I'm a lazy property investor...

[HandyAndy888]

I began the property investment road back in 2004 by buying a PPOR that is now no longer part of my portfolio. In late 2005, this house became an IP when we purchased our second PPOR to live in, so in essence, this is when my wife and I began our journey.

Since 2005, we have bought a few properties (I won't bore you with the details), and now we have a PPOR, 3 IPs deriving cf- income and two block of land. We have done nothing special. We haven't subdivided, we haven't put on extensions, we haven't done any quick turnovers and renovating has only been weekends and very part time.

The question I have for those of you with experience, is what was the catalyst to start doing subdivisions, developments, extensions, etc. etc.??? What was it that made you start to be creative, to be "Active" investors?

 

[RumpledElf]

We had absolutely zero intent to do this kind of stuff. But there was this cheap house that had been sitting around forever that looked like it was on two blocks when we went to look at it, it was structurally extremely sound (barring having no floors, kitchen or water) and the math added up really, really well on it.

It was actually coming across from G*H*P*C and seeing all this dubious stuff people were doing with lo-doc and no-doc loans and then realising that we actually fit the exact criteria for lo-docs so it was *gasp* actually possible to buy a second house and cash in on that extremely good deal just sitting there. If I hadn't seen some of the crazy stuff people get up to here I would have written the entire thing off as impossible and left it to a 'proper' investor ...

Took almost a year to renovate it and 18 months to subdivide it, however. We'll have had it well over 2 years when we build on the other half.

The only reason I'm a landlord at all is simply because noone wants to buy a big, fully renovated house 2 hours out of a capital city for $75,000 using a FHOG of $18,000 (back before September anyway) in this day and age. They'd rather rent it for $110 a week. I still don't understand why anyone would rent rather than buy in that situation, and thus choose to give me several thousand dollars a year, which I do admit is very nice. But then I don't understand why noone else bought the house we bought - it was for sale for well over a year - given that there is easily $200k profit in the deal.

But we're not lazy per se - a LOT of elbow grease has gone into both houses. The local builder's supply yard REALLY likes us now.

 

[ianvestor]

The question I have for those of you with experience, is what was the catalyst to start doing subdivisions, developments, extensions, etc. etc.??? What was it that made you start to be creative, to be "Active" investors?

I think for me the answer is quite simple: I enjoy buying properties, and being active allows me to do that more often. Passive investing is too boring for me as the wait is much longer between purchases.

I'm just lazy in that I like to outsource any actual hard work. I'd rather be emailing or on the phone.

 

[our obsession]

HA888:

The question I have for those of you with experience, is what was the catalyst to start doing subdivisions, developments, extensions, etc. etc.??? What was it that made you start to be creative, to be "Active" investors?

-Because I can...

-Creativeness is as much part of my brain hardwiring as my compassion.

-As I learnt more, got more confident in my investing knowledge and abilities I got like the baby taking it's first steps, more confidence, more practise, more fun..and yet, the more I do learn, the more I realise how little I know. So onward and upward.

-The better, "buying well" I do at the beginning gives me opportunity and creative space.

Because, I can, I want to, I desire to, and I see profits to be made. The better the base of my assets I am figuring.

Above and beyond all that it is fun, the creation and bringing into being is a lot of fun for me, and I don't need to be hands on necessarily in all this. I see myself, perhaps as....Chief Executive Officer of Financial Wealth Creation and Fun. (Sub Via Property).

C.E.f F.W.C.and F.

 

[Propertunity]

The question I have for those of you with experience, is what was the catalyst to start doing subdivisions, developments, extensions, etc. etc.??? What was it that made you start to be creative, to be "Active" investors?

2 things:
1. Fear of poverty
2. Desire for good things for self & family and others.

 

[Reality Cheque]

I had never planned to be an active investor until I experienced first hand how successful it could be.

I bought a PPOR 2 years ago. House on 12 acres. Paid $335,000.

Subdivided into two 6 acre lots. Cost $28,000

Current value house and 6 acres $300,000 plus 6 acre block $190,000= $490,000

Current value of house and 12 acres in it's original state is $340,000.

The only reason it took 2 years is because for a start I didn't know that the block had subdivision potential and secondly I had to work out how to do it. That gain could have been realised in about 6 months had I known what I was doing from the start.

Plenty of time to rest when you're dead, get into it I reckon!


RC

 

[jaycee]

Reality Cheque

For those of us who have never gone through it... how long is a peice of string ? How much work is inolved in doing a subdivision ?

 

[Reality Cheque]

Reality Cheque

For those of us who have never gone through it... how long is a peice of string ? How much work is inolved in doing a subdivision ?

Jaycee,

In this case, not a lot at all. A couple of meetings with council, a days work with a GPS to put together a plan of what I wanted to do, a days work to put together a development application, a few phone calls to surveyors/ solicitors and a days work to fence the boundary. Anything that could be done myself I did. I only got the surveyor to do the actual surveying which obviously made it cheaper than having him involved through the whole planning process.

Bear in mind that this was my first one and all subdivisions are different. I'm still on a very steep learning curve myself and from what I'm finding out the subdivision that I've done is about as easy as it gets.

Mine is a small rural holding so no need to worry about sewerage and water, only power and phone.

I'd be interested to hear an opinion from someone with experience in residential?

RC

 

[HiEquity]

The question I have for those of you with experience, is what was the catalyst to start doing subdivisions, developments, extensions, etc. etc.??? What was it that made you start to be creative, to be "Active" investors?

Not sure I qualify for this question for this but I'll give it a shot anyway... I've done one subdivision and development as a "silent partner". Wouldn't do it again though because:

- Even as a silent partner it was too much work!
- While we made a tidy sum I would have made just as much with a B&H strategy just with a couple of RIPs that I could have bought instead, which I wouldn't have had to pay CGT on...
- It tied up significant funds for a long time (my partners weren't the fastest in the world), that could have been leveraged into a bigger exposure far earlier.
- I earn a good income that I would have trouble replicating as a property developer and I prefer what I do anyway.

So I am also a lazy investor! Just interested in owning assets so the income from them replaces my JOB income, without having to do anything. The thing I like about property is there are so many pathways to wealth. Just have to work out your own...

 

[RumpledElf]

For those of us who have never gone through it... how long is a peice of string ? How much work is inolved in doing a subdivision ?

Couple phone calls to council, council town planners stomping around the backyard with a measuring tape, council gave me the name of the surveyor they recommend, surveyor did the rest. Had surveyors in the backyard at ridiculously early hours a couple of times, swearing at our old lots all being 20cm wrong vs the master plan at lands and titles and scratching their heads how to get around it - but *they* did all the work, not me.

Hardest part was paying the bill ...

 

[daniellee]

What made me be an active investor at the start?

1 - Fear of being mediocre
2 - I want to enjoy the good life and am pretty lazy
3 - Want passive income to replace active income

Wife and I bought an IP in May 09, did a comestic reno during weekends and a few sick days from work. Achieved a small increase in rental and not much capital growth, as it was the midst of the feared GFC at the time.

Got a call in Dec 09 from the Director of the RE agency managing my property wishing me a merry X'mas, and was told that a fully renovated unit in same lot as my IP was sold a few weeks before for about $190K more than when we purchased, and estimated that my IP could have gone up by at least 10% since May 09.

Then I read Keithj's thread...

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32265

Thought about the IP and the events that unfolded since, and realised the 20/80 rule worked so well. The 20% was buying and doing a quick reno to increase rent, and 80% of the result was the massive capital growth delivered by Mr Market.

I long had thoughts of property development or massive renos to raise rental and create equity, but now I see that just by being in the market and focusing my effort on maximising market rental, the capital growth will take care of itself.

So, I begin my slide toward becoming a lazier investor...

Cheers
Daniel Lee

 

[The_Bludger]

I'm also a lazy investor. I'm over the hard yakka and not getting any younger. Just kick the feet up and let the market do it's thing.

 

[lizzie]

i'm a lazy investor - and getting lazier. started in ip's as didn't want to work for anyone else anymore, so my job became "renovator". spent 6 months give a full reno to my first "post employment" place, sold it and made $80,000 profit. that was about double what i was earning in 12 months at "the job".

8 years, and numerous reno's later, we've declared that this ip is our last major renovation (yeah right! ) and are moving into townhouse development. block bought and da already approved. just waiting to finish this reno, sell and be cashed up for the build.

nowadays i'd much rather chat on the phone/email talking to builders/architects/council/surveryors etc than pull on the painting clothes and hit the belt sander!

 

[Bargain Hunter]

My wife picks the targets, my work supplies the steady income, and we both get in there and get it done.

The catalyst; a simple conversation that resulted in a shift in thought. It's easy to become a property investor (only wanted to know how to pay off our mortgage quicker). Now looking to retire in the next couple of years.

Haven't done the subdivision or major development, only renovations but have bought properties with a twist without paying a premium example; blocks able to be subdivided but not paying as if they already have = more profit for the future.

Not a lazy investor because it is not in my nature, but need to slow down this year due to some health issues which need to get sorted (not property related).

Regards

Andrew

 

[Perth Investor]

Reality Cheque

For those of us who have never gone through it... how long is a peice of string ? How much work is inolved in doing a subdivision ?

I paid a surveyor and did next to nothing. I'm the archetypal "lazy investor" but that doesn't mean I won't do property development, it means apart from finding the right property, someone else will do most of the work and I will write out a cheque.

As the previous poster showed with a handy profit on his 12 acre property, if you have the right property there is plenty enough profit in it to pay someone to project manage the subdivision, beats talking to the council, the water people, power people, etc etc yourself.

 

[jaycee]

Thank Perth investor



The Osborne Park wanna be investor