256 | From Gold Mine To Fool’s Gold: How This Property Investor Nearly Lost It All During The WA Mining Boom! – Chat with Rick Hockey

Some investors learn things the hard way. And today’s guest Rick Hockey — property investor AND real estate agent specialising in The Pilbara region in far north Western Australia — is, unfortunately, one of these folks.

In this episode you’re about to get a completely raw look at what it was like to be INSIDE the mining boom that hung a lot of property investor’s out to dry. And you’re going to hear it from someone who was right in the thick of it, and did TWO things during this time…

(1) INVESTED in the WA property boom, and

(2) SOLD REAL ESTATE before, during and after the boom!

Here’s the story… back in 1980, Rick Hockey and his wife Bev made Port Hedland, a dusty but dynamic little town exporting some seriously big volumes of minerals all over the world… their home. And things were good. Really good, actually. Especially when Rick made the shift to working in real estate and then the mining scene boomed to deliver some of the highest rental returns we’ve ever seen — and people from all walks of life were practically climbing over each other to call a basic 4 bedroom house in regional Western Australia theirs. And why was everyone keen to jump in? Well, that simple property in the middle of not-a-whole-lot would put $3,000 PER WEEK in their bank!

And Rick, like many of the locals, invested in these properties too. Lots of them. And life was passive cashflow rolling in (literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands each year), selling million dollar houses, releasing equity and buying again, and again, and again. Everyone thought the mining boom, and these crazy returns would never end.

But then the huge orange trucks stopped turning up. And almost overnight, it seemed all of the tradies with their fat wallets did too. The price of iron ore plummeted. And, just like that, everything changed…

 

ABOUT RICK HOCKEY

Rick Hockey is an award winning real estate agent specialising in The Pilbara region in north Western Australia — Port Hedland, South Headland and the Marble Bar area. He’s a Senior Sales Consultant at Hedland First National and has a THREE DECADE connection with Hedland’s property market.  As a proven real estate consultant, he has developed from Rookie to Diamond Achiever and a Top Salesperson with more than 50 industry awards to date. Rick and his wife Bev made Port Hedland home in 1980 loving the opportunities, lifestyle and raising their 3 children there.

 

THE “YOU CAN’T MISS THIS” MOMENTS

• 09:00 – How did Rick pivot into property?
• 11:53 – When did he start investing?
• 15:20 – The Property Spruikers
• 17:40 – What did he friend say that hinted at what was to come?
• 18:30 – What was it like to SELL property during the mining boom?
• 20:46 – How did they value property during the boom?
• 23:20 – When the peak starts dropping…
• 28:02 – Being a real estate agent during the bust
• 30:50 – How many properties did Rick own & WHEN did he deciding to sell?
• 35:50 – What was the price of property PRE-boom?
• 36:56 – What was the of property DURING the boom?
• 37:36 – What was the price like POST-boom?
• 46:33 – Now that the market’s recovering, is it time to invest now?
• 51:36 – Who should invest in mining towns?

 

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