Real estate has always been the greatest vehicle for wealth.
Dan and Leanne understood that long before they discovered I Love Real Estate. They’d already invested in several properties and had a fairly healthy portfolio.
But they’d also made some mistakes along the way.
Their story shows how the right advice can help even experienced investors achieve more with their portfolios.
Dan and Leanne met when Leanne gatecrashed a party in Sydney. Despite attending university together, this was the first time that they laid eyes on one another.
The romance started despite the fact that Dan lived in Sydney and Leanne was in Queensland.
At the time, Dan worked as a cop and Leanne was an audiologist. Like so many Australians, they had stable jobs because that’s what we’re told to do. Get a job and you can get a mortgage.
But the couple also knew that they wanted to build their wealth. And over the years, they’d built a pretty healthy portfolio. They had six properties and about $1.4 million in equity.
What could they possibly achieve with more investment education?
Despite having that healthy portfolio, they’d made some mistakes along the way. They’d cross-securitised some loans and taken almost everything out in their own names.
There was plenty of room for improvement in their strategy.
Fixing some of those issues gave them success with their first deal. They had a property on a 970sqm block that they sold as-is for a decent profit. That’s because they put time into restructuring the ownership.
Their second deal involved a three-unit property that had a bit of a problem. Vacancy rates in the location started to rise. But thanks to their education with I Love Real Estate, the couple made improvements and managed to find tenants.
They even increased the rent!
A short while later, they sold the property and earned a cool $183,000 that they could use for other investments.
That money helped them to pay off some debt, which protected their assets.
But they wanted to make a deal where they bought a property.
A friend of Dan’s came to him with something that had potential. He’d invested in a property and got a subdivision put in. The problem was that there was a sewer line just 2km away.
He’d tried to sell it as a DA-approved site. But the sewer line put paid to those plans. The property sat on the market for two years without so much as an inspection, never mind an offer.
He came to Dan because he wasn’t sure what he could do.
Dan proposed a joint venture. His friend felt wary at first but they got the paperwork sorted with one provision.
Dan would have to make a 25% return on the eventual sale. Then, they’d go 50/50 on the profits after that 25%.
The duo sold a house that was already on the block for $530,000.
The development itself only cost $196,000. Dan and Leanne have their 25% back already and have made a return of $256,000.
And they’re still working to get planning permission for other properties on the same block that will generate even more money.
Now, they’re working on redeveloping a farm and installing a host of cabins. The couple estimate these will generate between $190 and $220 of income per night. That could conceivably leave them with a passive cash flow of $88,000 per year.
Dan and Leanne cleared the issues with the existing portfolio and learned what they needed to do to build on it.
Take the joint venture as an example. They’d never considered doing that before attending the I Love Real Estate seminars.
Now, they’re earning money from sales and have a property in development that will generate a healthy passive income.
Within two years, they believe they’ll be able to retire. Plus, they can finally settle down after moving five times in the space of a few years.
Their story offers some important lessons for new and experienced investors alike.
One of the biggest mistakes that Dan and Leanne made early on was that they bought their properties in their own names.
That put their assets at risk.
If something went wrong with one property, lenders may have been able to come after their others.
Don’t buy in your own name. It’s often best to establish a trust and use that to make your purchase,
Fear has an influence on every decision that you’ll make.
In Dan and Leanne’s case, they grew up with the perception that they’d never be able to afford property in the city. The fear of even trying led to them not looking into it themselves.
This may have led to them missing some great opportunities.
It all came down to the fear of the unknown. They avoided something because they had an incorrect perception.
This is a lesson that the couple learned when working on their joint venture.
They know that they can only submit planning applications and wait. While doing that, they worried about what they could control – the house that was already on the block.
Working on that allowed them to create a profit before getting planning permission for the other things they wanted to achieve.
Only worry about what you can control. Focus on that and you’ll have a better chance of succeeding.
In Dan and Leanne’s case, their education helped them to take more control over their portfolio.
They created the structures needed to protect their assets. Then, they started working on deals that would help them to achieve their goals.
Currently, they’re in a position to retire from full-time work in just two years’ time.
That’s what you can achieve with property investment. It’s the greatest wealth generation vehicle out there. You just need to get the right advice so you can create a strategy that works for you.
DB
