About us
We purchased our first house at the age of 20. We were engaged at the time and rented the house for approximately 6 months before Ken shifted in to do some work on the kitchen and bathroom before we shifted in together 3 days after the wedding on the 3 March 1976. The 2 bedroom weatherboard house was purchased for $16,500. We sold it 4 years later for $24,000. We had already purchased a 7 acre block of land at Eldorado (not subject to the sale of our own house). We were able to negotiate interest only payments to the vendor for two years while waiting for our house to sell. We now owned an $11,500 block of land outright with $500 in the bank, 2 children and no place to live. We found a house to rent while we built a 2 bedroom brick veneer house with large lounge and family area ready for the extra 2 bedrooms and ensuite 5 years later, prompted by the arrival of our third daughter. We shifted in at Easter 1980 and the interest rates went up 3 times between the start of building and the day we moved in.
We built our first investment property in 1988, creating a charming mud brick cottage that we used to sell devonshire teas, knick knacks and information regarding the local historic gold dredge. This wasn't all that successful, so after 18 months we extended the building with a second bedroom, bathroom including toilet and a separate laundry. To be able to do this we needed to subdivide our land. We initially had a line drawn across part of our block subdividing an acre (4000 square metres) which we sold for $20,000. This plus a new loan enabled us to pay for the rest of the subdivision of 5 allotments, including our own house block and the extension to "The Cottage". We were now landlords.
Our next purchase took till 1996 when we purchased a house in Bendigo. Our eldest daughter and other university students lived here for the next 4 years. In 1988 we purchased a 3 bedroom house in Wangaratta and rented it out. In 2006 we have totally renovated this house and rented it out again. In 1999 we shifted a 2 bedroom house from Melbourne to 1 of the blocks in Eldorado. We renovated the bathroom and refurbished the kitchen, repainted throughout, connected power, replumbed, installed a septic tank and a rain water tank, and rented it out. In 2002 we purchased a 4 bedroom house in Wangaratta. In 2003 we purchased a 2 bedroom house in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, a vacant house block in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, and a 2 bedroom apartment in Glenroy, Melbourne. We also sold our Bendigo property to partly finance these purchases. In 2005 we purchased a 3 bedroom house in Bendigo close to the university, refurbished the house and set it up for student accommodation, including furnishings and rented it out. In 2006 we purchased another house in Bendigo which has 6 bedrooms and was already shared accommodation for university students. In 2008 we sold our house and shifted closer to the grandchildren. The financial crises forced us to sell our house and land in Tasmania. We currently own (us and the bank) 5 rental properties and our own house.
Why is property a good investment?
Discover some answers and learn more about
Residential property
Adding value
Subdivisions
Shifting houses
Renovating
Negative gearing
Positive gearing
Eintsein’s rule of 72
Steve Mcknight’s 11 second solution
Depreciation
Section 1515
Passive income (How to buy time)
Growth and/or cashflow
Jan Somer’s Property Investment Analysis (PIA)
Where do I get the money to start?
Ken Greene