In just ten years, a former garbage train driver has amassed a property investment portfolio worth $12 million, and he began doing so when he was making only $254 per week.
Daniel Walsh, from Western Sydney, bought his first home in 2011 when he was 19 years old, having dropped out of high school in year 10.
He was working as an apprentice electrician at the time, earning $39,000 a year, and now he and his wife Sophie own 13 residences.
The properties’ rent covers the costs of the mortgages and generates an additional $100,000 in profit each year.
Mr. Walsh began his portfolio with a $342,000 four-bedroom house in Thirlmere, 90 kilometers southwest of Sydney, where he lived with his parents and earned $254 a week. He said that he could have made more money if he had ‘worked at McDonald’s.’
Borrowing rates were 7.79 percent at the time, and housing prices had plummeted. Following a monthly meeting on Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) hiked the cash rate from 0.35 percent to 0.85 percent. It was the biggest rate hike since February 2000, and the second since March quarter inflation hit 5.1 percent.
While working as a freight train driver at the time, Mr. Walsh was able to purchase his further homes. Making sacrifices when he was younger, he said, was the key to developing a successful portfolio.
“I knew I was going to be a tradie and I’d never be able to make this kind of money, so anything I did with it had to be good,” he explained. “I realized that if I started investing in real estate early on, I could compound my money.” A year later, he paid $303,000 for another house in the same semi-rural village near Picton.
“I didn’t want to be a worker for the rest of my life as a 16-year-old apprentice,” he said in a book about real estate investing. “I saved hard for three years, working overtime and weekends: short-term pain for long-term gain,” he explained.
Mr. Walsh’s property portfolio increased to nine residences and a $4 million block of land in seven years, with Mr. Walsh’s equity in the latter being worth $2 million. He owes a total of $2 million.
“I now make money while I sleep, with my net worth increasing by $150,000 to $200,000 every year before I even get out of bed,” he explained. As the creator and director of Your Property Your Wealth, a buyers’ agent, Mr. Walsh offers property investment advice.
Mr. Walsh urges people looking to develop a real estate empire to avoid vehicle loans in addition to saving for a 10% down payment. “I realized that borrowing money to buy goods like new cars would depreciate their worth,” he explained. “However, the property has increased in value over time – more than most individuals save throughout their lifetimes.”
Amid a fluctuating property market, he has been able to increase his portfolio and profit.
According to CoreLogic data, house prices in Sydney and Melbourne have dropped 17.4 percent and 14.8 percent, respectively, since 2017.
According to estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Sydney values increased by 68 percent and Melbourne prices increased by 54 percent in the previous five years.
While the real estate market changes, Mr. Walsh’s method is founded on the fact that house prices double every seven to ten years on average. Mr. Walsh and his wife Sophie, rather than being owner-occupiers with mortgages, rent in Sydney while paying off a network of investment properties, a strategy is known as “reinvesting”. Investors who rent out homes, unlike owners, can claim council rates and strata levies as tax deductions if the property is an apartment or a townhouse.
These costs, along with upkeep and insurance, can total $10,000, which a landlord investor can deduct as a tax deduction.
Mr. Walsh previously told Daily Mail Australia, “When you own your principal place of residence, none of this is tax-deductible,” but “If I rent where I live and invest, then I have turned all of my debt into tax-deductible debt.” “Also, if I want to move, I can do so without having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in entry and exit fees over time.”
Mr. Walsh’s main piece of advice is to continue with interest-only loans, borrow from a variety of banks, and diversify your portfolio geographically.n”On an interest-only loan, your weekly payments will be smaller, leaving you with a lot more money in your pocket,” he said.
“When you have personal debt, such as your own house, vehicle loan, or other borrowings, this lending option is best.”
Mr. Walsh also advocated for putting capital expansion ahead of high rental returns, even if it meant using tax advantages to pay down the interest on losses.
“Most new investors make the mistake of seeking larger rental yields over capital development,” he said.
“They are looking for a quick return on investment and do not conduct adequate research to discover the growth drivers in that industry.”
“Some investors will tell you that the most essential factor to consider when buying a property is the rental return, but I’ve learned otherwise.”
Negative gearing should not be used as a long-term strategy, according to Mr. Walsh. “Negative gearing should never be utilized as a strategy for investing; it’s crucial to strike a balance between cash flow and capital growth,” he said.
“The ultimate goal is to have a property that costs me nothing to hold after taxes and grows in value or even doubles in value over 10 years.”
Mr. Walsh predicted that when interest rates rise, fewer investors will buy, resulting in a “greater rental shortfall.”
“Rents will rise swiftly as demand for rentals rises, but less inventory enters the market, pushing rental yields higher,’ he predicted.
“Keep emergency savings on hand and invest wisely.” Property fundamentals haven’t altered, but the economy has.
“Some of the highly overvalued houses in cities like Sydney may soften by 10 to 15%, while other markets will be more protected from price decreases due to affordability relative to continuing low interest rates,” says the report.
He recommended investing in less expensive markets like Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.