Investing: How did you start?

Discussion in 'Share Investing Strategies, Theories & Education' started by Jacque, 26th Aug, 2005.

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  1. Rodge

    Rodge Member

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    Nice way to get into forum mode Jacque, thanks

    I was lucky enough (or unlucky?) to have a builder father who was looking for work, so he lent me money for my first block of land. I paid it back in 2 years and by 21 he had built an investment property on it for me. I read Jan Sommers book back then and treaded pretty lightly for most of the 90's. The last 5 years have been great, but not as great as they could have been if I had discovered some of the people on this forum before it all started. :(
     
  2. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    Sounds like luck had nothing to do with it, Rodge. You simply had the good sense to take the opportunity that was presented to you and subsequently acted upon it.
    Luck comes to those who exercise due diligence and make the right decisions in life :)
     
  3. gregpatch

    gregpatch Member

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    What is a PPOR, and is it contagious?

    regards,


    greg
     
  4. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    PPOR stands for Principal Place of Residence. At Sydney's high prices, I'm afraid they're becoming less contagious :)
     
  5. gregpatch

    gregpatch Member

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    Thanks Jacque- sorry to be so obtuse!

    We bought our first IP (starting to get the hang of it!) about 6 years ago after months of the Viking dragging me 'round to look at properties and the only way to calm the fevered brow was to buy one on a 'suck it and see' basis. Then it suddenly occurred to me that it was an extremely pleasant, nay sensible idea, and we have gone on from there. The Viking is the property manager, and I dabble in shares, Navra funds and all manner of intangibles.
     
  6. Mark Laszczuk

    Mark Laszczuk Well-Known Member

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    The one that I like is 'Luck - When opportunity meets preparation'
     
  7. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    The Viking sounds like she and I would get along very well :)
    Nothing I love more than looking at properties!
     
  8. Tzaki

    Tzaki Well-Known Member

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    We began investing in 2000, after we had paid off our PPOR. In the 80's we were paying 18% interest :eek: and we never lowered the repayments after we saw that we could manage them at theat level, then my wife changed jobs and we used her super payout to kill the mortgage, found we had extra income and so we bought... 2 cars!! :rolleyes: Well after we paid them off we heard about property investing from my wife's sister and thought about it a bit.. We also found out that both my wife and her sister had a degenerative eye condition... talk about changing the fear factor from fear of investing to fear of NOT investing!!

    We were then telemarketed by the "shiney suit" brigade and booked the flight up to th Gold Coast. A week before the flight I was in Noosa for work and bouhgt my first copy of API (great resource!!) and saw an add for some folks who aslo were selling property in Brisbane and had a support and education structure as well. I saw that they had a BBQ that wekend, so I fronted up and found really nice folks who said that (despite the short notice) that they could show us around when we were up there.

    We changed the flight to allow an extra day before the "shiney suit" run, so that we could have a look at these what folks had to offer. In short we put in EOI's on 2 townhouses and then had a look at the telemarketers stuff, which was aimed at what we could afford, not what we said we were interested in... basically we could either buy 1 place on the Gold Coast ($280k)with rental of about $300pw or 2 places in Brisbane rental of $200 each ($150k each)... no brainer really. So we sat through the hard sell and were quite prepared to walk out and fly our own way home if necessary (they got REALLY shirty!!).

    We stuffed around and the equity grew so that in 2003 we were able to buy a third townhouse ($160k bargain!!) through the same couple that found our first 2 (they had left the organisation and started annother by then, a wise move as the organisation had ASIC troubles later on) and bouhgt a business (annother story). Shortly after that I got my 2nd bought of RSI (or OOS as it is called now) in 10 years and the business was in trouble, so I left the public circus and saved the business before selling it.

    Our most recent purchasse is still in train, but we got telemarketed, cheap flights and acomodation... had an afternoon free so we got Roger Fusker (Navra office in Brisbane) to show us some property.. long story short, we are buying in Parkingson (that Roger showed us), as the telemarketing folks properties didn't stack up (8 major risks identified). So again we got the cheap flights and accomodation and bouhgt through annother source, goes to show you have to do your research!!

    We are also in the process of getting our financial plans done, and putting some funds into Navrainvest to ballance the portfolio and defray some holding costs.
     
  9. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    Not another Steve!!!
    Great story, Steve :)
    Just interested in why you selected Parkinson? I know the area myself, having lived in nearby Rochedale Sth for some 4 yrs.
    What attracted you to this new estate?
     
  10. Tzaki

    Tzaki Well-Known Member

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    Basically the fundamentals, it satisfied rental reality with achievable rents verified through research, it was within the upper limit of our budget, capital growth is still resonable, good location re facilities, transport etc.

    The particular property had extra features in comparison to others in the development. Land size was over 600m2. It was a little further out than we wanted (our other properties are within 12km), but located near major shopping areas and established infrustructure. Near other quality suburbs (for cap growth). Cap growth potential is still good for a while yet. Infill development in an established suburb, near wildlife corridor (green area), giving the advantage of being able to review past performance of the suburb while recieving the benifit of a new property (added attractivness of new over used, depreciation for tax, in a well planned and executed development).

    It basically fit our criteria, especially with the other properties we saw setting off so many warning bells, don't get me wrong, Ipswich and surrounds is a good area to invest in, IF the figures stack up and the soil doesn't subside... do the research and get a soil test if investing in that area!!

    This is our first venture into house and land, with our other Brisbane properties being townhouses in secure estates. We liked the layout of the development and the streescape was good with no "cookie cutter" houses all in a row. While the same developer built all the development it does not look that way there is sufficient variation in both design and colour schemes to make it difficult to see that the same company built them. The developer put in a park and a bus-stop in the development which made it more attractive to potential tenants (and perhaps to us in the future if we moved up there).

    Generally it had a good "feel" to the development, and there was a lot of "let the property sell itself" rather than heavy salesmanship going on. The fact that there is 90%+ owner occupiers says to me that locals are seeing the value in the development (they can't ALL be blow-ins!!), even in a slower market, and while they may be buying on emotional values, those same values still come into play in the captial apprecitaion (got a call from Rodger today saying that the other lowsets in the complex just went up $5k.. a good sign, but we need to see the first resales before a real indicator is set).

    Please see my other post "Bah telemarketers" for more detail.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 21st Sep, 2005
  11. CLK

    CLK New Member

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    I bought my first property because my mum will not come to visit me from overseas unless I own my own place as her previous experience of rental place was "unsatisfactory" So, without anyone's help, I bought my 1st property ie a unit. Then come along my husband to be and we decided to buy a house because he did not like units. So, I rented my unit. It just happens... As you can see, sometimes, I just need a little "push" and change of circumstances.
     
  12. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    Fate sometimes has a way of pushing us into action, doesn't it?
    Thanks for sharing your story Clk :)
     
  13. Simon

    Simon Well-Known Member

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    I was a young Army Officer in 88 waiting for a plane - I picked up a copy of Noel Whittakers book at the airport and read it all on the flight.

    There was nothing like that available back then in the public domain - if you wanted to learn property investing you had to find some older person doing it to show you.

    I became quite enthusiatic and bought a run down home in Toowoomba where we lived, tidied it up, moved to Bris and rented it for 18 months at $120pw. Sold it for $86K - a 65% profit! Thought I was an expert property investor!

    Looking back I wish I had of kept it - would be worth $200K+ today with a loan of about $20K owing........ That is probably the lesson I would impart to someone starting out.

    Cheers,
     
  14. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    Isn't it interesting how so many of us regret selling at some stage, as we were of the mind that the market had peaked or couldn't get any higher?
    I guess it's important to keep that in mind, even in today's market of seemingly unaffordable property, that long term keeping is a sound strategy indeed :)
     
  15. kevinb

    kevinb Active Member

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    I read all Jan Sommers books, waited 2 years then bought DHA house in 1998 (Sydney) with 9+3 yr lease, another DHA town house in 2000 (Sydney) with a 3+3 yr lease then bought a house over the internet (Brisbane) 2002 - haven't seen inside any of them. Heard of Steve Navra via the Jan Sommers forum, waited,went to his seminar and just invested in the Navra fund - should have made the plunge earlier - in all cases.
     
  16. MarkP

    MarkP New Member

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    I bought a PPOR in Newcastle in 2001 never intending it to become a IP. Circumstances with work changed and i moved to Syd and therefore rented the place out. Although i have always had an interest in money and had previously owned small parcells of shares i would have to say that it was the reading of Anita Bell's book "how to pay of your mortgage in 5 years" that initially sparked my thirst for investment knowledge.

    Soon after, i started reading Jan Somer Books, the inspiring postings on the Somersoft Forum and attended Navra seminar i really started to appreciate how the basics of wealth creation and how acheivable financial independence could be. This coupled with an increasing Capital Growth in the newly converted IP lead me/us to purchase another IP in Syd. Since then growth from this has been reinvested into 'the fund'.....and so the journey continues. (that's the best part) :)

    MarkP.
     
  17. HHH__

    HHH__ Active Member

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    Hello everyone

    Purchased my first place (townhouse on the Gold Coast) about 5 1/2 years ago. Had no idea why I was buying it. A relative owned it and wanted to sell. For some reason I bought it. It has since tripled in value :D

    Partner moved in with me (again, no idea why :) ) we decided to move into a house. Bought our next PPOR about 3 years ago, keeping the town house as an IP. No idea why.

    Wandering around aimlessly in Myer one day and seen a book by some fellow called Steve McKnight. Bought the book. No idea why. A light turned on in a room in my head. That book led me to his website, which then led me to the Somersoft forum and the rest is history.

    I know know why I bought our two properties - subconsious investing :p

    Have since refinanced both properties to purchase a business.
    I now love property investing and we are looking at building up our own portfolio over the coming years.

    thanks for listening.
     
  18. Jacque

    Jacque Jacque Parker Premium Member

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    You sound like a very calm person HHH :)
    Hope things continue along well for you- what business did you buy and how is it going?
     
  19. Meisterin

    Meisterin Well-Known Member

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    Sydney
    Wow I was doing a search on managed funds, and come across this wonderful post about how everyone got started investing.

    There is something that "triggers" them into investing, like circumstance changes, and "bumping" into a book etc...

    Mine happened to be an encounter with a "person" in a Buddhist Zen temple in Japan, who happened to know Robert Kiyosaki and his rich dad in Hawaii, and who I eventually had a "crush" on for following few months. He was off to meeting "rich dad" the next month. I became excited to know that I met a person who knew the people that appeared in books that I read. It seemed unreal.

    This encounter made me completly turn my values and views on life for some reason. Prior to the encounter, I did not want to work at all (I worked minimally just to scrape by), I did not want to become part of society where all my acts (consumerism) eventually amounted to violence and exploitation of natural resources and labour in third world and wanted to find a place where I could live without my paper credentials, such as IDs, CV, passport, academic transcripts. My ultimate dream was to destroy them once I have found the place!!!

    But what a turnaround!!!
     
  20. Handyandy

    Handyandy Well-Known Member

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    Hi hiflo

    So did he meet 'rich dad'? According to variuos reports he doesn't exist so I am curious to know.

    Don't get me wrong I have read rd/pd and really whether they exist or not really doesn't subtract from the message ;)

    Cheers