David and Lloyd: First-time Investors
David and Lloyd considered investing in property for a while on the recommendation of their accountant. They own three businesses; 2 hair salons and an interior decorating firm, so initially they considered investing in commercial real estate for this purpose. They quickly discovered the steep price tags and undesirable locations associated and as David said “It’s really hard to kick off with commercial the first time, and with what we were finding we wouldn’t have wanted to live anywhere near these properties. Nothing was under $1.5 million which just couldn’t happen at the moment.”
David and Lloyd still wanted to invest, and the decision to pivot to residential came during a conversation with friends who had recently bought a substantial number of units. ‘Over time, we got lots of advice. I got a little bee in my bonnet and called our Mortgage Broker, Chris, from Fit Finance, and told him I wanted to buy a unit. After giving him the spiel Chris suggested we consider a house instead and referred us to talk to Boyd at Property Navigation to explain the ins and out of why.’
When it come to knowing about buyer’s agents, David said ‘I always knew there were people out there that scalped around and lined things up for people, but I never thought we would be able to afford a buyer’s agent at our ages.’
This chain of recommendation was important to David and Lloyd ‘Our accountant recommended our mortgage broker, then Chris our broker recommended Boyd from Property Navigation. So this little trusted circle that we have always felt, like, this person’s always done us good, why would they give us a bad steer? Why would they ill-advised? It would shoot themselves in the foot.’
‘In the first conversation Boyd explained how residential investment properties could better align with our goals and get us to where we want to be in terms of building the wealth and equity for us to purchase our Commercial property later on.’ Boyd’s insights reshaped David and Lloyds strategy, steering them towards a more feasible entry into the property investment market that was within their budget.
It wasn’t always rainbows and butterflies though. As David pointed out (all in his own words):
‘When we first found out the fee side of things we thought F#%K, that’s a decent chunk of money. But then we started looking on realestate.com.au and got the ball rolling ourselves….We got extremely overwhelmed and realised we really don’t know…apart from googling ‘high growth suburbs in Brisbane’ and getting a sponsored article that could be feeding us any bullsh%t, we soon realised there’s more to buying in the right areas rather than just buying the right property. Another contributing factor is that we run our own 3 businesses and realised how the f#%k can we go to open homes every Saturday and compete with the amount of people trying to buy a property at the moment. We spoke to a number of people and soon learnt that with the money a buyer’s agent could save us on the price of the property, we will make our fee back anyway. It was basically one benefit after another which is why we decided to engage a buyer’s agent.’
‘The proof was in the pudding for us with the value of the fee, because our property was bought before it hit the market. They were originally wanting to list it for offers over $609,000+, then we secured it for $600k, then $592k after Boyd pressed down on negotiations. So, we made some, and saved some.’
What they valued most through the process was the direct access and accountability that was provided. ‘I’d always call Boyd directly, and no one else. You don’t have to call someone and go through a receptionist. I could get a hold of Boyd whenever we needed it, and knew I’d have an answer to a text message within a couple hours. It’s such a personal service.’
David and Lloyd found that having a buyer’s agent was not just about navigating the real estate market. ‘It really comes down to peace of mind and support. Those are the two main things. Property Navigation facilitates the whole fu#%ing process’ David concluded, satisfied with their journey and excited about their new investment.
Interestingly, upon settlement of David and Lloyds property a similar and very comparable 4 bed 2 bath property was sold in the same suburb for $108k more than what their property was secured for. Being owners of an interior design firm, David and Lloyd will complete renovations and then have a revaluation done on their new property.
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"Property Navigation facilitates the whole fu#%ing process"
- David
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