We changed our strategy and found freedom

“We bought our first property together for $96,500, renovated it for $20,000 and then sold it for $150,000,” Adam says.

He explains that in hindsight, he and Shae were victims of their own success.

While the couple undertook further renovations on other properties that resulted in “a reasonable capital gain”, their renovation strategy began to get harder to follow. They both had full-time jobs, yet carried out most of the renovation work themselves.

“After one property took nine months to renovate, we realised that we were getting bogged down,” Shae says.

“Moreover, there are only so many properties that could be successfully renovated in this part of Victoria.”

The couple began to study other Australian markets.

“We educated ourselves on case studies, trends and forecasts, and realised that the numbers stacked up in other parts of the country,” Adam says.

The pair enlisted a broker to help work out a finance plan.

“Getting involved with the broker was a big step forward,” Shae says. “We are both good with numbers, so we hadn’t thought about getting help with this aspect of investment before.”

After one property took nine months to renovate, we realised that we were getting bogged down

The broker, who was a property investor himself, recommended that Adam and Shae combine their superannuation funds for their next purchase. Given they were both fully committed to property investment, they were keen to maximise their portfolio.

“Before I met Adam, I had tried to purchase a property in Bendigo, but couldn’t get the banks to lend,” she says. “We saw that combining our funds would allow us to make larger purchases.”

The broker also suggested that they held off on making a purchase until interest rates had dropped to a lower level.

“Shae and I were busy renovating our Stawell properties when interest rates were at their peak,” Adam says. “It was only when we looked back at the trends that we realised how lucky we’d been.”

Both the broker and the pair’s property mentoring group suggested that they invest in Queensland.

“With the help of our group, we settled on the suburb of Boondall,” Shae says.

Such was their belief in their finance plan, they were happy to buy a three-bedroom property in the northern Brisbane suburb unseen.

“This was the first property we had ever bought that was brand new,” she says.

A month later, the pair purchased another freshly built three-bedroom villa, this time in Waikiki, WA.

“We saved a lot through not having to renovate, along with the tax depreciation and serviceability benefits,” Adam says.

Within a few months, the properties were bringing Adam and Shae a combined rental yield of 11.1 per cent.

“We’re happy with the rental yields, but we bought them primarily for their capital growth potential,” Adam says.

“Because they’re new and have been marketed for tenants, the rent should take care of itself.”