Martinis and Mansions (eBook)

Buying and Selling Real Estate Like a Mogul

Wade Burns (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2012 | 1. Auflage
348 Seiten
Wade Burns (Verlag)
978-0-9874236-0-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Wade Burns introduces a practical and inspirational handbook on buying the home of your dreams and avoiding the common mistakes that see other investors fail.

---

Ever wish you had an experienced mentor to guide you through the purchase of your first home or property investment? One who has your best interests at heart and who knows how to negotiate a deal that will put you on the path to financial freedom?This book is the secret weapon you've been looking for. Based on successful Sydney based investor and Conveyancer, Wade Burns' own journey from a 20-year-old first home owner to a 'multimillion' dollar investor, this is the must-have guide to buying and selling property in Australia today. Designed as an easy reference guide, with five takeaway tips at the end of each chapter, this is a book you will turn to time and time again throughout your life as a home owner and investor.

Textauszug

Chapter One

The 20-Year-Old Property Owner

 

The 20-Year-Old Property Owner

I believe property is freedom. I started by investing $100 a week and today, at the age of thirty-six, I can afford to retire tomorrow. Property has been the underpinning of my wealth. My motivation for writing this book is that if I can achieve financial freedom, anyone can. I didn’t get any lucky breaks. I didn’t have an inheritance. There were no first home owner grants when I started out. I was earning the minimum wage and property prices were going through the roof. I just kept on buying.

I hope that, by sharing my journey, you too will become free through property. This book is designed to help you on the right path and avoid the mistakes new investors often make. At the end of each chapter I’ve included five takeaway points to guide you. If you haven’t bought a property by the time you finish this book, I suggest you read each one again!

I’ve had a lifelong love affair with property and that’s partly because I grew up without a permanent home. My parents moved from place to place, buying and selling so many times that, by the time I was eighteen, they’d lived in double digit houses. Mum and Dad didn’t have a good relationship with money. They went bankrupt when I was seventeen and I told myself that I would never be in that circumstance.

The financial responsibility of raising me fell largely on Dad’s parents, Nan and Pop. I was very fortunate to have grandparents who were loving, down-to-earth, simple people. Their values allowed me to break the mould of my heritage. From a kid with no fixed abode, I became a home owner at twenty years old and went on to become a serial property developer, award-winning property law professional, educator and author.

Because I’ve been successful, people often ask me: “When is a good time to buy?” I always give them the same answer: “Either twenty years ago or today!” In other words, whether you are a first home, second home, or multiple home buyer it doesn’t matter when you buy – as long as you buy. There will always be a great demand for property because everyone needs somewhere to live. Why would you not invest in something that everyone wants?

My Love Affair With Property

I had a thing for property from an early age. When I was eight years old and other kids were reading Smash Hits, I was studying Kit Home magazine. I would spend hours fantasising about my dream home. My ultimate goal was to buy a house on Burns Road, after my surname. Today my ambitions haven’t changed too much – except now I want the street to be called “Wade’s Way”!

My parents lived quite a distance from the school my sister and I attended when we were growing up. As Nan and Pop lived closer, we often stayed at their house one or two nights a week. I was very attached to Nan and Pop because they offered a great sense of permanency. They had only ever lived in one house and I regarded it as my home. We’d go there most Sunday lunches, and we spent some of our school holidays with them. Gradually I ended up living there during the week, although Mum and Dad were still in our lives.

We kids grew up with Nan and Pop’s frugal values. The only time I can recall going to a restaurant with them was on my twelfth birthday. I’ve still got the photo which was taken to mark the occasion. Despite seeing it many times, I didn’t notice until recently that Pop had his arm resting on my back. That’s just how it was with us. They were always there.

When I was about thirteen, Nan and Pop sold their house and came to live with my parents. I was so happy about that, as they brought routine and stability to our lives. Mum worked at Dad’s business and didn’t have time to make us a packed lunch, so we’d buy something from the school canteen instead. When Nan moved in she made us cheese and vegemite sandwiches for lunch every single day and I never tired of them. Pop drove my sister and I to school and would always be there waiting to take us home each day. He’d often park his car under the railway bridge because he knew I liked to hear the sound of trains passing overhead!

From an early age I felt the need to earn my own money. When I was fourteen-and-nine-months-year-old I asked Nan to act as my guardian and lie on an application form to say that I was fifteen so I could get a job at McDonald’s. I got the job and started on $3 an hour. I’d earn $15 in a shift and if Pop couldn’t pick me up after work, I’d have to get a cab home. The fare cost $6 – but that didn’t bother me too much. In my mind I was still $9 ahead! I’m so grateful for the time I spent working at McDonald’s. As a crew member I learned all about systems, organisation and how a billion dollar business can be run on the back of fifteen-year-olds.

One day I came home from school to find Nan sitting alone in our kitchen. She looked serious and said she had some bad news to give me. My parents had left. They’d packed up and moved out while I was at school. My first response was to ask Nan if she would make me a sandwich. I wasn’t shocked because this wasn’t really anything new. Mum and Dad had moved so many times it was ridiculous. They were always unsettled. They’d just buy (or rent) and sell and I don’t think they ever made any money out of it. Some of the houses they’d bought or rented I never lived in, because I was staying at Nan and Pop’s house at the time.

By the time I was seventeen I’d managed to save $5000 from my part-time jobs. I wanted to buy a computer and I knew a school friend who was selling a crappy secondhand Apple for $2000. That was back in 1992, when computers were super expensive. I was still in school and any free time I had was spent working, so I asked Mum if she could go to my bank and take the $2000 out so I could buy the computer. She did, and she kept the money. Months later, after a lot of pleading on my part, she eventually gave me the money back. I decided to use the $3000 I had left to buy a car. Dad was a used car dealer and he recommended I buy a second-hand Toyota Corolla he had for sale on his lot for $2995, which had just been spray painted. I gave him $3000 and he kept the change. Then he sold my car to the next person who came on the lot, leaving me with nothing. My parents constantly taught me valuable lessons; one of those was to be aware of people when it comes to money.

Not long after these incidents, Mum and Dad went bankrupt. Dad closed down his business and they moved out, leaving my grandparents with the burden of their house. Dad told Nan, “You can have it; just pay the mortgage.” The property was a federation style 5-bedroom house in Fairfield. Nan and Pop were pensioners and couldn’t possibly afford the mortgage payments so they put the house on the market. After it sold there was only minimal equity left, which my grandparents used towards an $82,000 two-bedroom house in Mount Druitt in Sydney’s west. I was often chased from the train station by kids who wanted my shoes when I went to visit Nan and Pop. They weren’t even an expensive pair – I’d bought them at Kmart! But they lived in a good street with great community spirit and caring neighbours.

I had a few part time jobs after I left McDonald’s. I sold mobile phones for Telstra not long after the technology was first invented. There were only two usage plans back then: big user or little user! Working in sales provided me with great opportunities to learn about people and the art of selling. I learned that the best sales people shut up and listen. I also learned how to build a rapport with people.

After I finished high school I moved in with Mum’s parents, Shirley and Peter, in North Curl Curl, near Manly. They lived close to my new workplace, which was a home improvement store called Wynstan. It was an absolute gift living with them. I had minimal expenses and out of my weekly wage of $454.90 I managed to save $350 a week. I’d go to the bank and update my passbook, motivated by watching my savings grow. I had a car but I would walk half an hour each way to work to save money. I worked six days a week and on Sundays I would drive for an hour and a half to Nan and Pop’s in Mount Druitt for lunch. That was my social life. My other entertainment came from visiting the jewellery store across the road from work. I would help the owner, Kevin, open and close the shop, and to me, it was like going to Disneyland twice a day. I loved learning about the history of the different pieces the rich old ladies brought in. I learned how to make basic repairs and brought in my family’s jewellery for cleaning. I developed a passion for the art of jewellery design, which I still have to this day. I even have my own ultrasonic cleaner at home!

While working at Wynstan I met my wife Bec. She was my boss. Her father owned the business and she was working there part time while studying at university. Bec knew how to save. She lived at home and by the time we met, at nineteen, she had already saved $10,000. Bec was even cheaper than me at that time. She could live as simply as a nomad. Even today she lives off the smell of an oily rag. We still have the same bedroom suite her father gave us as a wedding present fifteen years ago. We’ve never bought anything we didn’t know how to pay back. It’s important to find someone who shares your values and savings habits. Choosing someone who is not compatible, moneywise, is one of the worst financial decisions...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.12.2012
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Spezielle Betriebswirtschaftslehre ► Immobilienwirtschaft
• ISBN-10: 0-9874236-0-6 / 0987423606
• ISBN-13: 978-0-9874236-0-3 / 9780987423603