And it feels awesome!! 
I was going to title this thread, a bit tongue in cheek like Kieth did, "How I went from a modest deposit and no assets to a paid off PPOR worth almost $1M and an asset portfolio worth more than $2M in only 5 years" but I thought that might be a bit too much...
But in essence, that's what this awesome community here has helped enable me achieve. That, and a singular focus on investing and a drive to succeed and accept no setbacks.
So, here I am, having started investing in 2002 at the tail end of Sydney's bumper property boom. Most would have said, don't buy in Sydney now its all over-priced. Well I did buy, I bought a vacant block of land in North Narrabeen and built my dream home. I then used the equity that this created to buy another IP and also to leverage into the ASX. Since then the ASX returns have helped not only service the interest on my investment IP but to assist in paying down the balance of the mortgage on my PPOR. Well this month's distribution has come in and it was a ripper and it was that big distribution that has just cleared the mortgage on my PPOR!
I guess the big thing that did it for me was to take on a problem that others couldn't solve and turn it into a nice little profit. The PPOR in Nth Narrabeen started out as the block that all builders looked at and got scared by into a modern house worth around $900K. Others were scared by the slope and limited access of the site and as a result I paid only $270K for the 1600m2 site and then another $350K to build the house. So for $620K I got a PPOR that was then valued at $750K. Today its closer to $900K and is now debt free. That, and then being willing to diversify my portfolio into equities for their cash flow potential when most were arguing against that asset category and specifically against the fund I selected.
Just thought I'd share this significant personal milestone with all my great friends here so you can share in my joy. I seriously didn't think it was possible to achieve so much so quickly. And against the backdrop of a flat/declining Sydney market and with an arguably over-bought ASX I think this is a significant result.
So, don't use the "wrong time to buy property" argument to hold you back from achieving great things. We bought at the wrong time and rode a flat Sydney market to a paid off $900K PPOR in Sydney. You can buck the trend if you work hard at it. Some people have the benefit of the property market doing all the hard work for them, and my hat off to those folks, but for others like me its been blood sweat and tears but you can still achieve great results. I'm continuing with that approach now by "building" equity into my Mona Vale IP by developing it. I can't assume the Sydney market will do the hard work for me, but maybe one day that property market will do me a favour too...
Thanks to everyone here for all your support and advice along the way. I'm going to stick around here for years to come (sorry ) if only so I can give back half of what you lot have given me.
Luvs yas all!
Michael.
I was going to title this thread, a bit tongue in cheek like Kieth did, "How I went from a modest deposit and no assets to a paid off PPOR worth almost $1M and an asset portfolio worth more than $2M in only 5 years" but I thought that might be a bit too much...
But in essence, that's what this awesome community here has helped enable me achieve. That, and a singular focus on investing and a drive to succeed and accept no setbacks.
So, here I am, having started investing in 2002 at the tail end of Sydney's bumper property boom. Most would have said, don't buy in Sydney now its all over-priced. Well I did buy, I bought a vacant block of land in North Narrabeen and built my dream home. I then used the equity that this created to buy another IP and also to leverage into the ASX. Since then the ASX returns have helped not only service the interest on my investment IP but to assist in paying down the balance of the mortgage on my PPOR. Well this month's distribution has come in and it was a ripper and it was that big distribution that has just cleared the mortgage on my PPOR!
I guess the big thing that did it for me was to take on a problem that others couldn't solve and turn it into a nice little profit. The PPOR in Nth Narrabeen started out as the block that all builders looked at and got scared by into a modern house worth around $900K. Others were scared by the slope and limited access of the site and as a result I paid only $270K for the 1600m2 site and then another $350K to build the house. So for $620K I got a PPOR that was then valued at $750K. Today its closer to $900K and is now debt free. That, and then being willing to diversify my portfolio into equities for their cash flow potential when most were arguing against that asset category and specifically against the fund I selected.
Just thought I'd share this significant personal milestone with all my great friends here so you can share in my joy. I seriously didn't think it was possible to achieve so much so quickly. And against the backdrop of a flat/declining Sydney market and with an arguably over-bought ASX I think this is a significant result.
So, don't use the "wrong time to buy property" argument to hold you back from achieving great things. We bought at the wrong time and rode a flat Sydney market to a paid off $900K PPOR in Sydney. You can buck the trend if you work hard at it. Some people have the benefit of the property market doing all the hard work for them, and my hat off to those folks, but for others like me its been blood sweat and tears but you can still achieve great results. I'm continuing with that approach now by "building" equity into my Mona Vale IP by developing it. I can't assume the Sydney market will do the hard work for me, but maybe one day that property market will do me a favour too...
Thanks to everyone here for all your support and advice along the way. I'm going to stick around here for years to come (sorry
) if only so I can give back half of what you lot have given me.Luvs yas all!
Michael.
