what's the greatest capital gain you've made?

[DrK]

A post for investors who have sold out their positions. From buying to selling, what's the greatest capital gain anyone's realized on property?

I once managed to turn a $270k property deal into $1.9m but it took almost 14 years and many dramas with bad tenants etc before I sold out in frustration. Not a massive gain, after inflation and other costs.

I don't think what I did would be easy to duplicate these days. Of course, there will always be bargains to be found in any market....perhaps its possible to make large gains on acerage on the outskirts of growing cities - that's my preferred strategy these days. Either way, I think land component is the key: apartments and units seldom skyrocket and when they do, they invariably take a tumble afterwards, something I've learnt the hard way.

Tell us about your experiences: What sort of dollars were involved? And over how long? Were the properties on larger blocks? Did you regret selling afterwards? Do you think "time in the market" counts for more than "market timing"? Did you feel sad giving a large chunk of your gain to the tax office?

 

[dash11]

My best is probabley one which settled a few months back. It is a block of 9 townhouses in Sydney for 1.1mil (122.2k each) rented out for an average of $180 per T/H per week. I immediatley raised the rent to $250 and $275 per week. I spent 2k per T/H which included surveys, strata, council etc, hard wired smoke alarms and have just had them valued at 220k each.

 

[Nathan]

Yeh nice deal dash

 

[newhigh]

cold hard cash

Great deal. Well done! Wish I could do the same. But I think the fellow who started the post wants to know about realized gain ie. what they sold for rather than what they were valued at. In these troubled times, valuations can change - nothing worse than a margin call from the bank. It happens a lot. But you seem like a smart cookie and will probably hang on to these gems rather than sell ...and good on you!

 

[Dazz]

We made $ 11.23 when we sold our 50 Telstra shares. Had to pay CGT on it of course, bringing the profit down to $ 7.89. Managed to put a deposit down on two latte coffees and piece of carrot cake to celebrate. It only took 9 years. We were well pleased.

 

[kissfan]

Lol at Dazz.

Regards
Marty

 

[myoung]

Bought a small 3 bed weatherboard in Vermont, VIC late 98 for $117K on 860m2. Including stamp duty and minor cosmetic repairs owed me $130K and a bit of sweat. Rented for 2.5 yrs at $200 per week to amazing tenants(ie Garden was in better nick when they left). Settled sale in early 2001 for $230K.

Sort of wish i hadnt sold now though given it's development potential and current value (I'm guessing would be $400K to $500K now)but was a handy chunk of change going into my new PPOR that was being built at the time and meant a smaller mortgage which makes anyone sleep better at night.

 

[angela]

we bought our first investment property in 2003 for $65,000, and sold it exactly 12 months later for $125,000. Kick myself everday for selling it, as it was rented for $145.00 the week we settled and actually made us a couple of dollars a month

 

[sparky23]

We bought a 1/4 acre block of land at Rye on the Mornington Peninsula for $15,000 in 1987 (I think though it might have been 1988) we built a PPOR for $40,000 then a year later sold for $101,500 due to job relocation. That of course was about the time the penny SHOULD have dropped that real estate was a good way to go!

 

[charttv]

We made $ 11.23 when we sold our 50 Telstra shares. Had to pay CGT on it of course, bringing the profit down to $ 7.89. Managed to put a deposit down on two latte coffees and piece of carrot cake to celebrate. It only took 9 years. We were well pleased.

Did you include the dividends?

 

[Aaron Sice]

best capital gain $$$ wise or percentage of purchase wise?

best CG i've ever made was 150% of the purchase price.

 

[mr-ed]

Bought a mob of sheep for $32 per head with a lamb at foot

5 months sold the lambs for $45, per head

Shoar the sheep, recived $25 per head for the wool

They had lambs again the next year

simply repeated the process the following year

Paid my mortgage this way

 

[myoung]

Good point Blue Card. I've made bigger gains than the one i described earlier and better percentage returns too, but given the timeframe on that one i consider it my greatest

 

[jaycee]

Did you include the dividends?

dividends are not capital gain are they, they are income, like rent. you dont include the rental amount earned from a house when determining CG, why would one do so with shares ?

 

[Perth Investor]

Bought a block of land in '03 for $115K. Plan was to build PPOR on it eventually.

Decided we wanted to build somewhere else so made those arrangements separately.

Am now splitting the block in two and should sell for about $450K total after strata costs (i.e. $240K each, minus $30K to split them...)

I guess that's 291%. But the money isn't in the bank yet, so I will keep y'all posted when they go.

 

[fokas]

We made $ 11.23 when we sold our 50 Telstra shares. Had to pay CGT on it of course, bringing the profit down to $ 7.89. Managed to put a deposit down on two latte coffees and piece of carrot cake to celebrate. It only took 9 years. We were well pleased.

Hahahaha...

 

[Buzz]

Bought in 2001 for $425k did a $50k reno and refinanced for $600k 6 mths later. I only started with $45k ( of which the Govt took 25k) so ended up with more than I started with. That was nice.

Jane

 

[BayView]

Bought our B&B property in 1998 for $450k. Put in $100k of our own money from the previous PPoR.

Borrowed way more than we should have; a bit of vendor finance and a solicitor loan to get us over the line. think "pussie's bow".

Did a reno; about $20k from memory, did most of the hard yards ourselves.

Too much debt, too much work and not enough income.

Sold two very relieved years later for $750k.

After cap gains tax, costs and interest, we cleared around $200k.

Total fluke though; no plan behind it at all.

 

[soyabean]

Bought a house in 2001 for 150K, cost 35 K renov. Had a 1M contract 6 months ago but purchaser canceled contract at the last minute. Someone else wanted to buy but we decided not to sell (we had no intention to sell in the first place, agent contacted us with potential buyers). We are glad they have canceled the contract as we have since turned it into student accommodation with very nice income (and thanks to Tracey for her help).

 

[csc]

this is a bit off the track but still relevant:

i once purchased a soft serve machine off a guy for 2 cartons of beer...ii loaded it onto the back of my ute took it home, cleaned it then resold it the next day for three grand to someone i knew who was chasing one...by far a best return on my initial investment than any real estate in % terms............havnt found another deal that comes close since...and that was in 1984......such is life..

also purchased 100000 shares in PIL on the asx quite a few years ago @ 25 cents each, had them for ages...sold out @ $6.00, only to see it run way past that before sliding back to under 20 cents....ive since given half of the profit back from not watching the market closely but still have half sitting on the sidelines..

when an opportunity comes along grab it with both hands no matter if its a top property buy or not!

theres always money to be made in both good and bad times..