Today I thought I’d share a little about my own personal property investing journey in the hope that it may be of interest or maybe if I’m lucky, encourage you to move forward on your own journey if you haven’t already.
As I cast my mind back twelve years, I remembered very clearly my own experience. When I started thinking about property I was pregnant with my first son. I had an overwhelming urge to do something to start the process of setting up my family’s financial future. I have no idea why I felt so responsible for this? But after reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki my world flipped upside down.
I think I’m pretty responsible by nature and his books explain that we all need to be responsible for our own futures and this really hit a chord with me....perhaps it was the pregnancy hormones or just that I’d never had time to reflect on this in the past. Whatever the reason, I decided to make things happen.
Whilst I should have been shopping for baby clothes and decorating the baby’s bedroom, I was sitting in an auditorium hungrily soaking up information that I hadn’t come across before. As my ankles swelled and my back ached, I feverishly took notes on all the different strategies you can use to make money from property. My plan was to work whilst my baby slept, little did I know how little babies sometimes sleep! But that’s exactly what I did and what I missed out on in sleep, I gained in knowledge. With bleary eyes, my property investment journey began.
That baby son started high school this year and so he’s a reminder of when and why I wanted to invest for our futures. Since his birth, I’ve built a decent investment portfolio and a thriving property development project management business.
I love following the property market and tracking the property cycles. Since I started investing in 2000 we’ve had some what may be ‘once in a life time’ anomalies that have impacted on the cycle; firstly the very rapid growth in most capital cities between 200 –2003, then the Global Financial Crises in 2007 and the Credit Crises that followed. A change in government coincided in the same year and a turbulent period for the Labor Government followed until the new government was elected in 2013.
We’ve seen a resource boom, a mining slowdown and now the lowest ever cash rates in history. And between 2001 and 2011 we’ve seen major shifts in population growth patterns. Natural fertility reversed a long run decline, and migration rose to record levels*. You can’t really say this is a ‘typical’ property cycle. But, is there ever one?
As part of our research process, we track the quarterly median value of the Hunter Region cities that Property Bloom develops in. Back in March 2003 one city had a median value of $179,566 today it’s $363,500. That’s an increase over the past 10 years of 203%. There are strong indications that this growth will continue.
The Hunter Region offers an affordable entry point into property and history has shown that the capital growth is there too. Combine this with an adding value development strategy and your journey will be even more worthwhile.
