How property made these Aussies multi-millionaires

25th May 2007

Few investors dare to dream that their property investments will make them millionaires, let alone multi-millionaires. But property can – and does – create multi-millionaires. And May’s Australian Property Investor magazine has the proof: five couples who’ve become multi-millionaires through the property market.

The subjects’ net worth ranges from $2.3 million to somewhere in the region of $50 million. They reveal how they’ve used property to get where they have and offer tips for other investors.

With this in mind, Australian Property Investor has come up with 23 tips for cutting your overheads. Some of the tips API reveals in its May issue include:

API editor Eynas Brodie says, “Property is a tried and proven method of wealth creation, as more and more Australians are discovering firsthand. These investors and developers show what can be achieved through sound property investment, especially over the long term.

"As a recent report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests, Australians are wealthier than they have ever been, and property – even if we’re only talking about equity in the family home – is one of the reasons why," Brodie adds.

Three of the five couples featured in API are:

Suzette and Tony Mackley
Net worth: $5.2 million
Suzette and Tony began investing together in 1998 on Queensland’s Gold Coast. They started out small, buying a single unit and then stepping up to a pair of townhouses.

"It was advertised as ‘renovate or demolish’ – and it stank. We worked six days a week on it to get it ready for rental as quickly as possible," Suzette says.

From those humble beginnings, using a strategy of buy, renovate and hold, Suzette and Tony have amassed property worth more than $7 million, with current debt of just over $2.5 million.

They’ve now made the sea change to the Capricorn Coast but their passion for real estate is still burning, with a number of projects currently on the go

Linda and Ramon Tuck
Net worth: $3.1 million
Linda and Ramon Tuck have used cash flow positive one-bedroom units to build a north Queensland property empire worth more than $5 million. They own 36 properties, including their own home, 16 strata-titled units, a duplex and three blocks of units.

"When we got to 12 units we thought ‘that’s enough’,” Linda tells API. “But then another one came that was just too good to pass up on. We couldn’t stop at 13 because it was an unlucky number – so it continued on."

This was in the early 1990s, and the Tucks focused on buying properties where the rent coming in more than covered their mortgage repayments. They still use the same strategy today, renting fully furnished one-bedroom units in Cairns to the backpacker market on short-term leases.

Although they now live in a nice house in Cairns and drive a Mercedes, Linda and Ramon have made plenty of sacrifices along the road to property riches, including living for years in a Queenslander with no wiring and a bush toilet.

Chris and Virginia Anderson
Net worth: $50 million
Before moving to Australia in 1991, Chris Anderson collected pinecones for a seed nursery in New Zealand. He was “falling into decline”, drinking and partying too much, before his dad sent him on his way to a new reality in Australia.

That new reality now sees Chris and wife Virginia sharing space with Nicole Kidman and Lleyton Hewitt on BRW magazine’s Young Rich List. Last year, BRW estimated the Andersons’ net worth at $35 million, though Chris says it’s more like $50 million.

Chris and Virginia have built their construction and property developing business from scratch. Chris started by building a spec home; they used what they made to branch into a couple more properties, then a duplex. It grew from there to the point where the Andersons’ company was building around 120 homes a year.

A large chunk of Chris and Virginia’s net worth comes courtesy of a development they carved out of a parcel of farmland they bought in the early 2000s.

"That farm, from looking like $1.5 million profit… it’s yielding around $20 or $21 million in gross profit," Chris tells API.

 

© Australian Property Investor magazine - www.apimagazine.com.au. Reproduced with permission. To subscribe to API, go to www.apimagazine.com.au or pick up a copy from your local newsagent.

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