Lessons learned from a young property investor

Buying his first investment while still living with mum and dad, Mr Chapman bought his place without much research, saying: “But the logic behind it was, it might not be in the best area at the moment, but you can throw a rock and hit million-dollar houses on the water, so I figured that has to count for something in the future.”

Mr Chapman explained how he learned the value of insurance after an accident with a tenant that would’ve left him with a clean-up bill and a loss of rent.

“Funny story, I bought it as it is. About a year and half ago, the last tenant accidentally set the back half of the house on fire.”

“So I had to gut all that, I had to do a whole bunch of work, and I had to go to tribunal,” Mr Chapman said.

“While that was getting repaired and fixed, I went through and spent a bit more money. I got the whole outside repainted, did a few other little things as well, like put a new toilet in and tidy it all up.”

“It actually worked in my favour because once it was all said and done, I was able to get a little more rent for it,” Mr Chapman concluded.