How Melbourne plumber bought three houses by age 30

Posted by Mittie Cheatwood on Saturday, April 27, 2024

A Melbourne plumber has revealed how he built up his property portfolio with three homes by the age of 30, without sacrificing his passion for international travel.

Ben Johnson bought his first home – a new build in Ballarat, an hour from Victoria’s capital – aged 25, saving $25,000 towards the deposit and borrowing $240,000 from the bank.

He said he planned to live in that house, now valued at $600,000, at first but ended up “following the work” to Melbourne, where he rents a one-bedroom apartment.

“I was disappointed I couldn’t live in at first, but everything has worked out,” he told the Daily Mail.

Mr Johnson then had to wait for four years for the equity to build up in his first house so he could purchase a second, another new build in Ballarat, for which he paid deposits on both the land and the build, letting equity take care of the rest.

“If I knew how it worked with equity I would have started at 20. I have realised the more you own the easier it is,” he said of his biggest regret, adding he was afraid he couldn’t “live a good life” in his early 20s and buy a home at the same time.

“People who don’t want to buy a property because they want to travel should just do both. In my experience investment properties are always going to have a positive yield. And they are not hard to fill – people are always looking for a rental.”

The 30-year-old – who didn’t grow up wealthy and always dreamt of owning his own home – was able to take ten months off work to travel through Asia and Europe on a healthy budget, largely in part because he had tenants renting his first home.

“The rent pays off the mortgage and I still get a little bit on top – so when I was travelling I didn’t have to worry about it,” he said.

Mr Johnson purchased his third property, a townhouse in Brisbane, using his superannuation with the help of a company who found him an appropriate dwelling.

“I saw an ad that said if you have more than $100,000 in you super you can use it to buy a house,” he said.

“To me, using my super made sense because this is retirement plan – I don’t want to work until I am 65.”

While he’s never seen his Brisbane property in person, Mr Johnson said he’s confident with the purchase.

“I had people go over it and it is in great condition and it already had renters in it when I bought it so I haven’t had to do a thing,” he said.

Now all three properties are “paying for themselves comfortably”, and he plans to hold on to them “in the long time”.

“Even if things take a dive, they will come back up and stabilise,” he added.

As for his biggest advice for building a portfolio, he urged first home buyers or those looking for an investment property to go regional instead of trying to find something in a capital city.

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“You can buy three family homes for the same amount as one small city apartment,” Mr Johnson said.

“If I had been set on buying in a big city first I never would have afforded three properties, which is why I think rent-vesting is the way to go.

“I thought about buying an apartment to live in but the growth isn’t as good and buying something in the middle of Melbourne is less affordable – so I will keep renting.”

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