Moves to Momentum

How This 29-Year-Old Investor Built a $5.2M Portfolio 🏡

• Jason Titus

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 48:10

Send us Fan Mail

How does a 29-year-old build a $5.2M property portfolio and $2.5M in equity in just 5 years? 🤯🏡

In this episode of Moves to Momentum, Jason sits down with Morgan Holmes to unpack the real story behind her investing journey - from buying a structurally damaged $200k property that nobody wanted to building a multi-million dollar portfolio across Australia.

They cover:

🏡 The risky first purchase that kickstarted everything

📈 How Morgan built $2.5M in equity by age 29

💰 The power of equity releases and buying the next property

😅 Tenant dramas, insurance claims & the realities of investing

🧠 Why you don't need to be an aggressive investor to build wealth

✈️ Finding the balance between investing, travel and actually enjoying life

❤️ Defining what financial freedom really means

This isn't just a conversation about property.

It's about backing yourself, taking the first step, and creating financial security without sacrificing the life you want to live.

If you've ever felt like property investing is too risky, too complicated, or only for people with huge incomes, this episode might change your perspective.

🎧 Listen now & start building momentum. 🚀🏡📈

📲 Want to chat about your own property goals?
Book a discovery call here: https://calendars.buyersedgeproperty.com.au/discovery

Support the show

SPEAKER_01

I think the total value sits around 5.2 million. My total debt, I have about 2.7 million on it. 53% LBR.

SPEAKER_00

Now I don't know if it's the aircom, but I got chills. You going through that? And you've built that in a five-year window.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Your portfolio will grow by 500 grand in the next 12 months, minimum.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like as much as I've built a massive portfolio, it's happened very naturally and you don't have to be aggressive. It's just getting in and getting started.

SPEAKER_00

Morgan Holmes, welcome to the Moose Momento podcast. Thank you so much for coming all the way from the Gold Coast to the Shire.

SPEAKER_01

It's so nice to be here. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00

No worries. I've loved like kind of seeing your progression as a property investor. To me, you're the face of the female property investor out there in the market. I'd love to dissect that today, like your property portfolio, how you got started, all that type of stuff. But can we rip into? I talked to a mate of mine at the gym and we always talk about receipts, right? I want to talk to someone who's got receipts. Like they've been there, they've got the receipts, you got many receipts. So I want to paint the picture of how you did it, why you did it, all that type of stuff. But currently, you're 29 years old and you've got what type of portfolio, how many properties?

SPEAKER_01

So I've got eight properties at the moment, and I've been investing for about five years. So I've over the five years bought a total of 10, but I have recently in the last probably 12 months sold two of those properties. Okay. Why'd you sell them? Um, the first one was it's I've actually sold them in order of how I've bought them, not intentionally, but the first one I bought in 2021 for around 200,000 and it had some significant structural issues. So I had done the work for that. Um, and the warranty was 10 years labor warranty, 50 years products warranty. It just made sense to sell it then. So I sold it for 670 in February last year.

SPEAKER_00

Your first deal ever was 200 grand with major structural defense.

SPEAKER_01

No one wanted this house. I think it crashed like three times, and we'd kind of watched it go da and then came out on a mailing list saying, I think it was on for $200,000 at that time, um, which was probably less than land value. They were selling for almost 400, those style houses that didn't have these very major structural issues. Um, but I did the build, I think it's called build fix. They like pumped the geopoly under the house and like level it all out. So it was like slab. Yeah, yeah. It was like full structural, full structural issues. Um and even at the time when I bought it, the banks flagged it as a risk and my lending got cut. I had no finance condition. So I ended up getting it through with CBA, but it was like my first deal was so stressful because it was flagged, and I think I had like 14 days to settle it, trying to get all this money in, and it was um I'm I'm not of that school of thought, and I reckon there's so many property investors out there that would never do something like that.

SPEAKER_00

They need major structural defects, they'd run. I've bought two Renault deals. Like they've made me good money, but like your first one off the bat.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's like it was an unlivable house, technically. Would you do it again? 100% because I look at what it made me. I probably in total, I had to do actually end up having an insurance claim with the tenants as well, and it got trashed just before the end of that. So I've gone through a lot of experience on that house. On one house. I've gone through the QCAT process. Um, but I would have spent maybe 50 grand on it and I sold it for 670 off market to a BA in like what four years later or something.

SPEAKER_00

It's in Queensland, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. That was in Ipswich.

SPEAKER_00

Incredible, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So you've you've now got eight properties. Yeah. Can you just give us a high level of let's let's talk about the 10 that you've bought. Where were they? Like how many have you got in each which area? And what's the total value of your portfolio now?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So I I think I have, including one that I've sold, I think I've bought one in Ipswich, had one in Logan, had one, two in regional Queensland. I have three in WA, but I've sold off one of those as well. Um, pretty much all in the same like south, southern Perth, like Mandra area, which I love that area. Um, and I was more than happy to have uh quite a few there. Um and then I've got another three up in Northern Territory.

SPEAKER_00

Nice.

SPEAKER_01

So I think the total value, let me just refer to my notes that I can remember. Um, sits around 5.2 million at the moment with the two that I've sold off.

SPEAKER_02

Incredible.

SPEAKER_01

Like not including the two that I sold off.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And then my total debt, I have about 2.7 million on it. So it's sitting at around 53% LBR.

SPEAKER_00

I don't know if it's the aircom, but I got chills. You going through that? I got chills. You're a 29-year-old for male who has got $2.5 million worth of equity in a $5.2 million property portfolio.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What the heck? And you've built that in a five-year window.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And your first deal was an absolute dump. Yeah. Which could have scared off so many people. Yeah. Right? And what was the like when you first got into this, like to have the mindset or to have the chops to do that? Like when you first, what you're 29 years now, you've been doing five years, so you would have been like 24 when you bought that first one.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, I think I was around 20, 24.

SPEAKER_00

24 years old, and you're buying a structural defected house.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What type of mindset did you enter into property investing?

SPEAKER_01

I think for me, I was lucky that I was so exposed to this world for probably two years of buying investments and seeing people's success in investing. And then prior to that, I'd been in real estate for five, six years.

SPEAKER_00

Because you were a sales agent.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, I was working for LJ Hillcar. So I'd seen, I'd never really seen any horror stories in property. And I think when you're in it every day, you're just seeing success. You're seeing, even in at LJ, there'd be certain investors who would buy, and then they'd be back again in six months or a year, and they're buying another one, and you think, like, how are these people doing this? Okay. And I think even being in property for five, six years, you learn a lot about property itself, but you don't learn about like the lending side of things and actually how people are are creating all of this. And that was it was almost like yield was like the cutoff is what you know as a sales agent. Beyond that, everything else is very like, I don't know how they're doing this.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um structuring, yeah. That was still very, and I mean, I finished at LJ at 22, so I was still really young to not know that kind of property world. Um, but I think by the time I was ready to buy, I was just so excited. I'd seen so much success in property, and I just trusted it so wholeheartedly that I didn't care about buying this very sketchy house because and I I also really loved like Southeast Queensland at the time. I loved Logan, even though I'd grown up in that area, and I think a lot of people think when you live somewhere, you don't back it, and it happens all the time where you send some someone a deal and they know the area and they're like, no, that's not gonna grow because they're almost too comfortable. They think about all the shitty parts of it, yeah, and it ends up throwing them out. But I just backed it. I I loved the area and I just wanted to get into it. So I think the exposure of who was around me and the people I'd seen and s succeed in property, it got me into the mindset that it's a positive thing and you're gonna do well, you've just got to get into this deal.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It's you I feel like you've downplayed a little bit, right? You're you were in an environment where you learnt so much, but at such a young age. Like you you've seen all that stuff happening at when you're at LJ's and you're in your early 20s, and I I'm speaking to people in their 40s who don't even get this stuff, you know. Like I just the basic stuff of like what's a property, why would I invest there, why wouldn't I invest there? You knew that from a young age.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So that's like a huge up, you know?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So you when you're when you started, you love South East, you love Southeast Queensland.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You're from there, you're like, yes.

SPEAKER_01

And I was in Sydney at the time, I was living in Sydney, so I was like, I want to get like a piece of almost home. Yeah. I haven't I don't think I'd really ever even been to Ipswich, really, from where I was, but I still really wanted to get in. And it was like a beautiful, it wasn't beautiful, but on paper, it was like a solid brick four by two. Yeah. No, I don't know why I use the word solid. It wasn't very solid. It became solid.

SPEAKER_02

Sturdy.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. But isn't that funny? Like you're you're the stuff you're mentioning now is an emotional thing. I wanted to buy a piece of home. I was living in Sydney. I wanted to buy a piece of home. That's like not an investment decision. When you make an investment decision, yeah. I always think that sometimes people talk about it's all about the numbers. It's all about the numbers. And I think that it is, but I don't think we make decisions as human beings based off logic. I like I base the majority of my decisions off what I want or what I don't want. I want to move away from that. So I have to make these decisions to move away from that. And that's not logical, really. That's really emotive-based.

SPEAKER_01

I think at the start, when you're building a portfolio, it's very hard to not be emotional in the first one. And I think eventually I look at kind of growing the portfolio by probably property four or five. Stop caring at all. Like, don't really care what it's made out of. I think property number, which one is it? Number six is the ugliest house.

SPEAKER_00

Like, tell us about it. Where is it?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know why. It kind of just looks like a bus stop. Like the house looks like a bus stop. I think there's this pole that's wrapped in this like red ribbon. It probably could just be pulled off. I think it's tape. But I remember when I first saw it and I was like, oh, okay, I'll still buy it though. Who is it? It was in Townsville and it was 345,000. One of my agents there was three better, four better. Just a three-better. I don't know. I probably still don't know what material it's made out of. It's it's a mystery. Something. It looks kind of bricky, kind of looks like cement, kind of looks like it could be fibro. I don't know. I don't really care. But these, I think there was like an older couple living there. From memory, I think they wanted a rent back. I wouldn't even say it was like an unreal purchase price. It was just very affordable for me at the time.

SPEAKER_00

This feels like a Derigen house.

SPEAKER_01

It was in Kerwin.

SPEAKER_00

Kirwan, okay.

SPEAKER_01

Which Kerwin's quite nice. I just seemed to have a less appealing house. And I went there. I think it was at the building in Pest and I went and drove there on my own and tried to set my phone up to take a photo at the front. I think it might be on my Instagram unless I've archived it. And it's like the ugliest house. So I was like, why'd I pick this one to take a photo out of it? I should have picked like a client's house or something that's like way nicer. And it's just like in the cul-de-sac, so the neighbors in the high sets are probably just looking down at me like my phone falling. But I mean, internally it's it's fine. Like it's a solid house, it's nothing wrong with it. Um, pretty much everything's been very chill. Like, I haven't had any, well, to me, significant issues, but I guess it's also being in the industry. I've had QCAT claims, I've had tenants that haven't paid rent, I've had insurance claims. I think it just does become part of the investing journey. If I look at potentially five million over, you know, growing that, yeah, like you're making so much in it that it's it's worth it. Like it's a small piece to pay, dealing with a few headaches here and there, a few maintenance things, putting a bit more money in than you think you're going to, um, with then making, you know, millions over the that time.

SPEAKER_00

Is that how you felt at the time? Because now you are sitting with a $5.2 million property portfolio. And I don't think you covered this at the start. Your pot your portfolio is $15k per annum, positive. Yeah. And you're like you've got equity, you've got cash flow, and you've got you're in markets that are all doing double digit growth year on year.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

That's amazing, right? Yeah. So probably minimum, your portfolio will grow by 500 grand in the next 12 months. Minimum. People can't even say, people can't even earn 500 grand a year, you know? And if you do absolutely nothing, you'll make that in your portfolio in the next 12 months. Wild.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it is crazy.

SPEAKER_00

Um I'm saying all that to paint you as like, it's nice to say that now. At the time when you get the first QCAT claim, yeah. Does your stomach sink? Do you just think, whatever, I'm making millions off this stuff?

SPEAKER_01

I remember the the second property I bought, which was I think 230,000. I was trying to organize a reno on it because it needed some work. It wasn't huge, but it was like flooring some bathroom work. I think the bathroom was like very bad. I think I avoided looking at too many photos. I knew it wouldn't needed, and I just was like, I don't want to look at it too much because I don't want to emotionally want to fix things to an extent that doesn't need to happen to get at least. But I remember the tradesperson who did the work, not sure why, but he went to like a junkyard to get these tiles for the bathroom. And he we ripped up the bathroom tiles, like the flooring tiles, and he picked like orange terracotta tiles in this white bathroom. And we were like, why? So then he said, Oh, I'll paint them for you. I'm like, we just ripped up the tiles to like replace them with nice tiles, and you picked ones now you have to paint. So we had to paint the tiles because it looked so bad. And then, like, it I think that was it wasn't that deep, but it just felt it in the moment for sure. It was like my second house, and oh my gosh, this is all happening. But then at the same time, two weeks from settlement, I think it was, I also got a desktop reval because there was a third property that had come up very close. I think I'd bought this in August, and I really wanted to see if I could buy this for five by two in Greenfields for $286, which was a good price. That was about what we were paying at the time. But I again just felt like this this was the right house for me. It also had to be done really quick, and it had a housing commission next door. So it didn't feel like I'd have to really rush someone to sign. So I ended up just saying, like, let's see if we can do it. Um, and the reval came in on the 231 without the reno at 311 instantly.

SPEAKER_00

Let's go.

SPEAKER_01

Way that's way too high. It wasn't worth that. But we just like grabbed it and then was able to get into number three like two weeks, sign contracts two weeks after, which that was when I really felt like okay, this is actually how it works, and like I'm watching this happen now to get into these deals. So I think then you're like kind of slap yourself a bit, like, who cares about the terracotta tiles? Like, just start start working through this.

SPEAKER_00

So you I always feel like the first equity release is the biggest milestone. Doing the deal, but people like fixate on like, oh, I gotta get a property, gotta get a property. Yeah, and then before they fixate on that, they actually fixate on like I gotta get pre-approval, I've got to get pre-approval. It's like you kind of fixate on all these things, but the real milestone is the first equity release. And it's like, where did this money come from? Oh my god, I can use this money to go buy another one, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And then you're like, bang, you buy the next one, you're like, oh and then but that's when you start to get the momentum, huh? But can we go back to QCAP? Did your stomach sink when they trashed the the tenants trash the place?

SPEAKER_01

I was nervous because I knew I wanted to sell, and there's like a bit of urgency in my mind that I've got this plan and now what happens. And I think when you're doing it remotely as well, you kind of want to be there to see things and know where it's at. But I mean, it definitely was daunting. I did have good property managers, and I think again, importance of having a good property manager that gives you the information you need. I think I was with Alliance at the time, and it was just like the right one for that area, and they were actually really good to help with. Um, and in the end, I think it was like a really awkward time of year, and they said, Oh, we can't get our trade persons out to do the the works for the insurance, we're just gonna pay you out the money. So then I got to source my trades, and like it kind of worked out better that I was able to get more done and like the house was ready for sale. So um, but it definitely was daunting because you don't know what you're gonna get, and like insurance claims, QCAT, it it's also I'm quite a like empath. So as much as the tenants had done the wrong thing, there was still a part of me that was like, well, what's their what's their situation? And I'm actually going through another court um at the moment with tenants in WA who aren't paying rent, and it's hard because you you have to do certain steps to ensure that you've got insurance, so you can't just be like, Oh, it's okay, like I'll work with you because then you can void your insurances. But it is hard to not put yourself in their shoes. I know the economies, things are tough, and it's it's I think for me, I get more affected by the emotional side of being an investor and not wanting to put a family out. And I want to work through it with them, but it is hard because you're also not communicating directly with your tenants and trying to work through things with property managers. So I find that's I I think the emotional part of me comes out a lot with this stuff.

SPEAKER_00

And that's why I'm I'm excited to unpack a bit more of your um journey because as a property investor, I think there's some schools of thought that are like go, go, go, invest, invest, invest, rip every dollar out, put every single dollar back in. And that works, but then there's that's not everyone, and that's not everyone's personalities. And it's nice that there is a successful property investor that is more emotive, that is more. I think like that's more the feminine energy of like caring. How long did this saga go on for with NCAT? Like, that's not like a couple of emails back and forth over a few days. How long did it go?

SPEAKER_01

I think it would have been like a couple months. I think the house the house was vacant for quite a while. I think in total, with like works and things, it was maybe vacant for like six months to get it kind of ready and go through through getting them out. And it's always like it is a slow process, I think, caught everywhere. And like that, those proceedings is very slow. So it did take a while. And I feel like you do go through your like emotions of you're kind of angry and annoyed, and you're like, I just want it to be done, so I don't have to deal with this in my head at the time. Like there was a lot going on work wise, and you don't want to have to deal with it, but it it also is just something like you've gotta, you've just gotta like lock in and do what you even need to do, provide them with the building reports, all the stuff that they need to process those things, and then just try to get through it.

SPEAKER_00

One thing I know about you, you're extremely hard worker, you know. Like you you push, you push, you're a hard worker, and I think that plays out in this. Like so many times we even like at the start, we started with you the value of your property portfolio and the L VR you've got. People are like, That's that's incredible. But now you aren't we're we're peeling back some layers and we're fine. There's QCATs, there's buddy insurance claims, there's defects, there's all of these things, like, oh what the hell? Like all of that requires such significant worth. You don't get that $2.5 million worth of equity just from signing to mortgage docs and a contract and bang off you go. I don't know if that's talking about that's spoken about enough, but yeah, the returns is always, I think we always spoke about up even on my Instagram, it's like, and I bought this place for this, now it's worth this, like how good. Yeah. But there's a lot of stuff behind it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Yeah, I think like I think I put something keeping the other day on Instagram, like just like a week of you know, owning properties, and it was like, you've got something going on with tenants not paying rent here, tenants are moving out here. Um I went and did a bond clean on my own house and like scrubbed it because I wanted to get tenants in quite quickly. But there's always like there's always things going on. But then in that same week I got the appraisal for the house I was potentially looking to sell in down in um Mandra, and it was 780 to 830 for something I bought for 286. So it's like there is always like lows. I also got a call, forgot this one, got a call from a bailiff to say that a counsel was taking me to court if I didn't pay my rates because I hadn't paid my rates for like nine months or something because I'd I think they were getting off. They were getting sent to like my parents' like house from three years ago. And the only text I got was like, please call this number. I was like, oh yeah. I think I tried to call it and you get put on hold, and I was like, it mustn't be that important. And then I literally had Beanley magistrate court call me to say, and I was like, I'm so sorry. I thought, oh my gosh, I'm involved in like maybe I'm a witness to something. Like, what is this? I was like kind of like, oh, it's exciting. And then it was for me, and I was like, not me. Instead of like what is well, I he said I need to deliver these documents, like hand delivered them to you. And I was like, this seems serious. I paid them, I've worked it out, I called them, I was so proud of myself. But that's that's probably my biggest flaw in investing is like the it's always been the bills and the paperwork side. I am just terrible. I bought this journal, it literally has like pay car insurance, like all of my paywalls. On the day, insurance, yeah. I need it as a backup because it is hard to kind of keep a track of it all, and even like there is ways to do it. It's you do need to, when you're investing, put that time in and get things sent to your property managers in advance so it doesn't get to the point where you're getting the bailiff calls. Um, but it's it's just like I think, oh, I'll do it tomorrow, I'll I'll do it on the weekend, and then the weekend comes and you just don't do it. And I think when you're involved in it, like involved in property every day, when it comes to your own portfolio, it's easy to accumulate, but it's not that easy to put the time into managing it. Um it just feels like a bit more of a chore. It's fine, and you're helping clients with the same stuff, and they might have tenancy issues and you're working through that, but when it comes to your own stuff, I think it's very easy to not worry about it as much. And I probably s spent a lot more money in delays that I've put on myself from not putting, you know, things through in time or leaving rentos out too long or not getting quotes quick enough and not really maximizing it. I think if I look over the whole portfolio, there's definitely ways I could have been more organized and made made more or had quicker, shorter vacancies or quicker processes. Yeah. But it's all stuff that it's not, you know, like you you learn it over time.

SPEAKER_00

That's what I love about property investing. I think, and I want to ask you this in a minute of like what you think now and what your mindset is now. Because you I think we've got a good picture of what you're like at the start. I want to buy a piece of home because I'm not living in where I grew up anymore. Then it was like, I don't care what it is. If it stacks, it works. I want to do it. If there's a candy cane. Type thing out the front, doesn't matter, I'll buy it. But you have to almost become a different person as you keep property investing. It forces you to learn, it forces you to manage, it forces you to do something that normally, if you're just staying the status quo, work in the nine to five, you don't have to do that. Go to work, clock in, bing, bing, bing, couple of emails, couple of phone calls, go go home. Like you're not having to become a new or a better version of yourself, which I when I've seen you do that time and time again over the years. What what's your mindset like now in regards to property investing?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I think now I've seen so much results from it. It's it's easier to take on more than I think most people would be willing to jump into. Um, I remember having a meeting with a broker maybe February last year, and we went through like what's actually possible, and it it blew my mind. I was I've been in property for so long and you know, in in the industry, but just actually having someone say you could do this if you really wanted to, I think that opened me up to being like, just go for it.

SPEAKER_00

Like what does that mean? You couldn't do this if you really wanted to.

SPEAKER_01

I think it was just like how much I could accumulate in this window of time if I if I wanted to do that, and then you know, potentially bringing in some commercial assets, how that could look, where your cash flow could end up, if we sold these off. It was also good to see how much we had done so far because I think when you're surrounded by a lot of investors and a lot of people with massive portfolios, you're not looking at what you've actually achieved because it doesn't feel like, oh, that's probably not it's not enough yet to be celebrating, or it's not enough yet to be appreciating what I have. I gotta keep going. And that was more of like you could realistically hold this and get it would get you here, or you could go really hard. It just depends what you actually want. Um, and that's when it's so much that is so big.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What do you actually want?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Sorry, I'm interrupting because like I you said that and I was like, oh, like that, it hit it home hit home for me, you know? Yeah. Because as this accumulate to no end, what what for? Like, what are we doing all this for? You know, I've been quite vocal, like of recent, that majority of what I'm doing is like, how do I get more time with those three girls every week, every month? How do I have more experiences in my life that I want to have with those three girls? Other than that, my team, how do I take my team with me that they can achieve their goals with property, with finances, with their families, that they can do the same thing? And then it's the clients. And if I can kind of like help that type of pool community, that's what I I've but I had to really sit down to be like, what is it that I want?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What is it that you want?

SPEAKER_01

I uh I think I I just want to feel like at peace inside that I've got this property blanket almost that will protect me if in periods like right now where I haven't been working for three months. Um, and I it's like I don't feel as lost because I know I've got that, it's doing its thing, and I still love working. And I think there's a lot of people who love working. I don't want to retire in five years. I I enjoy working, but I also like that I've built something that even if it's not for me, if someone in my family was in a position where, you know, they had a medical bill for 200 grand, I could sell off something and I could help that situation versus relying on it, uh completely relying on income.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but I mean, I think when we had this chat with the broker, it was like you could buy 10 this year, or it was something like quite insane, or you could do two this year. And I think for me, it was like I was kind of in that middle ground of I don't want this to be everything for me. I don't want to not have any like life. I want to still be able to travel, I want to enjoy life. I don't want to be the stingy friend who's just putting every single cent into property and not enjoying time with people.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but I still want to continue building because I believe in property and I think what it can do, but I also want to see people around me more like what I have. I realistically would be happy to just sit on it right now and not do anything. But I do enjoy buying property and I I love building and I feel very calm buying property. It's not something that worries me. I think I went into, I bought another million dollars of property in like July last year after I'd been through some big life changes, and I was like a completely single female, taking on a lot more debt. And I still felt I felt stress in a way of I was clearing all my bank accounts to get into these purchases because they just happened to be at the same time.

SPEAKER_00

Ballsy moves.

SPEAKER_01

I think I was in America as well at the time, and it was just like a lot happening.

SPEAKER_00

But that goes against everything that everyone says. Don't drain your bank accounts. Always have a buffer, always do these things. Don't do that. But you do it, and you do it at a time where your life is being almost like not tipped upside down, but restructured a lot.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Bold move.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I had this the number two that I'd bought settling in like a few weeks. So I knew the money was gonna come back in and I was gonna be okay. But it was just like, my gosh, I'm like literally. I think my my sister had had my old car for like a year, and she kept saying, I'm gonna pay you for it. And I think I said to her the day before settlement, I said, I'll give you my car for two grand if you give it to me today. Because I literally had cash. I like my bank account had like ten dollars in it. I was like, if you uh you can have this car for whatever price, whatever you can transfer me right now is what you get it for. I don't actually care, I just need cash. So I was like, that was that was a low point in finances.

SPEAKER_00

And so you you've gone from doing crazy structurally defected houses to now all the way at the end, you're like, all right, I've got this blanket. I like to call it a moat. You built this moat around your not much can come in without you like really seeing it and you being able to defend against it. And now you want to help some people. It seems like you want to be in a position, like a lot of the you said, like, if I if someone close to me, a loved one, needed some help, you're in a position to help.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Based on all the sacrifices and hard decisions you made before, going through all the Q cats and these true and claims on that type of stuff. Incredible place to be.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I think I've also like had a bit more of an appreciation for for just like life. And I think you can build so much for like your future you, but then you've still got to have something for you now. And um, like I had some health stuff back in February where it was like for a little bit there, like a bit scary. And it did make me think like so much stuff is not important, and just having like an enjoyable life and being able to have a bit of freedom and go do things, because realistically, it could be taken away from you very quickly. You you could have not have this life anymore. And what you've just built, you've you've probably spent less time with your family, less time with your friends, and not done things you wanted to to build this thing for the future. Even like I am constantly battling in my own head with renting because I just find I just want to have a home. I do I do want to. Yeah, and I know it may not be the best investment move for me. But again, if I don't want to build super, super aggressive and I could get something that I get so much peace from and I can still invest on my in my way, I would rather that right now. Because I think it is nice to have something that's yours and uh, you know, somewhere you can come home and you're like, this is this is mine. Like I know that you can do more without it, but if it brings you joy, like you can have things taken away tomorrow. So I'd rather be content.

SPEAKER_00

I'm I that's something that Jail and I have explored so much. We you know, we went to Tony Robbins back in 2024, and so much of that time was exploring these what do we want? Yeah, and so a lot of it came back to for us. We had a miscarriage in between Gigi and Zoe. And I remember that was full rock bottom for us. It bonded us so much closer together. But it's like we want a family and we want to live an extraordinary life with our family. And then you're like, all these other things, when you reconnect with that, you're like, oh yeah, all of these other things are just things, or they're they're they're not that important when you realize and you fixate on like these and you're saying, I want to buy my own place because that's what I want. When we work with a client, we always define like all right, cool, but what's your goal? What's your goal? You it might be to buy the owner occupy house, it might be to go as hard as you possibly can. What's your goal? Great, let's create a strategy for to achieve it. These are the properties you need to acquire to fulfill the strategy, and we'll help you manage your portfolio. Simple. Yesterday I had a call with a couple. What do you think we should do? We bought 60 investment properties, we've got our own rock, we've maybe only got 500k debt left on it, or something like that. Should we sell it and go harder? Or yes, you can. Or should we just like take some equity out and just like buy another one from the portfolio? Yeah, yes, you can. Like you can do all those things.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What do you guys want to do? They kind of look at each other. Yeah, we kind of flip-flop. We don't really know. I was like, I think that once you unlock that and you you've spent some really good personal time in the last few months soul searching and figuring out what do you want? I feel like that is these things is properties, tools, little levers that you pull to have the life you want.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

We started this business because we sold a place in Rockhampton. Bang, it gave us the funds to have an office, have staff, or was that a good investment decision? Rockhampton's done really well since we started. But the business has done okay too. Yeah. And we wanted to make this step. So it's like it's it gives you options. Anyway. A bit of a tangent because you what you said like just ignited something in me.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What do you think now about the property market as a whole? You know, you've where you've been, where you are now. What what's your view on the property market?

SPEAKER_01

I think it's it's obviously very different to five years ago when you could buy properties in the twos. Um, but I think watching things grow each market, and they start at different points and they grow to different points. I still think it is such a great, a great lever for people to build that security and have it alongside. I still think there's so much opportunity in the property market. There's still things you can get into under seven, six hundred thousand. I think the options for first timers still getting in, they're still there. You've got to know what you're doing. And um, I've been talking a bit about Reddit lately and how I get into my deep diving on Reddit. And it's a very negative place, especially as a first-timer. You would look on there and I actually am going to delete the app because it got into my head.

SPEAKER_02

I need to get rid of it. It's very toxic.

SPEAKER_01

I think I started it for the most random reason, and then it was like, oh, what are you interested in? And Australian property market was the interest. And obviously, there's a lot going on right now. But that that Reddit for me, it was my only connection to the property world. I wasn't really like for the last few months in touch with it, other than until last week I got the appraisal on my house. And in my head, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so negative. I don't, I don't think I'm I'm glad I'm not in the property industry right now. This same seems so stressful. But then you start talking to agents, and I'm still friends with a lot of the agents I've worked with and hearing what they're saying, it's like it's a completely different world. But I just can't imagine being someone trying to do it on your own. And if you are looking on something like that, the negativity and how scary it is, and people go on and they say, Did I make a mistake buying this property? And everyone's like, Yeah, you're gonna lose money. This has happened, this is happening. You're an idiot. Why would you do that? Being commenting, trying to be like, No, it's really good. Just just check this one thing and it'll be okay. I feel like I need to just stop because I'm just gonna get hate. But I think even coming here and being around all of you guys and like hearing again, like what I'm used to hearing about the property industry and and the way clients feel and the way agents are seeing things and the way sellers are achieving what they're wanting to because the markets are still so strong, it is reassuring. And I think it just shows the power of being around the right environment. Otherwise, you will just sit on all of this research for so long, you'll never pull the trigger because it'll just daunt you because it's not. I think negativity gets a lot more attention than positivity does. So um, I think there's it's been refreshing coming back and hearing how everyone's talking. And yeah, like it is such a I love property. I do really love property, and I think it's such a great thing. And I love getting to educate people like I'm around a lot of people who aren't exposed to property and getting to teach them like those little bits to get onto their journey. I I love it. I think it's so exciting and yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What what's your plan with your portfolio now? Like you you do you have a plan, do you have a strategy, or is it just to buy the owner orc?

SPEAKER_01

Well, I would like to get back into investing once I am working again.

unknown

Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Need a little bit of a candy for the serviceability.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um, there's a few levers I definitely want to pull in the portfolio as well. I would love to eventually get into commercial. I think that's a big goal, is to pick something up there. Um, it's hard because I was really looking at selling another property and then even talking to you yesterday, you're like, why selling it though? Like, what's the reason? I'm like, I don't actually know why I'm selling it. I think I just thought I can take like 350 grand out of this house and just have it. But I can't buy with it right now. I don't have a job. So it's just gonna sit there and I'm gonna be like, oh, cool. But it may as well just sit in the house that it's in and potentially keep growing, like WA's been doing pretty well. So um I think once I'm back working, I'd love to pick up some more house. I'd love to get into the Vic market, which I'm not in. Oh, yeah. So I think that'll be step one, and then eventually look to do something with commercial. I think once I have, I'm very I think I always need a purpose. And right now I'm in this phase where it's like, well, what is it? And I think the house, owning a home probably feels like it would bring me that piece of something.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. But I do think when you're still traveling for a few months, you've still got plenty of um gallivanting to do.

SPEAKER_01

Um, but I think once like things are back in normal rhythm, um, it'll be over the next 12 months. I think I I think I will look to pick up something that feels like home. But I think I'll, you know, create a plan where it's like you've got to do this first, and then that's gonna be your reward for picking that up, and then you can celebrate by getting a house if you haven't burnt through all your services.

SPEAKER_00

Um so it's it seems a bit fluid in regards to the timing. Um, but the the the goal would be to keep building the property portfolio and add an owner rock in there in the next 12 months or so.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I'm just not aggressive. I'm not, I don't think I'm gonna. I was the first to be.

SPEAKER_00

You struck me as a very aggressive person.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. The first 12 months I did four in that 12 months, and I think that was great. But then I look at my portfolio after that. It was like I finished in April 2022, the next one I didn't buy till February 23, the next one I didn't buy till February 24, the next one I didn't buy till February 25. I had a year off constantly, and I know in that time period I could have made a lot more. I could have bought a lot more, they would have done a lot more. But I I don't care. I I like what I've done. I'm happy with what I've done. I'm not I don't need all this money. I don't need a hundred properties. I I'm really comfortable with what I've been doing. I enjoy working, and I think it's just a perfect balance of life whilst putting money in. And a lot of the properties that I bought, I did use savings to get into and a lot of like 20% deposits. So I was still sacrificing a lot. Yeah, but I still just had balance and it and I got to travel. And I think even those first few years, I think 2020 I made 40 grand that year. 2021, I think I made 90. It was my first year receiving commissions. I wasn't on massive money or anything.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But I think it's also helped in now like just still I still sacrifice a bit, but I I have more enjoyment in life.

SPEAKER_00

Lifestyle. Lifestyle return. Big, big investment. Yeah, for sure. You're traveling, you've got a new flame, and you're like experiencing a lot of fun stuff in life, which is like, do you go hard again in property investing, or do you enjoy that seasoned stage of life you're in? You know, like I think that's that's the best, you know? You've made all these sacrifices and done all this hard work so that you can enjoy this stage without any pressure. I've got to work, I've got to do this, I've got to do that. Yeah. Because you've you've done something at a at a high level for a long time.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What like right now, what advice would you give to a girl in her late 20s, been successful in her careers, got some money piling up? What do I do with it? Like, what advice would you love to give to yourself without the property portfolio?

SPEAKER_01

I think one thing about the property industry, it is all all all or nothing almost. If you want to invest, it's like you've got to go so hard. Yeah. And I think as a female, you aren't naturally that aggressive to want to go crazy. And if you're not around those people, it's kind of like, if I'm not gonna do that, maybe I shouldn't do anything or I should buy just a home. But I think just like just taking that first step and picking up your first property, you don't have to stretch yourself too thin. You can buy stuff in in you know affordable markets still with good yields. You're gonna be comfortable. It's it's realistically, it's going to do well. Even if it doesn't grow hundreds of thousands in in the first 12 months or the second 12 months, you're still gonna get into the market. You've still got an asset that's growing. I think once you're in, you'll also relax a bit, and then you might decide, oh, I I really enjoyed that process. I'm gonna see where my equity is in six months and go again. But I do think it's just overcoming that first step, especially if you are on your own and it's like daunting to do it. I I feel property is a very, it can be a very safe avenue to do, and it's obviously my preference because I'm used to it. But I think not overcomplicating it in your head either and thinking, well, if I'm gonna invest, I've got to follow in the footsteps of all these very aggressive property investors and go all in and like make all this cash. Just just get in, like just get into the market, and then that will probably calm you enough that you might decide, I'm gonna keep working, I'm gonna keep saving, and I'm gonna keep building the portfolio. I feel like as much as I built a massive portfolio, it's happened very naturally and like years between, like one year, one year, one year. You don't have to be aggressive to still in five years have made you know two million dollars at property. It's just getting in and getting started.

SPEAKER_00

I feel like you're you're similar to me. You're a very people person. And I think like people per people people like to talk, right? If there are any people, people out there that are thinking about property investing, um, what's a good way for them to reach out to you to talk about these type of things you're talking about? Because it can become so overwhelming in your head if you don't have someone, a voice of reason to talk to that has got the receipts. I've I've been there, I've done that, here's my receipts. Is is there a way that people can talk to you about this type of stuff?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I always love talking about property. I still get people message me now just like asking for you know how to handle even a tenancy situation. Yeah. Um, but maybe Instagram is probably like the best way to message, which is what is my Instagram? Morgan GM Homes, H-O-L-M-E S. So I'm definitely always open to chatting and talking property because I am very passionate about it and do do love it a lot. But I also know we've got so much so much experience in the the highs and lows of property that it's it's nice to be able to give that to someone and pass that on and help people get through what can be scarier. Um, whether they've got the property, they're wanting to get into the property, just giving them the support. I get a lot of I get a lot of joy out of it.

SPEAKER_00

Me too. I like just talking about it and just like this is what's possible. Yeah, there is fear, and I still have a bit of fear each time I do something. And I did drain the bank accounts, you've drained the bank accounts to do deals. I don't know if I recommend it, but I did it and it worked out really well. Yeah. Um at the time, when I when we drained our bank account twice, early days, it really put a real strain on my marriage and our life because it was like Jamie Lee was like, Yep, sweet, that's what you want to do, invest in property. And then like it starts to impact our life for the three months before we do the deal, and then three months after we do it to rebuild the savings. And it's like this is really shit to live like this, like counting every dollar, checking every single purchase, blah blah blah. Do we do we buy it? Do we not? Is there a cheaper option? That's tough. But um, it worked out. It worked out along.

SPEAKER_01

But it is like it is hard when it's you're renting and you're building this portfolio and on paper you've got you've got properties, but you don't have money in the bank and you're renting something that you're probably not super comfortable in. Yeah. It is something that you've got to get past, and it's hard because as much as I don't think we'd have you'd say we have big egos, it's still, it is does affect your ego when you're like, I know what I'm doing, but no one else knows what I'm doing, and I don't have much money right now, but I'm doing all of these things, and it it can be a little bit hard. And I think sometimes you do just need someone to say, like, you're doing good, like proud of you, or and especially when you're comparing yourself. If if you are in the property industry getting started, you're probably comparing yourself to someone who's just a little bit above you or a bit above you, and thinking you're not there yet. But like I love when if someone's run, I think at a festival someone saw me and had said like they had heard me and they knew my brother, and um, they were like so inspired, and they had just bought their first one. Like that's so I know I've got done this, but like that's so amazing that you've gotten into your first property. Like I think, I think that's still incredible. I I'm so proud of anyone that gets into it. I think it's such a massive achievement.

SPEAKER_00

Can I wrap on this? Right? Putting you on the spot. This is not on the notes. Right now, if you had cash, where where are you going? What where are you going? What are you buying?

SPEAKER_01

I would love to buy in VIC, a nice, probably regional VIC, around 600,000, something cute, solid, good rental yield. I feel like you can still get stuff close to 5%. That's where I'd be going.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Regional VIC market, around 600.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And you're getting a house. At 600, you're getting a house.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, probably something a bit older.

SPEAKER_00

Let's say you had 250. 250k. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_01

Can you can you still get stuff with 250?

SPEAKER_00

No, no, I'm talking 250k cash. Oh. Which is pure cold hard cash. And you don't even have it in the bank. You're you've got 250k cash on the table for deposits, closing costs. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01

I'd probably stretch it to a house, and there's a few unit markets that I still think are good yields, getting even into a potentially like a metro market somewhere. I think if you're able to kind of do both.

SPEAKER_00

Regional Vic house?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, maybe like a metro.

SPEAKER_00

And a metro unit.

SPEAKER_01

I think as well with like land tax and things, getting into the units, a it's a good idea if you are in a different stage of lending. It's probably gonna save a little bit there too.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. We we bought this absolute banger, I feel like. One by one by one in Foot Scray. Um 50 something square meters, ground floor, had a little outdoor patio, 325, currently rented for 425. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking like that first property just getting in. You need something that's got strong rental yield to like cover the buffer. I think the body corps were a bit over, bit under three grand a year. That's like this is I don't think it's a forever hold, but I think it's like it gets them in, yeah, they're gonna get some decent growth, boss equity out, and they're gonna start building wealth. Yeah. But you're it sounds like you're saying similar thing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Regional Vic and in the metro.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think if I was starting out, yeah, you'd be trying to get into if if you are capped on just trying to get in, it's like just get into a unit market. Like get into something before things run away from you. Because you might struggle to catch up if you're trying to get to the house. But at least if you can get into a unit market, like just get in.

SPEAKER_00

What's the what do you think about the fallacy of no units?

SPEAKER_01

I think when houses were so affordable, it was like, why would you buy a unit when you can get a house for the same better yield you actually have a piece of land? But I think now the market, the markets Australia wide are changed. There isn't there isn't affordable house options to that degree unless you're literally going to the sticks where you're probably not going to see growth. You might get an okay rental yield, but you're just relying on like the national average, maybe for a little bit of growth. Um, but I think the units now, like they they make sense for affordable. I look at what I would be willing to buy now to just have a piece of home. I'd be happy to live in, you know, a nice unit on the Gold Coast. Like I think also people are busier. Again, the lifestyle, people want more time back. A unit's easier to take care of and live in a unit. So I think I think it's still it makes sense now. I don't think it made sense five years ago when you could buy 200k in Logan and WA and Adelaide, but now when that's your only affordable option, I definitely think it makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_00

I've just like put you on the spot with a bunch of stuff. Your experience shows that you know fundamentals, that you know markets, you know how trends work and how markets move. But that's exactly what I wanted to get out of this episode. Thank you so much for coming in. It has been unreal talking to you, unpacking the mindsets, the property portfolio, what you've been through. Thanks so much, Morgs.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00

Thanks so much for listening to the Moves to Momentum podcast. If you got any value out of this episode, please give us a like or subscribe. Or if you think this is relevant to any one of your friends or family, please flick it to them so they can have a listen.