extended family, plus friends seem so anti-property, even anti-making money, lol. But it doesn't really bother me as I'm taking the path less travelled by and it will make all the difference. (hopefully)

 

Well haven't bought yet but actively looking and placing offers .

I'm an early 20's bloke and I used to scoff at the idea of a property. I wanted to spend all the money I had and had no concept of delaying spending for much better rewards in the future. Then I started working full time and I worked with colleagues that were struggling to make ends meet. These are people in their 50's. They had no retirement savings and were relying on their super and pension. Yet they were still spending lavishly.

I realised I didn't want to work my whole life and be like them. Also realised that by the age I can retire, there might not be a pension and super might be taxed to hell.

 

Available on iPad etc. My kids play this alot and also monopoly. I see great things for them in the future. .. i have absolutely not influenced them towards these games at all

 

How old are your kids?

 

It was actually a buyers advocate seminar I went to that first interested me in property. I then picked up Steve McKnights 0-135 and then onto his forum and then over to SS and haven't looked back.
I have only been researching property for the past 2 years but when I think back to what I knew then versus what I know now! I remember after about 2 months of studying property having a discussion with a friend and knowing what I wanted to say but being stumped every time he would have a rebuttal. These days he wouldn't get a word in! haha
And then I compare myself to others on this forum with ten times more knowledge and it inspires me to keep going.

 

I got it from my next door neighbour, after we bought our PPOR, my neighbour were very nice, was having a chat one day with the man next door, and he told me about his journey, and that he have 8 houses, and planning for 10. He explained the whole thing, and gave me couple of books to read, and couple of copies of the API magazines, he showed me how to read the tables in the back regarding the price, and rental yields. how to read suburb performance, and what is the impact of new projects / population growth on suburbs.

He gave me his broker contacts, He is like an open book for me. for any question, he have an answer with evidence and numbers and graphs .

I do my own research now, and whenever I find something interesting worth sharing with him, I do my best to share and return back even something small.

Thanks
Ramez

 

You bet your ass it will. Love your bravery.

 

9 and 13 and I've been drumming into them the benefits of property for about three years now, just getting them to do the basic maths on deposits etc. They love to be challenged on their maths especially my youngest so i give them those kinds of maths sums. 5% of $240k etc

I had them listening to an audio book of Rich dad poor dad and they loved it. They actually asked for it themselves. They both run small businesses buying bags of 20 candy's and selling them individually, the oldest at school and the youngest on a stool outside my house. He calls out his business and enjoys reinvesting the money into stock despite my trying to turn him to enjoy a little bit of the profits before investing the rest. ( you have to live for now too)

They watch my wife run her own business and they understand the finances of our one investment property. They watch us save hard towards our next investment property and get on board with the tough times we put ourselves through to get into that position. We pay ourselves first into a locked account so we can't touch it as per the richest man in Babylon and that means we have some very tight months. To have them on board with us when we are trying to put a meal together with whatever we have in the cupboard is brilliant.

 

I love this kid already!

 

There was a number scratched on a public toilet door "For good time ring Jxxxxx on 04xxxxxxxx".

I rang the number, whilst in the cubicle, but somehow got through to a local agent. He explained the benefits of property investment and was willing to meet me anywhere to discuss.

I agreed to meet him, told him where I was and requested he bring some soft 3 ply.

 

Can't remember exactly, probably started with monopoly as a kid and I've always been a good saver. I guess I just like to be financially comfortable, now that I'm older I'm looking to property for early retirement. When i was a teenager i would always try and encourage my parents to by an investment property and would point out all the benefits to them but they never did. The boom in the late 80s probably opened my eyes up but i wasn't old enough to buy until the 90s.

 

Always liked monopoly, house design, construction and auctions. Decided to study construction management then gravitated to property development.

 

M&D's idea was buy a house, pay it off over 30 years, retire, ... So, it wasn't them .

When I started my first IT job in 1977, I worked for an insurance company. I was 'lucky' enough to work on a superannuation system. Working in this area informed that I would have to fund my own retirement as the government could not afford to pay the pension to all the baby-boomers that would be retiring with me. I have been a big believer in super every since.

I didn't like just having one string in my retirement bow (after all, it is MY retirement). In the late 70's/early 80's, I watched my girlfriend's parents buy and sell vacant land, houses, etc, all on a regular basis and making money tax-free. They gave me a totally different perspective on property. I knew I had to get in on this game. Property could be my second bow!!!!

 

I took my first full time job in Sydney in Maroubra while living in The Hills. The commute was killing me. I did the math on rent vs own & bought an apartment in Bexley and thought I'd never pay it off. A few months later a unit in the same block sold for 10% more and I learnt the first lesson about capital growth.
Thinking about it some more and I thought I could achieve even more capital growth if I had more than one. Leveraged and bought cash flow positive in Sydney at the time. Second lesson - get somebody else to pay for it.
I'd caught the bug big time.

 

I've always been goal orientated.

On my list of goals has been early retirement but also have a love of travel.......

My GF and daughter have had a few good years travelling around the world and living life pretty well for 2 lower than average income earners.

We purchased our PPOR at the end of 2013.

Anyway about 9 months ago whilst sitting in Adelaide airport our flight was delayed for a few hours, I was going crazy my GF went a purchased a couple of property investment magazines and the book my 4 year old the property investor...

I was hooked by the stories of wealth creation and since that time I have been researching like crazy and are getting close to purchasing our first IP.

 

I bet!
How long ago re roads, did you drive or train in then down, either way a long day.
I commuted from Cronulla to North Head (Manly) for awhile back in the early 90's, was shift work outside of peak hour traffic tho so not to bad, pretty much had the roads to myself, had extractors and sports exhaust which sounded awesome going thru the Sydney harbour tunnel, always looked forward to that, no speed cameras then either

 

Traffic was awful whichever way I went. It was the mid 90s ... First job out of uni and no money for V8s at that point. (I've had a few since then ... VY, VR, VZ, V2, VZ again, in that order).
These days, I'm stuck in Ho Chi Minh City traffic (like right now). 4WD & driver - 4WD for flooding & to have the window a bit higher than the likely point of impact of a motorbike, driver because there is nowhere to park, and as a foreigner every accident is your fault!
I do miss hammering down a highway, I do it every chance I get when home in Oz.

 

Back on track to the OP.....hubby and I found investing books interesting for some reason back in the late 80's/early 90's and got hooked. Read copiously, attended courses/workshops, took action etc. I believe one of the earliest of Jan Somer's books was the final catalyst for our first IP purchase in 1991 The first purchase was actually the most difficult and nerve-wracking (as is common) given that neither of us came from investor backgrounds. So glad we bought at a young age and at least had the benefit of a long term market.