Turning point

[beech]

Interested to other peoples stories re turning points where something happened to get you involved investing.
It happened for me finally after deciding against buying an acre block of land to build my dream home on.
I went down to estate agents office to tell him to cancel the hold on the block that i had.
I know the guy and he asked me if my parents were still interested in moving closer to me as we had spoken before about them maybe buying a unit in town.
He mentioned having the classic worst house in best street just 500 metres from his office and rest of the shops.
I bought the property that day after minor negotiations for 80k and as it turns out i beat quite a few people that were also interested.
20months later land worth 160k and will build 2 units here once everythings finalised (plans etc)
Will hold them long term and from recent sales of units in town looks like a profit in the order 200k is very realistic.
Anyway that was my turning point towards property inv and i look forward to reading about other investors stories.


Darren

[Glenn]

mmmm...turning point!

1990 - 1995: Drinking 6-12 vb's and smoking a packet of winnie blues each day, life is not real good, go broke, recover slightly.

1996: Develop pancreatic psudocyst that doctor tells me can be removed easily by scope down throat into stomach to pierce pancreas and drain cyst.

30-08-96: Procedure goes wrong, wake up in intensive care with more pipes coming out of me than a Saudi oil well. 3 months off work. Immediately give up drinking.

Early 97: Give up smoking, complete first triathlon

Late 97: Buy second prop

Early 99: Buy third prop

Early 00: Marriage to great girl

Late 01: Become dad to beautiful girl, sell dud first prop

Late 02: Buy prop to be PPOR, life is fantastic


Glenn

[schnugg]

Turning point for me was after my divorce about 3 years ago. Business took a nosedive and had to start pretty much from scratch. Took financial responsibility if you like and started saving, being careful with money and slowly building up the business again. Now I am ready to purchase a home for myself and possibly an IP soon after that.

[Lotana]

For me the turning point was coming to Austraia from Russia with $500 and idealistic views of western societies over 10 years ago. It then took me 2 years to change my mindset from "everything is owned by the government" to "holly private property" and from "fear of debt" to "other people's money" and buy the PPOR (a unit in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs). Then it took another 5 years to understand the basics of property investment and buy my first IP. I am planning to retire in 15 years time and I am on the way to my target of achieving $3 mil in equity by then (half of it to live in, the other half to generate income sufficient to maintain our lifestyle).

Say cheese :p

Lotana

[AlexE]

My/our turning point was back in 1995 married with 2 kids in highschool and $25k saved we bought our PPOR, late last year we got our 1st IP and we now geting ready to sub divide on the back of PPOR for 2 townhouses.
Hopefully retire in 8-10 years with as many IP's as posible

Alex

"The secret of getting ahed is... Getting Started"

[bbruham]

G'day all,

My wake up call came three years ago when I read my superannuation retirement lump sum. WAMO!!!!!
When you devide the lump sum by the interest rate of 5% , as you will receive in a dividend cheque in retirement, you suddenly realize sleeping in the gutter is the best you'll get!
In that time to now I have three investment properties, a taxi, shares and managed funds.
My next trick is property on the nearer suburbs to Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast.
Going up there in February 03.

Bruce G.

Winners make it happen,
losers let it happen.

[Sim]

Turning point for me happened during a trip back home to Adelaide in late 2000.

We had almost finished paying off our home in Adelaide (we no longer lived there - having moved to Sydney with work and renting the property out) - had very good income and was looking for something to invest our money in.

All my friends were buying shares - and I was looking at share trading as a possibility. Never crossed my mind to buy more property.

Was talking to my father-in-law about it all, since I knew he owned shares. He gave me a book and suggested that I read it.

It was, of course, Jan Somers first book "Building Wealth through Residential Investment Property" (a well worn and tattered copy - with many notes in the margins). Read it from cover to cover, went out and bought her other books, read them, found the forum from a link in one of the books, and here I am now !

Funnily enough, I now have my father-in-law coming to me for advice on property investing :D

[bundy1964]

86 should of purchased my Grandfathers house for 60K which is now worth 180k+........thanks for your investment advice mum!

Early 90's could of bought the house across the road......fear of debt stopped me.

97 got hit by a taxi going to work one morning.

97-01 learned to live off the smell of an oily rag. Got my first net connection. Was welcomed as a liftime customer of Centrelink.

01 settled my claim. Chose IP's over shares after almost 5 years of research.

02 had the penny drop that my previous wealth creation plans were doing more to make the managers wealthy than me.

02 lost my fear of debt. Changed it to healthier what if the worst happens veiw of life while still being careful with my debt level.

02 found this list through my tenants.

So I knew for 10 years what I should of done at an early age, it was only when my chances of working in a day job reached 0% that it forced me to act. Then I had to learn to wait.........

bundy

[dwyerfam]

Turning point for me?

Married in 1981, quickly had four daughters, all in a row. Remembered reading about Jan Somers and her book (1st one?) in mid 80's in the newspapers. I didn't click then!! Purchased Noel Whitther's book, Making Money Made Easy (still got it!). Took a hint out of his book and had almost paid off our PPOR (working two jobs) with only 12 mths to go, but in 1989, took a public service promotion to Townsville (or else miss out). Went to Comm. Bank for advice before moving, was told something about buying a investment house in Townsville as well as a PPOR (??? still didn't click). Built a new PPOR and sold up three yrs later to move back to Brisbane (transfers and selling costs up and back, all paid by the dept).

20 Yrs later.......

Jan 2001 - Missed out on a promotion in public service (the same sorta thing that happened to Geoff Doidge!) and was very annoyed. Picked up a book when I was visiting my Dad and brother. This book belong to my brother's girlfriend. The book was Rich Dad Poor Dad. Took it away and read it. Hummmm...... good book. Told a workmate about it and he said to also read "Anyone can be a Millionaire". A recommendation in this book said to read Jan Somers' book (oh yeah, I remember her now!)..... and that was my turning point! Purchased 1st IP Feb 2001, 2nd IP in March 2002 (minor reno job) and am now working on two more for 2003!

Can I just add that this forum has been a great help to me in my progress to date and I thank you all for the questions and tips posted to date. It been one hellva learning curve for me and I am still learning. I plan to leave the public service in five years time with 15 IP's under my belt and say good bye to that damm "rat race".

Cheers

Danny D.

[yeslist]

The turning point for me was when I recognised the true value of my existing properties and started to use them to my advantage. You see we had IP's before it became the popular pastime of the nation.
Simon

[beech]

With all the new members joining the forum lately i thought id bump this back up and maybe here some of your stories about youre foray into property.




bye the way 745 views of this thread with 10 replies is pretty poor,dont be shy come-on.

[always_learning]

No magic turning point, just a slow realization over many years.

When I was teenager my mum said "You know we have made more money from buying and selling our houses than we ever saved"
=> Purchased first home at 24.

Mid 1995 Jan Somers book "Building wealth in changing times"
=> Purchased second home at 28, kept first home.

Got side tracked then into the fake "Career and Salary" path...worked too hard spent a little too much (but did pay down debt, but not as much as I could have). Thinking, I am fat, tired and going nowhere fast.

Late 1999's wanted to buy another couple of IP in Melbourne (price was starting to rise in Melbourne), wife decided after talking with farther-in-law (her dad) that investment is too risky. After a argument as always I gave up.


Early 2001, my farther-in-law at 58 was let-go due to merger of his and another insurance company, all men over 57 given marching orders! Mother-in-law and Father-in-law have only enough to survive a couple of years, farther-in-law however finds new "retirement" job at lower pay. Mother-in-law says " He is so lucky to have a job at 58, and even better with this new job he can work until he is 70 years old". Always_Learning thinks "NO NO NO NO, not me, not this little black duck, no way, I am not working for peanuts until I am 70, this is not lucky!". IMO my Father-in-laws way of don�ft invest, don�ft take risks has lead him after 40 years of hard work and effort to having to work for peanuts until he is 70...and mother-in-law thinks how "lucky".

2002 always learning refocuses on IP investment but decides he needs to be more intelligent about it, sets up trust, refinances, reviews many options (buyers agents, renovation, Hobart, Logan), decided finally upon a managed development (2 units in Melbourne bayside).

2003 Managed development moving forward...currently happy. Wife remains skeptical and basically moaning about it.


Some quotes I try to live by.

"Work harder on yourself than you do on your job"
" If you live in a capitalist society everyone should have the goal of Financial Independence"
�g80% of the worlds millionaires are millionaires from property investment�h

[rambada]

My wife had cancer 4 years ago. We were scarred to our souls. Now ok and more beautiful than ever. I realised that time is the most precious commodity - money and wealth frees up time - property is the easiest safest quickest way to gain wealth. It ain't rocket science.

[Mondie]

Hi always learning,

Love your post mate, what you say is so true it hurts.

My MIL is approaching 50 and going backwards at a fast rate of knots financially. She is a nurse and so considers herself lucky that she can work until late into old age if she chooses. Because of her constant mismanagement and flippancy with money this is something she will have no choice but to do. Fear of debt and the preference to work 50 hours a week instead of putting aside some time to educate herself on investment have sealed her future. She talks to me about investment but the fear and insecurity of actually doing something is too paralysing. l am amazed at people who choose to work themselves ragged but wont put aside just an hour or two a week to educate themselves on investment/tax etc. A small bit of time invested now can have huge paybacks further on in life.

Personally, l cant ever remember a turning point as such. As a teenager l was always 'financially aware', my father had a few investment properties that because of poor location never did much. But it helped me in my education and fuelled my interest. Bought my first PPOR quite late given my interest, l was 24 at the time. We are now in the process of purchasing our 3rd Investment property, but intend offloading one later in the year to reduce our exposure in the area and to clear our PPOR mortgage. That will be a great feeling. Once we own our PPOR that will free up a lot of monthly funds to put into further high growth neutral/negatively geared properties. l am 33 now, my wife 28.

Cheers Mondie(Simon)

[Andrew]

Turning point for me was just over a year ago. Had a bit of spare cash from a redundancy + bonus both from my previous job. MIL wanted to sell a little property in order to discharge the mortgage on another property and preferred to keep it in the family so gave me a sweet deal.

Bought the property from MIL for $180K, new kitchen + gangbusters CG and it's been revalued at $250K but lately houses in the area have been going for well over $300K.

While looking for PM advice I stumbled over this and the MSN forum and haven't looked back. Without the stories and advice on this forum I might have gone nowhere fast.

Used the revalue to lever myself into PPOR which I'm now renovating slowly as job situation has turned bad again. Will be looking to revalue both and grab another fixer-upper as soon as the reno is done here. Unfortunately may have to get a real job in order to meet servicability for the next one.

andy

[Les]

How many turning points does the average bloke need to get the message??

I started life as one of the first "baby boomers" (I guess EVERYBODY was happy WWII was finally over.... Certainly, my Mum and Dad were ;) )

As a kid, I thought LOTS about money - and remember thinking how I could (would?) buy one property, wait for it to grow in value, sell, then buy two. Wait for them to grow, sell, then buy four. .... then buy eight .. then ...... Even at a young age, I WAS aware of property, it's cycles, and its compounding (but I didn't KNOW it!!)

Also, though, as a kid, we were often scraping to get by - my Dad had died when I was 9 - and Mum worked like a Trojan to keep us 3 kids fed and clothed. Mum did a lot of good stuff that I didn't realise until many years had gone by...

A bunch of years later, I'd met (and married) my wife - and we had no end of problems making ends meet enough to get a deposit to buy a home. We KNEW we had to..... And it happened - as our second son was born (3 years into our marriage). That house doubled in value within 6 months of purchase !!! And, we sold it 7 years later for THREE TIMES what we'd paid for it. The light was a low glimmer .......


Then, we came to Australia - bought a home within 3 months, and saw it double in value within 5 years.... And (thanks to my wife) we bought our FIRST investment property. The year was 1988. We sold the IP a year and some later (anyone guess why???) - for a modest profit. The light was still no more than a glimmer, as Interest rates of 18% were far from encouraging....

Over the next few years, we attempted (half-heartedly?) several forays into more property (I guess even then, we weren't REALLY convinced... and teenagers are bl***y expensive anyway).

Then, in the late 90's, there was this bloke who had written a book called "If you want to be rich and happy, don't go to school". My wife had heard the interview on radio, and this Kiyosaki dude was promoting his new book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I bought the book, read it several times, and the light gained intensity. Bought a couple of other "get smart" books.....

In 1998, redundancy appeared, paid us a bunch of cash, and said "Well, get on with it!!"

We discussed the situation - wife wanted PPOR paid off. I agreed - with one proviso - that, once paid off, we would borrow against the equity to purchase an IP or two. I had got contract work in Sydney, and had spent some time reading a bunch of other good books, and the light was glowing quite strongly by now. And I'd found this forum (in it's earliest guise)

Since then, there's been no doubt !! But, where was "the change"? I guess some skull's are thicker than others, and I need a heavier-than-average whack on the side of the head before I pay attention.... But, wait - I'm here now, and convinced. Settling on our next - should have been Monday gone, but will now be Monday next - for sure !!!

Thanks for kicking this one off, Beech - I hope others continue on with this too,

Regards,

[geoffw]

Originally posted by Les
And I'd found this forum (in it's earliest guise) FOUND this forum? DOn't you mean "founded" this forum? Wasn't this whole thing your idea?

An idea we're all profoundly grateful for!

[Les]

G'day Geoffw,

Found... Founded.... Whatever... It certainly doesn't appear to have foundered, though, does it?" ;)

Regards,

[geoffw]

Originally posted by Les
Found... Founded.... Whatever... It certainly doesn't appear to have foundered, though, does it?" ;)But if it had floundered, I would have found that very fishy.

[Ruby]

* Ruby slaps geoffw around a bit with a large trout

[Oscar]

What an awseome thread.

The turning point for me was in 1992. I was a salary slave (still am) and father of a friend of mine bought an IP (unit in Bronte, Sydney). At the time I was renting in Bronte and looking around to buy a cheap PPOR. Over the 2 years of searching I noticed prices in the area were literally going up each weekend. My friend's father was making more money out of this investment with no physical effort, than I was in my job. It clicked then that this is what I should be doing.

Eventually bought a PPOR in 1994, and proceeded to pay off as fast as possible. In 1998 read one of Jan Somers books and realised why this guy was so wealthy even though he was just earning a salary.

Biggest mistake was seeing an accountant in 1998 to go "over the numbers" for my first IP purchase. He convinced me it was too risky and I would make more money putting the money into my PPOR mortgage.

BIG MISTAKE

What a loser he was, and what a fool I was for taking his advice. Late 1998 I finally purchased my first IP in eastarn suburbs and have not looked back since then.

I guess I was "lucky" to have been exposed to a property investor in 1992, see what was possible, and then stumbled on one of the finest books on property by Ms Somers.

Still have heaps to learn but well on the way.

[Brenda Irwin]

Jan's books were an inspiration so husband & I took a 'leap of faith' & started investing.

Geoff Doige & Paul Eslick's reno course gave us confidence to fixem up a bit & keep going.

Peter Span's book said 'keep pushing the envelope & see how much you can borrow & how far you can go'.

Robert Kiyosaki & Dolf de Roos books said the baby boomers are coming, 'Hurry up & invest faster & smarter'.

Tony Compton's book taught us 'don't neglect your tax-there is a lot you can claim'.

Now, 5yrs & 21 houses later, we are back to reading the 'start' of it all 'Jan's book'. There might we something in there we missed.

Education & the cheek to try are the secrets to success for us.

Cheers Brenda :)

[jahn]

Wow
If I wrote my story it would be almost a copy of Les, (to start anyway). But I'm still a salary slave, and really geateful for the forum and it's starters.
Baby boomer, got married, (still going 34 years later) and only just cottoned on last year to investment Bought first PPOR 30 years ago and sold and built, and sold and built about 5 times. Still didn’t "go for it" Bought first IP 30 months ago and very satisfied with self and stopped at that. THEN read Robert K's book and realized that aint no way I would have enough money to retire on, (Both parents 85 and still going strong) and what pension. Realized its up to me, and read the quote;
"The definition of insanity - Doing what you’ve always done and expecting different results"
Also appropriate at this forum - "Enthusiasm is like a ripple on the water, it spreads."
jahn

[Alan H]

For me I think the 'turning point' is when you realise that there are other options to necessarily being a 'wage slave'. Doesn't mean you don't work hard, but it means that you have more choice in how you spend your most valuable possession.......TIME.

Surely knowing this is obvious though isn't it? Surely we all know this from a kid don't we?

I don't think so!

I think a part of it comes from what you learn as a kid.

My dad died when I was about 10 and my mum and I got by as best we could in a country town. She was on a pension and we didn't have much so me being the 'man of the house' I tried to work as many part-time jobs as I could. I cleaned toilets, cleaned pools, picked peaches, cut asparagus, worked at Grace Bros, painted people's houses, worked at garages, delivered medicine and the list goes on. The night I attended my high school graduation I realised I had been to 3 separate jobs that day, the first starting well before dawn. :) Ahh......memories......

So what am I saying here? Well, to my way of thinking, from an early age, I believed the only way to earn a living was to get a job and work long hours. Need to make more money? Get another job and work longer hours........need more...get a third job........:D

Property, shares etc etc. What are they? If you heard of someone who had a couple of properties then you assumed they had been lucky, inherited or worse....you didn't think about it at all. Zero mentoring input received.......

About 7 or 8 years ago my wife and I headed up to Fraser Island for some 4 wheel driving and on the way I stopped at a bookshop and found one of Jan's book. Read it and it was like someone just opened a window for me!! Gosh......how had I not come across any of this before? As an interesting aside, I wonder how many people have been 'mentored' by Jan through the pages of her books?

Went on and read as much as I could, have bought a couple of IP's over that period and even though I know I've made some mistakes they have all returned a minimum of 9-10% compoound since purchase.

Was going to go solely down the property track when I met Steve Navra and I was introduced to Shares. Another window was opened. Another previously unseen view was explored. Dozens of more books read. NB. I've probably been a terrible client though as from Steve I also learnt to be sceptical(but not cynical) and to try and learn and do as much of this yourself as is possible. How much can be done yourself is something I am still learning. :)

So where am I at now? Still learning, listening and seaching for new windows........oh........and trying to continually polish those existing windows so I can see out of them more clearly.

I started this from the point of view that I believe many of us don't get to this 'turning point' as a 'mentoring' input is often lacking as a kid.

This whole thread might be a useful reminder for us all to pass on a little of what we have learned to the young around us too.......not just the rest of the Forum and other friends. My daughter may or may not listen, but she will be told! :)

A asked a visiting nephew from Adelaide the other day if he bought a car for $20,000, how much he thought it would be worth 5 years later. His answer: $30,000!! That was the start of a 90 minute conversation which we both found fascinating. It's amazing how much more young people will absorb than we give them credit for.........

Oh........and this Forum would have been another great 'turning point'..........thanks guys!



:)

[saibaba]

1992-Migrated from India with wife and two kids. Both of us Professionals.

1994-Bought first Property for stay
1996-First Investment Prop.
1999-Bought an old wb house (200k) to build a double storey house
2000-Sold the house bought in 1994 and built a metricon double storey home close to station by knocking off the wb home. Property prices have started going through roof. Wihin two years, 200k property has doubled to 420k.

2002-Bought two Investment props.
2003-Bought another two jointly with a friend

Would like to buy Investment props every year to achieve the finanial freedom. Thanks for Jan's book 'Building wealth through property'(do not remember the exact name).

[jahn]

To Saibaba
Love the name tag. Any relation to the real one ?
Well done with the properties
jahn

[saibaba]

It is not my real name. It is the name of our Guru Bhagwan Sri Satya Sai Baba.

[jahn]

I was just asking because my brother in law visited India years ago and visited a Sai Baba
Too hard to mention here how impressed he was and how big a reputation the Guru has world wide.
jahn

[saibaba]

Yes, I am refering to the same Sri Satya Sai Baba in puttaparty, a place in a state called Andhra Pradesh, India.