Born in a refugee camp after his family migrated to Australia by boat, Chuy started out with nothing but the clothes on his back, which ignited a desire to save every cent he could.
You’re out of free articles for this month
“My dad had no job, [but] figured out how to get into a rental property and eventually buy a home. That’s really the beginning of the journey,” he said.
“It led me to having the scarcity mindset, [where] everything is scarce. So I saved every dollar, every cent, and was just trying to figure out a way to get ahead in life.
“And I tried a lot of different things throughout my time, between property, shares, you name it, and property was the only thing that seemed to stick throughout the times.”
Chuy said that he tried to save “every single cent of every dollar” while working multiple jobs and running multiple businesses to earn what he could for his first deposit.
“At the time, obviously Sydney – this going way back in 2011 or something like that – but Sydney was primed up.”
Chuy’s first property was an off-the-plan house in Cecil Hills, south-west Sydney, which was around $600,000 by the time it settled in 2013.
While his first property was a success, Chuy said his biggest mistake was continuing to buy multiple off-the-plan properties after, which settled around 2015.
“One of them had negative equity in it. I literally was scrambling just to settle all these properties and just pouring all of my cash to settle them,” he said.
“Thinking even at one point to forgo the 10 per cent I paid, and then, talking to the lawyers, they said they can sue for more than 10 per cent you’ve paid, plus damages. So I settled them all.”
Chuy said his second-biggest mistake was holding his properties for too long rather than letting them go when they were underperforming.
“One of them I kept in my portfolio for way too long. That’s another mistake. I should have gotten rid of it the second I could have. Then, I was educated.”
Loading form…
However, he said that he was starting a business at the time and was able to save money by working hard seven days a week for four years.
As an extra piece of advice, Chuy warned investors not to get caught up in get-rich-quick schemes, especially when first starting out.
“It’s the wrong mindset to have because when you look at properties that get rich quick schemes, you don’t have that long-term view,” he said.
Chuy said his own experience as a property investor has been beneficial to his role as a broker, with his team also being property investors themselves.
“From top down, where I started my journey, I had to learn a lot and make a lot of mistakes.
“So whenever people come and meet us in the business, we don’t make those mistakes anymore.”
Chuy said knowledge has been a key component to his brokerage, with all his team having bought properties and experienced the process.
“So collectively between the team, I would say there’s a few hundred properties in ownership. And knowing that everyone in my team actually invested themselves and they’re building out their own strategies as well,” he said.
Chuy recently launched a new podcast called How I Met Your Broker, in which he provides investors with tips and tricks to maximise their property portfolios and shares his personal story.