When did the penny drop for you?

That was a part of his course; but for some reason an alarm bell went off for me - I felt it was a subliminal sell job (for their own stock) - and so I never went down that rabbit hole...stayed with existing property.

 

Basically two years ago to the day.

My GF & I had a delayed flight out of Adelaide back home to regional NSW, and I guess we got to talking about the next few years plans over a wine & beer whilst waiting... we had been in our PPOR for 3 years and had travelled overseas each year for the last 3-4 years. I had been through a divorce previously & I had a daughter to that marriage however my GF started taking about us settling down and having some kids and building a future.

I said that I wanted to be financially free and she had a history of share trading for investment purposes and I said I was interested in that but also property investment.

As fate would have it as we were walking to the gate to board we passed a newsagency/bookstore in the terminal, there facing out for all the world to see was the book my 4 year old the property investor.... I picked it up to have a look and my GF took it out of my hands and paid for it.

Within 24 hours I had read the book and joined this forum.

Within 6 months we had cleared our car & personal loans, and 3 months later purchased our first investment property.

Now we have that plus a share portfolio through a debt recycling system making our PPOR debt tax deductible over time.

Oh we also have a 9 month old daughter to join my 10 year old daughter... the future is looking good

 

Mid 2011 when I was struggling to get a rental close to my job. Applied for around 6/7 rentals with all negative outcomes. Very frustrated and started looking to buy a unit. Got a rental eventually and end up buying our first home in 2013.

 

Started when I first commenced working upon the insistence of my father and some assistance with a deposit to enter the market sooner rather than later. Gradually accumulated land rich properties within 10 km of Melbourne CBD. Let tincture of time do it's thing. Spread to other states to diversify and for land tax optimisation. I understood that in-fill land (with a box on it for income and leverage) was the way for me. Haven't looked back. That was more than 30 years ago. Will the next 30 years be the same as far as passive gains? I'm not sure.

I have a feeling that where people live might decentralise. CBD's may not be as important as they have been.

Check this out:


This Startup Wants to Replace Your Office With 3D Holograms

If link won't activate copy the following and paste/search via google

This Startup Wants to Replace Your Office With 3D Holograms

So many ramifications for commercial office buildings and also major city suburban real estate. I don't envisage all workers of the white collar variety to be working from home, however teleporting and working with AR will feature more and more and IMO lifestyle real estate areas (Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, etc and periphery of major CBD's.......Geelong, Mornington Peninsula, Woolongong, Newcastle, and other state equivalents, etc) will rise and become more popular with residents and renters; the latter of whom may wish to try before they buy. Fantastic and exciting times ahead.

I have been offloading a few properties and keeping powder dry for other opportunities and investment classes now. In the future it may not be pennies dropping but rather crypto's and digital wallets. People will still need a place to live, however with the advent of job losses and redundancies, some of which won't be transferable to other job roles, it might be on the cards that we see a minimum daily allowance to sustain people that will be funded by corporations through a robot tax or artificial intelligence tax or similar. These people won't be able to afford to, nor require to live in a metropolitan area. This might change the valuation landscape and the value spread between metro and satellite cities. The gap may close for a while as the more aspired to regionals catch up a little.

Then again I could be wrong...............

 

There are several occasions when the penny dropped.

Specifically for IP, it's in 2012 after I signed OTP PPOR. Found Somersoft and realised that I have the resources to invest in property now. Also ran my numbers based on my situation back then and it looked terrifying. It predicted that I'll work until 60 and ran out of money 15-20 years later. So either I at least try doing something now or regret it much much later.

 

Started early which is great !!

 

When your parent, brothers, sisters and their partner doing regular family gathering at a chinese restaurant, and all they talk about is buying their 7th and 10th property....while you were busting that pimple off your face because you were a high school student not earning a cent...yeah....the penny eventually drop either this dinner or next.

 

I've always been very blessed to have so many good mentors, role models and good people around me that guided me to achieve my best. I think some people 'forget' to acknowledge of the people that contributed towards your success/es. All those people that went out of their way to help me, I give them my undying thanks and hopefully be able to provide some guidance to other people to forge a great future.

I think seeing the good deals pass me by and like @Property Twins, it was the workplace environment that really pushed me to consider IP investing. I am so annoyed at how many attempts people have tried to tell me to consider buying/investing in my younger days, but like the majority of younger people, refused to listen and thought I knew it all. Some missed deals in the past includes 2 bedroom/2 bathroom unit in the city overlooking Darling Harbour for $400k, Redfern when it was dirt cheap (the block was still present though), Parramatta when it was dirt cheap and Blacktown/Prospect when it was dirt cheap.

Working night shifts really shifted my attitude and mentality. Working full time at night shifts and full time university and getting told by one mature worker who was aged in his 60s telling me to spend your money wisely or else run the risk of working night shifts in your later years, really woke me up. Did party like a rock star during my uni days because receiving a full time wage whilst studying, was pretty good. Back in those days, I think I literally only slept a couple of hours here and there with plenty of redbulls to keep on going.

Still, I think I wouldn't change it for the world because I am in my 30s and managed to achieve quite a few milestones. Of course, gratefully for the SS/PC forum and the fine members that really makes the forum fantastic. Will include the trolls as well for their make believe science fiction stories and fudged figures as well.

 

Great post @jins13. It's the journey that makes it.

Posts on this thread are reminding of the Somersoft days ....

 

The penny never really dropped in the traditional sense, I guess as I've grown up I've become more aware of the realities of money and that things won't just work themselves out. I'm lucky that my father pushed me to buy my first IP and was active in helping me with inspections and the buying process, he kind of acted like my buyers agent haha Looking back on it, the penny dropping were the stories my old man would tell me about my grandparents who came here with nothing and made a life for themselves, really what was my excuse for not having a go.

 

Fortunate!

Where did your grandparents come from @RenegadeDom

 

my penny would have dropped earlier if I got a friend like you! my friends keep buying in Syd but also telling their worries of market would drop.... anyhow it finally dropped when their equity burst through a couple of millions lol
I guess better late than never!

 

I really think the people that are pushed to their limit and backed into a corner are the ones that'll rise to the occasion. I think there is a common saying, well originally heard it in Asian of the most dangerous people are the ones that are 'hunger' and not the ones that have a full stomach. Many of the mentors, I've associated with are the ones that arrived or came from a family which they've never had a life of plentiful.

I used to have a friend who always liked to coat tail off his parents and enjoyed telling people how much of a hotshot he is, when he's been mediocre throughout his life, by always quitting when the going gets tough. From memory, he struggled to last even 1 month in any job he worked in and even his father's workers pretty much informs people that he's the most laziest worker. Sounds harsh, but I have alot more respect for people that keeps on trying their best, no matter how many times that they stumble. Especially, as being the first generation to benefit the sacrifice that the family went through to build a better life for all, a real insult and disgrace to lead a life where you'll selling yourself short.

 

True. My granddad (on my mum's dad) came from an extremely wealthy family in China. He had a whole lot of staff as a kid and if he didn't like soneone, he would just fire someone.

Then the cultural revolution came. If they came out to Australia a lot earlier they would have stayed extremely rich.

But he never stopped being a brat! He never worked, instead my grandma did all the work (they had 9 kids) and they worked hard on a farm in the central coast, even watering the vegetables before school using buckets.

He had a stroke and a few years later passed away, but whenever we went to visit he was always in bed, reeking of cigarette smoke.

 

not sure when my penny dropped, but always have desire to do something better or different.

 

They came from Italy and arrived only with a suitcase and no knowledge of how to speak English. They worked their arses off to try and make a life for themselves, saved and bought property when they could. This stuck with me from a young age and I always had this in the back of my mind when saving for that first IP deposit when working part time through uni.

 

A long time ago I attended a LOT of free seminars, with the logic that surely I'd learn something small at each one, and adding up all the small learnings would equate to a lot of learnings with the contributions of many different mindsets. I recall being frustrated by the suggestion of "buying pairs of properties with the intention of holding one forever, and selling one down at some point to pay down the debt on the other". I could not get my head around how a young person could get enough money to buy one property near a major CBD let alone two. When I asked the presenter about it, she said "So don't do it in London. Do it in Manchester, Birmingham, ....." And my brain thought "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh of course... people live in other places too".

 

I didn't have a penny drop as such - I just love learning, and have always had a desire to be wise with my money. One thing led to the next and the next....

 

If this post was the prequel, would love to hear stories of a sequel...

If you have children, interested to see what action you take/took in hope for penny will drop for them?

I deliberately scheduled some minor renovation on one of my IP during school holiday. Of this 2 weeks holiday, I successfully negotiated 5 days with my 15 yr old daughter helping me. There was alot of complaining at the start, but eventually she comply. I was pleasantly surprised how much we accomplished. We painted most rooms, replastered the bathroom ceiling walls, replaced toilet, regrouted bathroom cubicle, ripped carpet from 1 room and replace with carpet tiles.

I paid her $50 per day. $25 for her to keep, but $25 to bank.
Most precious moment was alot of Father/Daughter serious talk during the reno... she is asking questions about property... Dad, why do buy old crappy houses? who lives here? are you making money? etc..

I thought penny start drop for her, or at least start to unfold , so on the last day I tried to reconfirm my position

Dad: Sweety, you seem having fun. Can we do another reno in your next school holiday?

Daughter: nah Dad....I only enjoyed the Maccas you're feeding me during the reno, as Mum wouldn't let me in on the junk foods.

 

@RetireRich101

Child labour. I look forward to it when i have kids.