How one smart investor is moving closer to retirement after years of stalled plans.
Kevin’s a Melbourne family man who knows how tough it is to balance work and play.
He loves spending time with his wife and son but combining home life with running a workplace team meant few hours remained each week to plan for the future.
Kevin was keen to invest, but like so many of us, life kept getting in the way.
“We just couldn’t find the time. I put some (real estate) articles into a fold and kept saying, ‘I’ll get to it, I’ll get to it,’ and never did. I’d identify where we should buy and never do anything about it, ” he said.
Lazy equity
Kevin owned two properties that looked good on the family’s balance sheet but, weren’t pulling their weight in building the household’s wealth.
“We had plenty of equity in our home but it’s like having a shoe box full of money under your bed. It wasn’t working for us.”
He said they’d also invested in a coastal property but their selection criteria wasn’t particularly scientific.
“We saw the opportunity for a holiday home to get away to every now and again. Prices were low so we bought,” he said. “We’d holidayed there and liked the area. We didn’t really buy it to make money.”
Finding the professionals
A couple of years ago, Kevin decided that they were ready to invest further but, once again, finding the time was his biggest obstacle.
He watched Sydney and Melbourne’s hot run without taking the plunge himself and started feeling pangs of regret for not acting sooner.
Despite not being part of the price gains, he knew there was life beyond the big capitals.
“I said to my wife, ‘There’s got to be opportunities out there still. There’s got to be a trickle effect where it’s got to move out to the regionals or there must be capitals that haven’t taken off yet.”
“I went on a few online forums – did some research – and Simon (Pressley) and Euan’s (Rose) names came up a few times with positive feedback. I thought I’d have a chat with them.”
Kevin met with Propertyology and liked what he heard. He soon realised the time had come to outsource the hard work.
“I spent hours with boxes and boxes of information I’d put together on possible suburbs and recommended towns and I thought, ‘What am I trying to do this for! I know what I do, I’m an expert in what I do and they’re experts in what they do – so let them do it!”
“I should have done it ten years ago but really, it’s never too late.”
Success
After a professional consultation, Euan came back with an investment location and proceeded to find a property that would fit Kevin’s criteria.
“They did all of their due diligence – they really targeted the area right down to the property they were suggesting. I rang someone I knew in the area to ask what he thought and he said, ‘Oh mate – that’s an awesome suburb.’”
“My contact said ‘Mate –they’re (Propertyology) absolutely 100 per cent on the money.”
Kevin bought an established three-bedroom house.
“The place is immaculate. We paid $370,000 and we’re getting $380 per week,” he said.
Kevin said despite only recently buying the property, they’re ready to go again with Propertyology.
“We’re going to buy another one. It was awesome, they were so professional. Any queries that we had, Euan had the answer straight away,” he said.
“It’s given us confidence to jump straight in again which we’re going to do in the next few weeks.”
Ringing endorsement
Kevin said he has no hesitation in recommending the Propertyology team.
“The whole process was made so easy. They dealt with a lot of stuff too that I thought I’d have to deal with, including putting us in touch with a property manager that we can have confidence in.”
Best of all, Kevin said he feels like he has a professional crew in his corner with a post-purchase experience that’s been second to none.
“Even though they’d earned their fee they’re still out there batting for you. Euan said, ‘I don’t care when it is Kevin, you can ring me anytime if you’ve got any queries.”
“A very awesome company – I’m really thrilled,” he said.
Propertyology is a multi-award-winning buyers agency and (national) property market research firm. To learn how they can help you find the right property, in the right location, at the right price, contact us now.
