A couple have revealed how clever planning, bank smarts and good fortune helped them acquire eight properties worth a combined value of $10m in three years.
Aman and Charu Sethi’s properties are spread across four states, including locations in Adelaide, Brisbane, regional NSW, regional Victoria and Sydney.
The couple – Charu, 39, is an IT analyst originally from India and Aman, 38, runs a visa advisory company – revealed that keeping the portfolio costs them about $920 per week.
That’s after factoring in repayments, maintenance and other expenses.
The same weekly expenditure is equivalent to the average house rent in Sydney, where they live.
Part of the reason they’ve kept their holding costs down is because the rents on each property, relative to their loans, are high.
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The properties have also increased considerably in value since they bought them, meaning the mortgage costs relative to the value of the properties is low.
The strong value growth helped grow the portfolio too, as the couple frequently drew out the rapid equity they gained to use as deposits on subsequent properties, a process known as leveraging.
“Our goal has always been to grow a significant portfolio,” Mr Sethi said.
“The overarching principal for me when investing is not how many properties you buy, it’s the asset value. That’s what matters.
“If $10m grows by 5 per cent, it will go up $500,000 a year. That’s $500,000 growth in your net worth.
“The more you own, the more your net worth can grow … but we don’t just buy anything. We look at a lot of data and make our decisions on that.”
Mr Sethi attributed the good capital growth they got on their investments to good timing and selecting the right locations to invest within.
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Their first purchase in Brisbane, which has gone up in value by over $420,000 since they bought it in 2021.
They specifically targeted larger priced family homes that would appeal to owner occupiers, on the advice of fellow investor Arjun Paliwal, who noted these types of homes tend to rise in value faster.
Many of their initial purchases, which laid the groundwork for subsequent buys, were snapped up during the early Covid period, when banks were warning of a major housing slump.
The decision to invest at such an uncertain time was motivated by a famous Warren Buffett quote, Mr Sethis said.
“Before we started investing, I read a lot of books,” Mr Sethi said, noting that Buffett’s advice to ‘be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy’ resonated.
“I also read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad and it had a lot of good points. It made me see that property is the way to build long-term wealth.”
Their play on the market during the early Covid turned out to be a wise one.
Instead of falling as predicted, prices across the country boomed at the third fastest rate in 150 years over 2021, according to Australian National University figures.
Their first investment was this five-bedroom house in Adelaide.
“Our early purchases were the best performers,” Mr Sethi said. “We had three (rental) properties and our home by 2021 and they had 20-40 per cent growth in a year. That allowed us to build up a strong equity position and allowed us to keep purchasing.”
The couple’s first property investment was a five-bedroom house in southwest Adelaide, which they bought sight-unseen with the help of a buyer’s agency, Investorkit.
The property cost $590,000 and was bought with a 10 per cent deposit, which they funded with their savings. The initial weekly rent after purchase in late 2020 was $525.
The couple bought their second property a few months later in northern Brisbane, using equity drawn from their Sydney home for a 10 per cent deposit on the $1.175m purchase.
Mr Sethi said they got “lucky” on the rent, which was $1100 a week and paid for all the early mortgage costs on the property.
They soon bought another property in Brisbane, this time for $860,000, approaching second and third tier lenders to secure a new loan because they had maxed out their lending with big banks.
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Aman and Charu Sethi plan to continue expanding their portfolio.
All properties were in high growth areas and had extreme value and rent increases.
The $590,000 Adelaide property is now worth $850,000. The value growth on their Brisbane properties together was over $800,000.
And rents on all their properties have skyrocketed in the midst of the current rental crisis, while their loans remain on cheap fixed interest rates.
“The decision of where we bought was based on data,” Mr Sethi said.
“We had looked at pockets in Adelaide and Brisbane that could get growth, where there were multiple pressure points like more people moving to the area and changes in supply and demand.
“It was also about where we you could get a good quality house for our budget and good (rental) yield that would make owning it sustainable for us.”
Some of the couples’ most recent purchases included a home in regional NSW for $1.26m, another property in Adelaide for $1.26m and a regional Victorian property for $910,000.
The purchases were also with loans on low fixed rates, but Mr Sethi said he doesn’t expect to have much problem when the fixed rate terms expire.
“Another key for us with investing, we have never had an extra lavish lifestyle. We have always been conservative. We knew this (fixed rate change) was coming and put buffers in place.
“If worse comes to worst, if we have to sell whole thing we will be OK.”