Success Case Studies

They just wanted to dig themselves out of the financial hole they were in, grow their wealth, replace their income and enjoy a lifestyle of freedom and abundance.

DAWN REED-CANALE

How A Seasoned And Successful Property Investor With A $23M Portfolio Saw How Much She Had To Learn

Yarra Valley Strawberry farmer Dawn Reed-Canale joined Dymphna Boholt’sultimate program in 2014, already a 20- year veteran of property investing and with a$23m portfolio to her name.

She thought she had seen it all.

However, when her husband had a heart attack it was the wake up call she neededto get her portfolio into shape. Impressive as it was, it wasn’t giving them the lifestylethat they wanted.

Dawn then used Dymphna’s methodology to stream-line her property portfolio, keepthe top performers, and pay down debt. She also looked for ways to make eachindividual property pull a little extra weight.

Dawn has now reduced her debt position down from $10m to $4.3m, and byreworking her existing properties has managed to pull an extra $90,000 in rent.

She has also restructured her portfolio with asset protection in mind, put moreemphasis on cashflow for lifestyle… and even bought a Ferrari!

All the classic mistakes

Dawn remembers that before she met Dymphna, she was making all of the classicproperty mistakes. She was cross-securitised and had different trust accounts, butwith multiple properties in each. She had no idea about how to structure her portfoliowith asset protection in mind, and so when she finally found Dymphna she thought,“at last, someone is speaking my language.”

Not a financial planner

Dawn is a passionate self-educator, and had attended a number of events andseminars. She had even put herself through a financial planning course so she couldbetter her financial position.

However she found the educator’s lack of interest in property frustrating. They onlywanted to talk about shares, and property barely entered the picture, even thoughDawn had been building wealth through property, including straight through the GFCwithout a hitch, for years. Dawn kept trying to share her experience with property, butin her words, “they didn’t like me much.”

Dawn’s portfolio is too large to go into fully here, but she has made some importantchanges since joining Dymphna’s Ultimate program.​

“The amount I paid for Dymphna’s course… I made that back in my first deal.”

The Rural Retreat

In 2105, Dawn purchased a neighbouring farm in the Yarra Valley for $1.24m. Theinitial plan was to use the land for strawberry farming and to renovate and rent thehouse out permanently at $500 per week ($26,000 pa). However followingDymphna’s advice Dawn turned it into a holiday rental called “The Strawberry FarmRetreat”. A State Finalist in the Stayz.com awards and a potential feature on aChannel 7 TV show, it currently brings in $70,000 pa.

A place by the Beach

Dawn purchased a property in Port Melbourne for $625,000 back in 1999, initially touse as her own holiday house. However she has now converted it from a regularrental into a CBD Beach Retreat and has created positive cash flow of $40,000 pa. Itis currently worth $2.5m.

Box Hill

Originally purchased in 2014 for $1.95m, Dawn was willing to pay a price well abovethe reserve because she knew there were zoning changes coming. It was negativelygeared to the tune of $50,000 pa but she was able to improve its cashflow positionby turning it into a rooming house. She recently sold it for $3.9m.

Advice to Investors

Dawn reminds investors that cashflow is the life-blood of your investing business.Without it, it is difficult to grow and expand your portfolio. As she says, “Cashflow isKing.”

Dawn also stresses the importance of relentless self-education and is living proofthat no matter how successful you are, there is always something to learn.

“Dymphna really opened my eyes to the mistakes I was making.”

“Rich people have lots of money and wealthy people have time to spend it. I’m wealthy now.”