Take The Plunge And Never Look Back! 

Like most Australians, Brisbane residents, Fleur and Matthew Wilkinson found themselves trapped in a cycle of working for someone else.  However, this daring couple still love their jobs but when they were both up for their second lot of long service leave, they realised that this was a long time to work for some else and therefore desired to do something that might give them the option to not have to one day.

So after watching family and friends invest in property successfully, they decided to take the plunge themselves and have not looked back.  Their first property has made them a valuable $164,000 which I am sure you will all agree is a huge bonus for first time investors.

Aged 37 and 38 years old respectively, both Fleur and Matthew with their children aged 3 and 5,  embarked on their investment journey with the long term goal of being well positioned to fund two kids through high-school!

Locating that first investment property

Whilst most people are feeling a little indecisive in this current market, educated investors are taking the lead and snapping up property bargains.  By using the equity in their PPOR (Principal Place of Residence), Fleur and Matthew purchased their first investment in Gordon Park, Brisbane.  It was an older home with three bedrooms and one bathroom.  According to Fleur, “Someone had started a renovation on the property.  But it was a total disaster area.  We paid $396,000 for it and with the renovation, it is now worth $560,000”.

With a decline in property prices and mortgage rates, smart investors know that the real estate market is within their reach, and with a little knowledge, are able to negotiate their property deals at an even lower cost and build instant equity.  “It was a good time for us,” says the couple.  “We were able to buy at a modest price in an area which previously we would not have been able to”. 

The Figures

"The property was orginally listed for $469K and it was dropped to $439K.  That was when we first offered $401K.  However, after doing the building and pest inspection, which came back fine, we asked for a reduction.  The property settled for $396K, $73K less than the orginal asking price!"

"We also spent almost $37K for the renovation and we increased the value of the property by $15K more than what we had hoped.  We are currently getting $420 per week in rent and our tenants have just signed their second 6 month lease".

Investigate Property

Fleur and Matthew admit that they first found their property by scanning through realestate.com.au.  However, they humbly admit that they also engaged the services of Investigate Property Buyers agent, Justin Eslick.  Fleur tells us, “Although in the end we found our own property, we could never have done it so confidently or learned so much along the way without such an unbelievable mentor. Without him we might have bought the first thing we saw – and we’re really glad we didn’t!”

The Reno Kings

It is the Reno Kings workshops which helped Fleur and Matthew form their strategy for investing:  to find properties where they can see the potential to add value and then buy and hold. By following the Reno Kings advice, the couple wanted to add value to the property by staying under 10% of the purchase price.  “We had really appreciated having this guide from the Reno Kings Workshop and especially appreciated being able to run our ‘guesstimate’ budget past Justin before we took the plunge.  It also gave us the confidence that although at times it felt tough to stick the budget it shouldn’t have been impossible.  The Reno Kings had given us good advice about what was achievable (although no-one pretended it wouldn’t be tough!) when it came to keeping costs down”.

The Renovation

Adding value to their new property required a major renovation.  “We replaced the ceiling in a number of rooms, gap filled our hearts out everywhere else, put in a new (second hand) kitchen, finished an already partially renovated bathroom, opened up the enclosed bull-nosed verandah, replaced floor-boards in a couple of rooms (dining and back landing), repaired a leaking roof, rewired and upgraded the power board, added air-con in the main living area, new lights and power points throughout, installed built-ins in one bedroom, slashed the arm-pit high grass in the back yard (removed the rusting trampoline and wharf sleepers), landscaped, painted, built a picket fence and repaired the old garage door”.

The Photos say it all.

Tips for Renovating

As mentioned earlier, renovating a property is not always easy but the challenges that we face can be seen as lessons to help us along the way.  According to the couple, “We underestimated the time it would take to do the ‘little jobs’ (like gap filling!!!!!) and over-estimated time for larger tasks (like installing the new kitchen).  In the end it all worked out but given that we were trying to do the little jobs ourselves we underestimated how much time we’d need to be at the property – we thought a few days a week and managing professionals to do the rest would cover it – but in reality we needed to plan to be there morning to night every day for the full month we were trying to renovate”.  Fleur and Matthew's renovation ended up taking 6 weeks not their estimated 4.

Education

Everyone knows that the only way to be successful at something is to make sure you educate yourself.  Though the couple cannot stress enough the importance of, “Read! Read! Read! Read!” their other tips are just as valuable.  “Ask everyone you know who knows anything about property investing to tell you everything they know”, says Fleur, “And then get choosy about who you listen to ….. it’s worth having a professional advisor in there as the ‘independent voice’ amongst all the other views”.

Furthermore she recommends, “Invest in decent training”.  Both Fleur and Matthew attended the last Reno Kings workshop in Queensland.  "The Workshop on the Gold Coast was fantastic.  We learned so much:  the opportunity to sit quietly for two whole days and soak up the knowledge of so many clever investors was really important to us, bringing a number of ideas together and moving from thinking about it (buying and renovating) to actually doing it”.

“Attending the workshop probably just made us more determined.  Justin Eslick from Investigate Property had to keep reminding us to cool our heels.  We hadn’t been looking for that long and the right property hadn’t come along, however the workshop made us get more active in our search and thus made us clearer about what we were looking for”.

For more information regarding the latest Reno Kings workshops, see: http://www.renos.com.au/7-killer-deals/

Overcoming the fear

We asked Fleur if she had any advice for our first time investors.  Her response was nothing but inspirational.  “Give it a go.  Get lots of advice and trust your gut instinct to find the right path through the middle. We are pretty conservative and it helped to have been thorough in identifying the risks and knowing what our response would be if any of them eventuated”.

“To be honest we are still a bit afraid.  We have only done one and held it less than 12 months - but nothing terrible has happened yet.  However, it did feel good to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway!’ – and it felt even better to get the post renovation valuation”.

Although the couple admit that investing in one property has not changed their life hugely.  They do admit, “We have a nice sense that there’s a nest egg ticking along at the moment and that we’re well placed to go again when we’re ready (financially and with respect to time).  With two little ones, one of our important goals has been not to be under any pressure to work more than my part-time hours. It also feels good to know that as much as we enjoy our office jobs, we’ve made a start at giving ourselves some other options down the track”.

The Reno Kings and their professional Buyers Agent, Justin Eslick, want to show and educate you on 7 Recent Killer Property Deals that have made their owners up to $250K in less than 12 months… in this current market!  Click here for more information.