You might not think a property professional, with a master’s degree in property investment, would need to hire a company like Propertyology – but you’d be wrong.
“I love doing the research and selecting properties – the problem I’ve found now having two young kids is that I don’t have the time to go all over the country looking at different places,” said Lee, a 38-year-old property analyst from New South Wales.
Lee and his accountant wife, Linda, have a retirement goal, and while they started strong, life got in the way. The couple see value in engaging professional help to reach the finish line.
Lee dabbled in investing back in 2001. His own research directed him towards resource centres, so he bought in Western Australia and watched his asset boom along with the mining industry.
When Lee and Linda finally tied the knot and started a family the priorities changed. Instead of building a portfolio, they bought a home in New South Wales and his WA holding made that possible.
“We’re on a small acreage now, so I’ve had a taste of what successful property investing can get you,” he said.
Lee loves playing with numbers and working for the past 18 years at one of Australia’s largest property consultancy firm hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm for data.
A few years back they decided to re-enter the market. In October 2015, Lee headed to Brisbane to see what was on offer there, but he hit a few hurdles.
“There are a lot of potential pitfalls when investing in Brisbane in terms of flooding issues and mine subsidence and that sort of stuff, so I took a step back.”
Lee is also driven by affordability and couldn’t find exactly what he wanted for the price.
“My investment philosophy used to be to invest in metropolitan areas because that’s where you had the population and you had the jobs growth – it’s what I did in WA and it worked really well.”
“But when I came back to look at it (property) again, I found all the prices in the metropolitan areas had gone up much higher than I was comfortable investing in.”
“I like to have multiple lower value properties rather than one expensive property, so I found that I couldn’t invest in the metropolitan areas.”
He communicated with other advisors about his needs and they recommended Propertyology.
“I was talking to some buyers’ agents in Brisbane and they mentioned that for the price range we were looking to invest in, Propertyology would be a good company to have a look at.”
Lee’s investment philosophy ties in with Propertyology’s. After a number of discussions with Propertyology buyers’ agent, Bryan Loughnan, Lee was convinced on the potential of regional localities.
Their first Propertyology purchase was in April 2016, paying only $333,000 for a solid house in a NSW location.
In August 2016 they purchased their second property, a Queensland house, for $403,000.
Lee says theses homes were the first moves in a marathon plan. “I’m a longer-term investor.”
In 2017, Propertyology further added to Lee and Linda’s portfolio diversity by introducing them to other exciting locations in different states, including Tasmania – a state that exceeded almost everyone’s expectations in terms of real estate performance over the past few years. One of those properties climbed around 15 per cent in value in a bit less than 12 months.
Lee said the properties purchased by Propertyology have suited his own philosophies of buy affordable, diversify across markets and wait for long term gains. This approach is often described by Propertyology as a ‘small fish are sweeter’ strategy.
Lee is also conservative on cash flow and is happy to say their portfolio’s rental return helps service the loan and keeps things manageable.
Lee and Linda are now seeking more property holdings to round off their plan.
“I’m certainly looking forward to getting another two properties and then park the portfolio and let it do its thing over the next few years.”
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to choose to walk away from work when I’m 50.”
So, how does this highly educated and experienced property analyst rate Propertyology’s performance?
“What sets Propertyology apart from other buyers’ agents for us – particularly for my wife because she’s an accountant so by nature she’s incredibly sceptical and incredibly conservative – is the fact they’re a research-based buyers’ agency. They don’t just say, ‘Look, we’re buying in this location because that’s the only location we buy in.’ They actually back it up with ‘why’.”
“Their research on locations and where they’re investing is very thorough. They use all the sources and more, and the fact they actually visit locations and quiz town planners and councils and look at zoning and town planning maps… that’s the sort of stuff I would love to do if I had the time. I’m very impressed with that degree of research.”
Lee said he likes to take challenges head on, and Propertyology is helping make that happen.
“I don’t tend to be a person sitting on the sideline wishing for things to happen, I like to make them happen… otherwise you don’t get anywhere in life.
“For me, in particular, to be able to be in a position by the time we’re 50 years old to basically choose whether we want to work or not – that’s our ultimate goal. That’s why I’m happy to use Propertyology.”
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.
