Jeremy and Kia choose to rent a near-new villa rather than live in their own home with an accompanying mortgage.
Jeremy and Kia rent a near-new villa in East Victoria Park rather than live in their
own home with a mortgage, as a means to get ahead with accelerating their property investment
portfolio. 28-year-old Jeremy and 26-year-old Kia currently have a portfolio of five investment properties.
They began acquiring property on regular wages as a draftsman and Level 2 public servant at the ages of 21. They currently co-own a 10-unit development site in Gosnells under a joint-venture arrangement with two other couples; own an apartment in Maylands; a four-bedroom house in Langford; a 3×1 house in South Hedland that has been identified as suitable for the addition of a granny flat, and have recently purchased an off-the-plan apartment with 180-degree ocean views.
How did they do it? They simply started early and reinvested whenever they could, balancing the costs and cash flow with Pilbara property.
Other than Kia’s first home (the apartment in Maylands), as buyer advocates MACRO Realty assisted with sourcing, securing and financing each of these investment opportunities. They each saved hard to get into a low entry-cost home initially, for Jeremy this was a 3×2 villa in Redcliffe and for Kia this was a 1-bedroom unit in Maylands that they have retained and now rent out.
The Langford house was a ‘no money in deal’ that MACRO negotiated with the vendor on their behalf and was close to neutrally geared from day one (where the rental income is equal to their outgoings, making tax and depreciation benefits claimable).
A small amount of equity from their first homes was reinvested and offered as bank security to secure the development site in Gosnells which is slightly negatively geared. It costs them on average $80 per week to hold this one, as it has a house on it that is currently rented out and managed by MACRO.
The South Hedland property pays them a nett $400 per week after all expenses, which certainly helps with cash-flowing the other properties, and the addition of a granny flat will see this property achieve an even higher rent return.
The equity accrued in all of these properties has been enough to raise the deposit and bank security required for their new Port Hedland apartment, which once settled will nett them a further $460 per week (after all interest repayments, rates, insurance and property management costs) as they got in early to sign up for a pre-release priced apartment sold by MACRO off-the-plan.
Once their next investment property settles, Jeremy and Kia will be in a position where the cost of their rent and owning an investment portfolio of five properties is effectively zero. Their plan is to hold the portfolio for a full property cycle (7 to 10 years on average), until the portfolio has doubled in value (currently estimated to be $2.4M).
Early retirement and lifestyle choices are now on the horizon for this young couple as a result of starting early in property investment.
Jeremy & Kia’s top tips:
- Start with a low entry-cost property as soon as you possibly can
- Look for neutral or positively geared properties
- Use your equity to reinvest
- Consider areas that capitalise on the resource boom