Why Was Reno King Geoff Doidge Scared?

Interview with Geoff Doidge by Sonya Matthews

You might know Geoff Doidge, one half of the Reno Kings duo, as an experienced and successful property investor and renovator.  He’s made millions of dollars out of residential property by buying well, adding value with straightforward cosmetic renovations to increase rental income and create equity in the property. He then draws equity from the property and – does it all over again (and again and again ...).

But did you know that Geoff used to be scared?  Scared.  What could a man with the success that Geoff has had, be scared of?
Geoff Doidge was scared to launch into property development.  Can you relate to that?  You’d love to develop property but are scared that ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’!

But Geoff has recently overcome his fear and is just completing a project that has created him $1.2m of equity and will bring in $110k in rental income per year.  Can you believe that?

In this interview, Geoff tells us some amazing details about the 3 townhouse development that is just about complete (2 out of 3 rented at time of writing) and explains how he overcame his fear of property development.

SM : Geoff, could you describe the development to our readers, please?
GD : This is a property that is only 1.5km from the CBD of Brisbane, in an area that – back when I bought – was downright rough.  One of my tenants was conducting ‘illegal night-time business’ at the time and interesting times followed. Now I’ve developed 3 townhouses on the rear of the property, and they are designed for rent – and they will rent like crazy.  The area is now really trendy.  There are 2 x 2 bedders with 2 ensuites and 1 x 4 bedder with 4 ensuites.  Each townhouse is two storeys, has solar HW,tinted windows and tank water feeding the toilets and laundry. Each bedroom has its own balcony, own bathroom, own TV point, as well as air-conditioning and lots of storage.  The bedrooms are designed to take a queen size bed and we’ve used mirrored wardrobe doorsto make the whole room look bigger.  Skylights, breakfast bars, large open courtyard – they’re great.

And it’s going to bring in $110,000 rent per year? And create $1.2million in equity?
That’s right, $110,000 in rent per year.  That will take my total rental income to over $1million per year.  And by ‘building-to-rent’,  it’s created $1.2m in equity in this project alone.

That’s amazing considering you say you were scared to develop property!  I believe you’ve had the property for awhile, Geoff.  When did you buy it?  Did you know it was a development site?
I was looking for a development site.  I bought the property back in 1988 and I knew it had development potential.  I had planned to put a number of units on the site in the future.

Did you do anything to the property when you first bought it?
I did a quick cosmetic makeover to give me good cash flow to pay all the bills and the interest. I paid interest only as the principal payments are not tax deductible but the interest payments are.

You said you’d intended to build units on the site – but you’ve built only on the back of the site and left the original structure at the front – why is that?
Well, the council had changed the rules by the time I started developing and the property comes under a ‘character housing’ zoning – no demolition!  So I’ve built in the backyard – although it took some clever thinking and I had to use the right town planner, the right consultants and some creative strategy.

Geoff, the project  has been so successful and your property investing career has been successful – why was it that you were so nervous about getting into developing property?
As you say, I’d had success in renovation.  I knew about renovation and had made some great money in renovation, but I hadn’t developed on my own and was worried about ‘what if things go wrong?’.  And lots of things have gone wrong on this project!  Access, rain, hitting rock, rain, and more rain!  But those issues have been worked through and fear isn’t a problem anymore.

What made the difference?
I got educated.  I did a course in property development, learned what was involved and by having the knowledge I needed, the fear went away.  After getting educated I went out and developed 10 x 1 bedders, which bring in $180k per year in rent, and I’ve used the equity from that development to finance the development of this current property.

Education is what makes the difference.

Geoff Doidge will be sharing all of the details of this development at Developing for Profit on 4th & 5th June 2011 in Brisbane.  If you consider yourself to be serious about property development, you cannot afford to miss this workshop.  Click Here to Book Now.

Geoff and fellow Reno King Paul Eslick along with Investigate Property’s Justin Eslick have assembled their team of highly experienced development consultants and investors to bring you this two-day ‘everything you need to know’ workshop on property development.  Don't Delay Book Now.

Speak with Geoff – and the other members of the ‘A-Team’  who will be at Developing for Profit – in person.  You can’t afford not to. Learn from their mistakes and successes. Think about the lifetime value of just one good idea.