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346 | No More Properties Left To Buy: How This Couple Did It!

By in Real life stories, Summer Series

Financially Free Before 30… How!?!

Folks, in today’s episode we’re interviewing a young couple who, get this, have no more properties left to buy.

Meet Emma & Liam – D.I.Y. property investors who are “Done & Dusted” with only 2 investment properties and one family home.

Um, wait a minute…. Are you wondering, “How on earth…!?!”

Yep, we were equally blown away too.

Here’s where it gets even better – they did it with No bells, No whistles – just a couple of clever, cost-effective renovations and – the big one – they lived and breathed delayed gratification.

And now Emma & Liam and their small family is Set For Life.

… Wanna find out how these listeners did it?

Us too – strap yourselves in!

 

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“Winter Series” Line Up So Far (More To Come!)

 

Here’s What We Cover…

  • 01:13 – Meet Emma & Liam!
  • 01:47 – “Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees”, they said…
  • 05:01 – Money lessons learnt from Nintendo!
  • 08:50 – When they first started, how did they set up their bank accounts?
  • 11:23 – Have they ever BLOWN their cash!?!
  • 13:13 – Financially Free Before 30… let’s seriously unpack it!
  • 14:18 – What did they have to sacrifice to make it happen?
  • 16:39 – What do they prioritise above all else?
  • 16:57 – How much time did Emma save by using Money SMARTS?
  • 18:32 – “Experience Over Things” — Why It’s The Best Way To Live!
  • 20:30 – WHY did they want to build a property portfolio in the first place?
  • 23:30 – Meet Their Properties!
  • 25:09 – The D.I.Y Renos!
  • 27:48 – “Don’t Buy Any More Properties!” — Their reaction to being told they were DONE!
  • 32:46 – Were they tempted to keep buying property, anyway?
  • 36:31 – The Mexican Fishing Story Every Property Investor Needs To Hear!
  • 38:15 – The #1 thing you need to succeed as a property investor!
  • 41:12 – Emma & Liam’s Top Renovation Tips!!
  • 43:18 – How to cut your Renovations cost (smart!)
  • 46:11 – Are there fights in the household over money?
  • 46:19 – Why it doesn’t matter if you’re NOT debt free! (wait, what!?!)

 

 

Note: There are more real-life investor stories like this in our Previous Summer Series! Make sure you check them all out here.

Keen to Get Started with Money SMARTS?

Fill in the form below and create your account on our Money SMARTS Platform now!

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345 | COVID Crashed Their Careers – But Now They’re On Track To A Passive Income! – Chat with Tim Martin and Thomas Henry

By in Real life stories, Summer Series

When Covid hit, Tim and Thomas lost their jobs practically overnight.

At the time, they both worked in aviation – at the same airline, in fact – but all this changed for the couple when international borders went into a snap lockdown and not too long after, they were made redundant from careers they loved… and ones they imagined doing for the rest of their lives.

What happened next is – quite frankly, folks – hard to believe, and no doubt not the norm; particularly when you consider the fact that their life as they thought they knew it suddenly takes a drastic and unwanted shift.

What you’re about to get in this episode is not just a rare look inside an unshakeable mindset, but also something else entirely…

See, prior to all this, our listeners Tim Martin & Thomas Henry had been busting their guts trying to save for their first home deposit…

… and although they hadn’t saved enough just yet, with a click of someone else’s fingers, their years of hard work was immediately under threat.

Think about it for a sec – Their careers were gone. There were job losses sweeping across the globe. There was a serious virus scaring a lot of folks. EVERYTHING was uncertain…

And yet what Tim & Tom decided to do next was…

… Well, Wow.

Please just listen to this episode folks – we’ve kept it the last in Winter Series ‘cos if it ain’t a bang, we dunno what is!

Huge shout out to Tim & Tom for sharing their incredible story with us – powerful stuff, folks!

 

Free Stuff Mentioned

 

Here’s What We Cover…

  • 02:24 – Meet Tim and Thomas
  • 02:59 – What was money like for Tim growing up?
  • 05:28 – When did Tim’s parents purchase their first home? Why?
  • 07:36 – Money discussions around the dinner table for Thomas
  • 07:56 – Coming from nothing, and building your own business!
  • 10:33 – The first paychecks…
  • 13:11 – When you follow dreams that aren’t yours…
  • 16:06 – Falling headfirst into the credit trap :-/
  • 16:43 – How BIG was the credit card debt!?!
  • 18:26 – How did Tim get on top of such a large debt spiral?
  • 21:16 – The BIG Pivot…!
  • 23:33 – When a pandemic stops your entire industry!
  • 23:47 – Why was the airline life so appealing for them, anyway?
  • 26:43 – Their saving tactics for the first home deposit
  • 29:33 – How they discovered the pandemic wasn’t going anyway any time soon
  • 30:18 – The immediate pivot to casual work – How? What? Why?
  • 33:21 – How to use Action as a form of taking back control
  • 34:10 – Finding opportunity amongst the chaos
  • 25:00 – Where do they work now?
  • 35:39 – How many temporary jobs did they “go through” in 6 months?
  • 36:54 – Finding The Property Couch… 🙂
  • 38:44 – Not Cynical But Sceptical… How They Recognised The Spruikers!
  • 41:19 – The hidden benefits of REAL property investment advice
  • 42:28 – How to retire at or before 60!
  • 44:01 – The “Zero to 100” Mindset…
  • 45:08 – Okay, let’s get real – how did all this upheaval feel?
  • 47:32 – The most transformational episodes!
  • 49:26 – How much do they plan to spend on travel each year?
  • 50:38 – Why buy an investment property BEFORE a PPOR?
  • 53:49 – How many properties do they need to achieve their passive income target?

And…

  • 1:00:29 – A look back in the rear vision mirror…

 

 

Note: There are more real-life investor stories like this in our Previous Summer Series! Make sure you check them all out here.

Keen to Get Started with Money SMARTS?

Fill in the form below and create your account on our Money SMARTS Platform now!

Already have an account? Log in here.

 

 

344 | Have You Made The Wrong Investment Decision?

By in Podcast, Q&A

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“Have I made a mistake?” This is a common question we get from investors who just start listening to our podcast and learn the fundamental principles we teach for the first time.

Sometimes it’s directed to a specific property in their portfolio or is based on an investment decision they were initially considering but are now unsure if it’s a good idea or not.

And today we are answering some of these key questions – one, in fact, where the listener is not entirely “wrong” in their choice, though at face value seems to go against our general rule of thumb. You’ll learn why exactly this is and how to use this information in your own decision making process.

On top of that, we’re unpacking how to tell HOW MUCH a property is worth – including common D.I.Y mistakes folks make when trying to value their property and some simple (but overlooked) tips to assess this yourself and how to recognise when it’s time to bring in an expert.

Plus, if you’ve ever considered if solar panels on an investment property will increase its value and even the amount of rent you receive, then definitely tune into this episode… ‘cos you might be surprised by our answer!

You can suss all the questions we answer below – otherwise simply hit play and enjoy the show!

 

Oh, and, yep – Next week we’re kicking off our NEW WINTER SERIES. It’s kinda like our Summer Series but, umm, in Winter 🤣 So we’ll be interviewing our listeners who’ve had Real Life Financial Transformations! And we gotta admit… these stories are off the charts!

 

 

Free Stuff Mentioned 

 

The Questions

Question from Ricky Comerford on “Getting Solar Systems For Investment Properties”

Hi Ben & Bryce and all the team working behind the scenes. I just want to thank you for these podcasts and all the wonderful things that you are doing at Empower Wealth. I have a question today in regards to Solar Energy in a Solar System. Now, we’ve got a strict budget for our primary place of residence that’s currently being built. This house is going to be turned into an Investment Property in 6 years’ time. We’ve been quoted for a solar system and it’s pushing the budget by $3000. Now, the return for investment for this Solar System will be 3-5 years, not taking away the fact that solar power is great for the environment. I just want to know strictly financials What is your opinion on solar systems for an investment property?

Do they increase the value of the home by much and the rental yield? And should we get one installed knowing the situation of this house and our budget and the fact that it’s going to be an investment property? Thanks for your time and yeah, hopefully I get a response.

 

Question from Riley on “Buying New with Grants Instead Of Established”

Hi Bryce and Ben, I’m just wondering with all the government grants that are coming out at the moment, if it’s almost a bit too good to say no to at the moment as a first time buyer. I’ve been looking to get into the market for a while now. And down here in Tasmania, we can access up to $45,000 in grants to build a new place. I know it sort of goes against everything that you’ve taught in your podcast. But I’m just wondering if it’s probably now with these grants a better way maybe to get into the market. I know certainly from my perspective, that’ll help with cashflow as well, given that I’ll probably get an extra, maybe bedroom and bathroom into the house as opposed to buying a smaller townhouse type of property closer to the city. So just wondering what your thoughts would be on that, if it is now possibly a better option to be building a house rather than buying existing? Thank you.

 

Question from Kate on How To Calculate Loan To Valuation Ratio

Love the show. I’ve been listening for a few years now and I’ve done all the episodes and I tell everybody I can about The Property Couch. So my question relates to loan to value ratio.

Obviously, it’s easy to determine what the outstanding loan amount is, but where would you go to determine the best value do the free bank valuations cut it? You know, the ones, I mean, I’ll flick by most of the big banks put the address into the website and they spit out a value, but it is generally so broad that is almost useless. Should I ask the bank where the mortgage is held for evaluation? If so, would there be a fee payable? Should I get a real estate agent thing? I probably want to over the value of the property and use RPM. Isn’t that the same as what the bank is? Please help.

 

Question from Riley on “Have I made a mistake?”

I just want to start off by saying that I absolutely love your podcast along with the books and resources you provide. I have just signed up to your workshop and the Money S.M.A.R.T.S portal, which I am excited to get started on! You’ve probably heard this a lot but I wish I had found The Property Couch sooner!

My wife and I are settling on our first investment property in Vasse, WA next week.  I only found your podcast 4 weeks ago and have a lot of catching up to do! I have a couple of questions if you guys have the time to go over them.

Little bit of background:

We are 34 and 30. Bought our first home together almost 8 yrs ago in Padbury, WA and still living in it now. Had the expensive wedding, bought the dream car (for my wife who has expensive taste) and now we are just about to settle on the first investment property.

Together we earn $203,500 before tax but we are hoping to start a family asap so we will drop down to one wage of approx $104,000 (self-employed and pay myself $2k p/week before tax) in approx 6month – 18months.

The house is a 6yr old 4×2 in Vasse on 570m2, great spot (I think) between the high school and primary school in a fast-growing area (they predict the population of the South West will quadruple in the next 20yrs) and rentals are very scarce. We paid $416,000 and it is currently rented out for $480 p/week on a 18month lease. We signed up on a very low rate 2yr interest only loan and I have worked out that after expenses (mortgage, prop manager fees, insurance, rates and 1.5% maintenance) we will have approx. $10,240 left over making this property positively geared.

In my view (prior to discovering your podcast) I thought it would be great to have it positively geared straight away as we can put that surplus towards the deposit for the next property and/or renos for the Padbury house (want to make it into a 4×2, currently a 3×1

and already have plans drawn up) but from everything I have heard is that when you first acquire a investment property it starts off negatively geared and may take 5-10yrs to become positive.

 

So to the questions:

  1. Have we done something wrong?
  2. Do you recommend that we put all that surplus into the Padbury house (PPOR) offset until we are ready for the next deposit or would you put it into the investment house offset?
  3. Do we make it negatively geared for the short term to pay less tax? (we have surplus cash that I’d love to put towards our next property asap even though we are paying lots of tax)
  4. After the 2 yr period would you switch to a P&I loan or keep it on a IO loan?

 

I know there are a lot of factors at play, and I hope I have given you guys enough information to comment on our situation and we would love to hear your views. Sorry if this has been covered in your podcast but I am still only up to episode 40, I need to do some more long drives as that is the only chance I get to listen 🙂. Again, thanks to both of you for your time and knowledge, you make me excited about property investing and I can’t wait to learn more and more as I go through TPC free resources.

 

 

 

343 | “Pass Go & Collect $200” – 6 Property Lessons From Monopoly!

By in Podcast

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Ah, Monopoly – the classic board game… chances are you’ve got fond (or maybe even frustrated?) flashbacks playing it…

[… Nothing quite like the feeling of “Passing Go”, getting a quick cashflow lift, and then proceeding to bankrupt your loved ones in a friendly-but-no-so-friendly game of Monopoly… 😅]

Well folks, Did You Know… the 100-year-old property-trading game actually has 6 Proven Property Lessons that you can (and should!) apply in real life!!

Yep. And here’s the deal… today we’re unpacking exactly how you can apply these key lessons from Monopoly to YOUR own lifestyle design!

Look, this episode’s a bit of fun BUT, most importantly, is full of timeless takeaways that’ll shake up the way you look at property investing… (and help cement the wisdom!)

 

Can You Guess The 6 Property Lessons…? 👇

  1. Always Be __
  2. The Most __ __ Is Not The Best
  3. Focus on __
  4. __ Your Investments
  5. __ Matters
  6. __ __ Is The Key

 

Tune in now to get the answers!

 

Free Stuff Mentioned

 

Here’s A Bit Of What We Cover…

  • 02:49 – Your BIGGEST Competitive Advantage!
  • 04:24 – Wait, you’ve NEVER heard of Monopoly..!?!
  • 05:43 – Bryce first thought you had to do THIS when negotiating…
  • 07:46 – LESSON 1: Always Be __
  • 08:39 – Trying to buy everything you land on… (and The Meltdown!)
  • 11:43 – How to Hack Probability WITHOUT Gambling…
  • 13:09 – Things we ask ourselves BEFORE we purchase anywhere
  • 13:22 – Can you get it right 100% of the time!?!
  • 14:17 – The block of dirt Ben almost bought…
  • 15:14 – LESSON 2: The Most __ __ Is Not The Best
  • 15:28 – When you’re caught up trying to buy Mayfair and Park Lane…
  • 17:48 – The most expensive properties on Monopoly… but in Australia!
  • 19:55 – LESSON 3: Focus on __
  • 20:18 – How to recover when you pick The Unlucky “Chance” Card
  • 23:20 – When the borrower is at the mercy of the lender…
  • 25:06 – The BIG yield between the “red” and the “blue” properties!
  • 25:47 – LESSON 4: __ Your Investments
  • 28:26 – What Monopoly teaches us about BORDERLESS investing…
  • 32:19 – LESSON 5: __ Matters
  • 32:45 – What squares are MOST landed on in Monopoly? (And what does this hint at when you invest in property…?)
  • 37:19 – LESSON 6: __ __ Is The Key!
  • 40:32 – Robert Kiyosaki’s cashflow game…
  • 43:42 – What the creators of Monopoly quickly realised…
  • 44:38 – 7 reasons why playing Monopoly is a great for kids!
  • 46:42 – Bryce’s version of Monopoly at home (LOL)
  • 46:57 – The Reality of Retirement WITHOUT a passive income…

 

 

342 | From $250K to $2M Properties: How To Invest No Matter What Your Budget Is!

By in Podcast, Q&A

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Have you ever wondered how to invest in property with YOUR specific budget?

Like, what if you DON’T have a big budget to spend…?

Or, on the contrary… what if your budget’s actually quite healthy – but you’re not sure if a $1 million – $2 Million property is really a premium investment (Should you buy two cheaper investment properties instead?)…

Folks, they’ll be something for you in this Q & A episode… ‘cos we’re covering A LOT of ground here – how to invest no matter what your budget, age or strategy is!

We’ve got everything from…

  • Investing at 21… and 60!
  • Buying $250K or $2M Properties
  • Getting the “Big Rock in the Jar” at every life stage
  • Selling an investment to buy a dream PPOR
  • Understanding The Donut Ring concept
  • Unpacking new ATO data that reveals current investment trends
  • Helping kids get on the ladder
  • Why Rentvesting is mathematically a better idea, BUT….

Let’s just say: you’re in for a solid treat.

Listen now and find out how to successfully invest at any stage of life or budget 🕺▶

 

 

Free Stuff Mentioned

 


The Questions We Answer…

 Question from Sharon on Buying Higher Priced Properties

Hi Guys, Thanks for having such a great podcast. I’ve recently got very addicted to it and I’m really enjoying it. I do have a question though around the value of properties that we should buy. I hear you talk a lot about your asset selection but I never heard you talk about higher priced properties, so like when you’re well over the $1 million mark. We live in Melbourne in the North, so we’re looking $1.5 to $2M for our next purchase and I’m wondering if you consider that a best investment or what you think about high priced properties ‘cos obviously that’s still just like a very average 3 bedroom house in the North. So I am just wondering if you don’t talk about it for any reason, or if there’s some reason you should avoid that price point.

 

Question from Steve on Selling An Investment Property for A PPOR Or Buy Cheaper

Hey Gents, absolutely love the podcasts and I’ve been a listener for many years now. I’m 30 years old with a fiancé and we have an investment property fully paid off worth about $600,000. We’re currently renting very cheaply in order to save for our principal place of residence, so we were originally looking around the Ringwood area to spend about $900,000, but due to such limited opportunities I feel, and really average properties that don’t have scope to expend, we are considering selling the investment property off and plunging pretty much all of our net worth into a property that will allow us to get us into something more like around the $1.2 or $1.3 Million mark. In saying that, we’ll still probably only need to take on a loan of about $600,000 between the two of us, which is quite achievable, however just wanting to sort of get some advice from you.

Do you think it’s worth trying to buy our dream home — something that we’re gonna be happy for a very long time — and selling off the other investment, or whether we should be holding onto the investment and obviously sacrificing our lifestyle for the short term and turn to getting into something a bit cheaper?

Really interested to hear your thoughts. I am very, very confused at the moment. Thanks guys.

 

Question from Julia on Sell or Hold An Architectural Apartment in Inner Sydney

Hi Fellas, I feel really strange talking to my computer asking a question but I love your show, really had a great time listening to it. So my situation is I am in my early 60s and I’ve been working on super and all that stuff and I own my own home, but I bought an investment property in the heart of the city of Sydney. It was actually in a designer’s building – it’s got about 51 apartments there. Anyway, COVID came and of course the tenancy situation really changed in the heart of Sydney.

So, I did have to reduce my rent from $650 for a one-bedder down to $520 a week so that was a massive drop for me, but really my question is about – over the last 5 years since I’ve owned the property it’s only gone up about $20,000 ‘cos I think I’ve paid at the top of the Market.

My question is, Should I cut my losses being in my early 60s or should I hang in there and hope for better days?

My original plan is to keep this property well into my 80s and I’m just feeling the jitters because the rent has dropped so much and the value just hasn’t increased over the last 5 years so any input would be appreciated.

 

Question from Gabby on Buying A $250,000 Property

Hi! My name is Gabby and I’m a 21-year-old from West Australia. I love your Podcast, but I feel as though I belong to a bucket that you haven’t talked about much. I’ve been boarding and renting my whole life, but wish to or have to move out of home eventually and hopefully soon especially with low interest rates. I want to buy an old unit with 2 bedrooms in a small block priced between $250,000 and $300,000 and then rent out a room to a friend.

It’ll be in the East Fremantle area hopefully, which is on the premium side of first home buyer suburbs, but it could be out of my grasp if I sit on it for too long. The problem is that I don’t actually have the money needed and my parents are happy to invest as long as it makes sense. I’m thinking that repayments could be roughly $260 a week and the room could be rented out for $120 at least a week. This basically makes almost cheaper than renting but me getting the lifestyle and the property at the end.

Do I get them to go Guarantor or use the complete trust we have with them instead taking on the loan as an investment, but me paying it off behind closed doors and essentially taking it over by the end.

 

 

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