Spring 2013
A strategy of success Hard work and a clear vision for their property investment strategy have paid off handsomely for friends and business partners Trevor Holland and Wes Harper.
About 30 years ago they joined forces to build a property portfolio and after buying and selling dozens of properties they have established a road to success which their families can enjoy. The pair have fine-tuned methods for buying old houses on large blocks of land, building new houses in the back yard, subdividing and selling some to cash flow their next investment or holding the best properties for their future. “We get luckier if we work hard,” said Mr Holland, 67, a retired school teacher. “Luck has a direct relationship to the work you put in. “You have to go through a little bit of pain to get the gain. But don’t go through so much pain that you overextend yourself.” Mr Harper, 52, a self-employed builder, got started by buying old houses in which he and his wife, Deb, an interior designer, lived in while they renovated before selling. “Our tenants were living in better places than we were at the beginning,” Mr Harper said. “My wife’s mum cried when she saw one of the houses we moved into, comparing it with the beautiful home we’d just left.” Mr Harper and Mr Holland have completed dozens of dual occupancy projects in suburbs around Heathmont, Vermont, Boronia and Mooroolbark. Together they own four properties, but Mr Harper owns another five and
Homes for life
Doncaster 03 9842 1477 989 Doncaster Road Doncaster East VIC 3109
Property partners: Trevor Holland (left) and Wes Harper have built a solid portfolio by having a goal and a plan to reach it.
Mr Holland and his wife Christine own nine houses in Victoria, plus some other investments interstate, putting both couples in the top 1 per cent of Australian property investors. During a three-decade property journey, Mr Holland had his ear to the ground before Ipswich, outside Brisbane, kicked off. He bought seven properties there in the late 1990s and within 21 months they had doubled in value. The investors believe in making use of the equity their portfolio has developed by gaining lines of credit on their properties so that they can buy when they see a good opportunity. They say that having a diligent and proactive property manager is vital. So when property manager Lynda Green transferred to PhilipWebb from another company, they followed her and switched their portfolio at the same time. “If you get bad tenants, it’s probably because you had a less diligent property manager,” Mr Holland said. How many investment properties is enough? – Next page
Most investors don’t create a nest egg More than 72 per cent of property investors in Australia own only one investment property.
And less than 2 per cent of the nation’s 1.76 million property investors own five or more properties. Data from the Australian Tax Office shows that most investors fail to build a property portfolio. Less than 10 per cent of investors own three or more properties.
How’s your portfolio?
Number of Number of properties investors
1 2 3 4 5 6 or more Total
Ringwood 03 8870 2888 Mitcham 03 9874 3355 facebook.com/philipwebbre philipwebbrealestateblog.com.au 139 Maroondah Highway 483 Whitehorse Road Ringwood VIC 3134 Mitcham VIC 3132
1,284,852 318,295 96,991 34,967 14,555 15,264 1,764,924
Percentage
72.79 18.03 5.49 1.98 0.82 0.86
Source: Australian Tax Office, 2010-11 data
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