Why a house-free portfolio was the way to go for this investor

One of the reasons Mr D’Agata feels he has succeeded on his property journey thus far is because he has refused to purchase properties he cannot afford, while always taking out P&I loans using the services of a savvy mortgage broker.

This can be the holy grail of property investing: to pick up property as cheap as possible, with fundamental indicators and fundamental drivers behind it, along with increasing capital value to maximise gains further down the road. In Mr D’Agata’s case, this has been to purchase units only.

The first four properties he acquired are located in Sydney. The fifth, which he recently sealed the deal on, is located on the Gold Coast. All of the units are tenanted and accumulate a decent amount of rental income for the young investor every month.

“I was going to go for a high cashflow play up in Slacks Creek there. It would have been a house on about 550 squares, would have maybe put two grand a year in my pocket. But... I like to buy where my tenants are more likely to be on six-figure incomes,” Mr D’Agata said.

Mr D’Agata added that he was going to move into the house market space in Queensland, but by the luck of the draw, was drawn to a unit investment he believed to be more promising.

He continued: “I was… pretty close to exchanging on a property there in Slacks Creek. The agent was kind of mucking around a little bit. And then this opportunity came up in Rockdale [Sydney], where I thought I could get a property pretty well under market value. And it has turned out that way.”

Another reason why Mr D’Agata stuck to his guns and purchased another unit in the Sydney region is because it is easier for the young investor to manage a property within driving distance of his family home.