Investor Success Story: John and Susan

Welcome to this new year of opportunity to kick start your property investing journey and take the steps toward achieving your financial goals! We are often asked for examples of clients who we have helped in turning their goals into reality. For this reason we want to share the inspiring story of our clients John and Susan. They are a real Plan Assist Investor success story and with returns of over $124,000 per year from rental income streams so far, Susan has retired from teaching and now manages the family property investing business on a full time basis! 

While young and full of opportunity, John & Susan moved to Australia in the late 1980?s to start a new and prosperous life. John made his way up from the bottom of an organisation and now leads senior management for a major company in the transport industry. Susan was a teacher and family life was busy, raising two young sons. John and Susan have a strong work ethic and always worked towards creating long lasting family wealth for their children to acquire one day. This strong desire led them to seek more, and felt there was more to life than both working solidly while raising a family. Property was the key to wealth for them and that is what they preferred to invest in.

Prior to meeting with the Plan Assist Property Team, their property investments were random, with little analysis or system to their methods. They simply fell into buying their first property, and accumulated a home close to work and two more investment properties in the same suburb. What it resulted in was a highly concentrated investment in the one suburb and moderate cash flow with only a 4% gross return, leaving room for improvement.

With two teenage sons and a growing desire to create family wealth, the couple sought expert advice in property to understand what makes a good property investment and how to beat today’s market.

In discovering Harry Charalambous from Plan Assist at a seminar, they soon realised there was more to this game than just finding a property online and haggling with the real estate agent. John and Susan joined the Plan Assist Membership and arranged their ‘Getting Started Meeting’ with Harry, to speak about their strategies.

In their first meeting, they worked out:

1. What they want to achieve with their investments
2. What was already in their portfolio and how it was performing
3. An immediate action plan of high level, bullet-proof strategies
4. A longer term action plan to help achieve their end goals

John & Susan then worked with Harry to move into action, starting with their Member’s Complimentary Financial Health Check to assess the structure and performance of their finance.

With clear plans and a team of property experts ready to assist with their every move, John and Susan turned their ‘bad’ debt into good debt by selling some investment properties that weren’t performing, and investing in good cash flow and good growth quality assets that had potential for added value. This included building extra dwellings and creating new income streams from property.  With a keen interest and a property mentor in Harry Charalambous, the improved return was enough for Susan to make managing the family’s property business her full time role.

After the first 18 months, John and Susan turned their property portfolio from a negative cash flow to generating solid returns; something worth investing in.

Whilst they are still on their journey, they have accumulated $1.8 m worth of property with over $124,000 in rental income per year, returning at an average of 6.9% pa gross return from their property while taking minimal risk, something that only the best investors strive to achieve.

Check out these returns:

• Property 1: Rentals of $370 and $320pw from $500k investment (7.18% Yield)
• Property 2: Rental of $300 and $250pw from $400k investment (7.15% Yield)
• Property 3: Rental of $310 and $260pw from $420k investment (6.18% Yield)
• Property 4: Expected returns of $580pw from $480k investment (6.28% Yield) 

How Plan Assist Property Team worked with John and Susan:

• Through the Plan Assist Membership, John and Susan worked with Harry to set out their Action Plan and enjoyed ongoing support from Harry and the Plan Assist Property Team.
• Plan Assist Buyers Agents researched, sourced and secured properties that met the criteria of John and Susan’s specifications as well as their investment objectives.
• Plan Assist Finance Team researched, matched products and lenders to suit property investments.
• Plan Assist Project Managers planned, prepared and sought approvals for development that would maximise the full extent of the property.
• Plan Assist Constructions Builders renovated existing, built new and tailored the construction to the John and Susan’s needs.

The whole process was coordinated centrally by the team and projects ran smoothly on a coordinated timeline. The Plan Assist Property Team professionals have the pleasure of speaking with John and Susan on a regular basis, tweaking the investments and always looking for improvements to their investments.

The success of this journey doesn’t stop here. John and Susan are set to acquire more properties in 2014.

(Real names have not been used, for privacy reasons.)