Is it possible to buy 3 properties before 30? This 27-year-old says yes

Speaking on a recent episode of The Property Nerds with InvestorKit’s Arjun Paliwal and Fouracre Financial’s Jack Fouracre, young investor Vignesh Rajashekar discussed the strategies behind growing his property portfolio in his 20s.

At just 23, Rajashekar began to explore property investing after being encouraged by his father, with this pragmatic approach helping him to cut back his overall spending and prioritise assets.

Rajashekar’s first property was a house in Adelaide in 2021, and he used the equity he had built to purchase a second investment in Bundaberg in 2023, and a third more recently in Wodonga.

According to Rajashekar, saving from an early age and cutting back on lifestyle spending was critical to ultimately enabling him to afford his first property in a high-growth area – which did not necessarily prioritise cash flow – before following a strategy of equity stripping.

He said that even the smaller expenditures, such as coffee, lunch, and transportation, added up over time, and encouraged prospective investors to make wise spending choices in their daily lives.

“It was taking packed lunches from home, things like that. It’s taking the train, the bus to work rather than driving. Those kinds of small things, especially when you’re early in your career,” he said.

“Didn’t mean I wouldn’t go out on a Friday and Saturday with workmates or schoolmates and have a good time. I was just fortunate in the values that my parents instilled in me from a young age.”

He also said many of his earnings in his first few years of full-time work went into his parents’ offset account, helping him understand there was value in money even when he was simply holding it.

“You just got to hold in the right places,” he said.

“I knew, okay, I’m going to transfer 75 per cent of my earnings, it’s going to go there. And I don’t want to get to a position where I have to ask for it back.”

According to Rajashekar, the reality of investing became apparent after purchasing his second property, and he had to work out how to keep up with mortgage repayments.

“There was definitely a certain point in time where I thought, ‘Why am I not prioritising cash flow? These debts are hurting me.’”

“[But] it’s almost one of these things where you just have to let it sit for a bit, and then you kind of reap the rewards of it later down the line at the time or for work.”

Rajashekar said he utilised the skills he learned in his own role as a contracts administrator in construction by creating a cash flow spreadsheet to keep track of expenses.

“Even though I didn’t make the debt or expenses go down necessarily, it helped me get an understanding of the bigger picture and understand, okay, this is my expenses.”

Rajashekar admitted that at the very start of his journey, he lacked confidence, but advised future investors to be patient as it took time to build an understanding of the intricacies of the industry.

When reflecting on what he should have done differently, Rajashekar said initially purchasing properties every two years was probably too much, but now that he had slowed down, there was time to adjust his strategy.

“I’ve got that chance now to sit down, focus on myself a bit, think about the long term – ‘Am I going to move out? Where am I going to be renting? Do I want to travel?’”

According to Rajashekar, it’s essential for young investors to surround themselves with reliable and knowledgeable connections that they can depend on for honest guidance.

“You’ve got to be in a position where you can trust the advice that you get, and the flip side of that, you need to accept the fact that you don’t know everything.”

“It’s critical to find the right people to get the right advice and do it early enough where if things go wrong, you’ve still got time on your side to work your way back up.”

Rajashekar also said budding investors needed to be able to back up their plans with proven data and not be deterred by doubt or scrutiny from family members.

“Over time, you realise, okay, there is, there is data, there is research, there are the hard facts that you can always fall back on.”

“You have to remove yourself from the situation, look at the long term and try to understand what is the opportunity cost, and where it’s going to leave you,” Rajashekar concluded.

Listen to the full episode here

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