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It has been quite some time since our last case study so this time on The Property Couch, Bryce and Ben will be discussing one the case studies that we’ve received from our fellow listeners! Here’s what Tom wrote to us:

After listening to Episode 56 where you discussed various other case studies I thought I might write in to see if you were interested in discussing our situation. I’ll try and keep it short!

Basically, my partner Kirby (30yo) and I (32yo) are both teachers on a combined income of about $160k. 3 years ago we got the bug to do something with our money but weren’t exactly sure how. Our simple goal is to have choice whether to work or not. If we had no loans to service we imagine a passive income of $80-100k would be more than enough, and any more is a bonus!

We had a PPOR property valued at a tad over 300k with a mortgage of ~200k, limited other expenses and a disciplined approach to spending. Property sounded like a great avenue so we went about increasing our knowledge. Unfortunately our naivety led us to a property investment ‘education’ group where although we have learn a lot we have made what we think are two poor investment decisions. We overpaid for both to fatten the developer’s margins.

Our first was brought using the above equity in our PPOR and was a House and Land duplex in Dakabin, Qld for circa $500k. Although the yield is decent there were many costs that the property investment ‘education’ group failed to mention/understand that we have been left with, and there is little scarcity or owner occupier appeal to make growth a good prospect. We have always had tenants in both sides which has been great. We borrowed 90% on interest only terms.

About 18 months ago we signed another contract, this time on a 4 bed H & L in Doolandella, 18kms out of Brisbane for circa $400k. After a long land settlement this was completed yesterday and will be advertised for rent tomorrow. Looking at about a 4.9% yield. Again, this is on an interest only loan at 90%. Deposit and costs were paid from our savings – I know, huge mistake!

Right after we signed this contract we found your podcasts which have taught us that there are so many fundamental errors in our property selections, and if we had our time again would have purchased existing properties with scarcity and owner occupier appeal.

We have just had our first child and Kirby is now off work. We have a ~$45k buffer in our PPOR offset and somehow are still managing to save, even though Kirby is off work, although receiving maternity leave payments.

We use a credit card to pay for 95% of our spending, and repay at the end of every month to ensure no interest payments.

So, we are still very keen to use property as our investment vehicle and have learned so much in the last year but are now stuck as to our next step. We doubt we would have enough equity to purchase again now and the fact Kirby is off work will severely hamper our serviceability. She will return to work at the start of 2017.
Questions:

• Do we sell both/one of our current properties? We’d like to keep if possible as I am a firm believer in buy and hold, although will they hamper us moving forward?
• Where to from here?

Any information from you would be extremely appreciated. I’m sure there are a number of people who have used ‘property spruikers’ such as these to purchase less than ideal investments.

If you like this case study episode (Mid 30s couple, combined income of $150k p.a, existing PPOR and two IPs), don’t forget to rate us at our iTunes channel (The Property Couch Podcast) and our Facebook page. Any questions or ideas? Feel free to drop us your thoughts here: http://tpcaustralia.wpengine.com/topics/