Investment tip: ‘Do everything strategically’

According to him: “For me, it's a great bricks-and-mortar type [of] investment … plus, you've got so many options.”

“If you want to go and do a couple of splitters [blocks], you can do splitters. If you want to throw yourself in 40 hours a week, you can go and do some development… You [can] sit on [an asset] for 15 years and then sell, then retire, or trade down,” he added.

Grant personally wants to explore the development side of property investment, and he has been working with his accountant and mortgage broker to find the best opportunity across property markets in Australia. In the near future, provided that his business continues to perform well, the property investor wants to dedicate more time to the venture and be hands-on.

Basically, he aims to create a nice nest egg for himself and his family while doing something that he’s absolutely passionate about.

Smart Property Investment’s Phil Tarrant said: “You can have the fun and the challenge and the motivation and the passion in the process to capitalise on property investment … That's pretty good.” 

The financial team

Grant believes that one of the most important keys to success in property investment is a good, reliable, and trustworthy team of property professionals who are working on the single goal of seeing you succeed. While two months might seem too little a time to buy three properties, he was able to make it happen once he got a team involved.

The property investor said: “It just takes the stress out of it. It makes it fun and that's really what I was looking for in it.”

"[My team has] got a really good understanding that we're very serious about what we're doing … There was a lot of preparation time in that, but now, fundamentally, we've got our ducks in a row,” he added.

The three properties he bought were on different pre-approvals and loans and, according to Grant, he has not done any refinancing on them.

Prior to starting his property investment journey, he and his partner set up a business where they could draw income from. Basically, he’s built a “war chest” of funds for this venture so he could maintain his good serviceability and be able to borrow money from banks without any fuss—an advice he followed after being given by his accountant three years ago.

He said: “A lot of the preparation was getting the business ready so that we could grow our property portfolio.”

“We knew that we had to have a vehicle, that we invested our time in so you could not necessarily go into that position where [one would say] ‘Here's your tax returns and this is as good as it gets’.

“We had to show fundamentally good figures … Everything that we do is by the book [and] the banks love it,” the property investor shared further.

‘You need leverage’

A lot of property investors, especially business owners, realise too late how losses could impact their ability to grow their portfolio.

Phil explained: “[You] might have years and years and years and years and years of losses … [and] at some point in time, [you] go, ‘Hey, I'm going to capitalise on this and sell something,’ [but] it's not going to help you get debt.”

“At the end of the day, you need leverage,” he added.

Grant admits that property investment is not an easy venture to take part in because, even though you have a stable business as a source of income, there are many factors to consider most of which are often unpredictable. However, good preparation with the help of a team of professionals will most likely see you through.

The property investor said: “You cannot go into this thinking there's an easy way into it, particularly [for] business owners.”

“Business owners … sometimes can be the most attractive because … they're sustainable and they are committed to growth themselves. [But] you've got to be able to show that as well. You cannot cut corners … It takes time,” Grant added.

His mortgage broker once said that sustainability is key to a smooth property investment journey.

Aside from finding a source of income, it is important to find a way to keep the income growing regardless of uncertainties that may come along the way—a task that could not be possibly done overnight. For Grant and his partner, it meant working hard for long hours to sustain their business.

He said: “We had to grow that income. We had to work long hours and work hard for that and understand that the end goal was what we were looking for.”

“Now we do everything strategically. We know what we're doing in five years' time and the excitement is going to be along the way.

“A lot of people will kick back and say …’You're so lucky,’ but it's not [luck]. It's strategy. It's time,” the property investor added.

“Nothing happens by accident in this game,” Phil concluded. 

Tune into Grant Iverson’s episode on The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about the challenges he faced throughout his property investment journey, including facing banks and his 12-month unemployment period, and how he and his partner overcame these obstacles.