‘Kinda dumb’ way investor turned $40k into fortune

A former retail worker has revealed the controversial way he turned the $40k in super he had from working jobs as a teen into an impressive fortune.

A 32-year-old property investor has revealed how he turned the lacklustre $40,000 super balance he attained from working retail jobs in his teens into a $2 million retirement fund.

Eddie Dilleen started buying property 14 years ago while still working at McDonalds and has since built a real estate empire of more than 100 properties worth close to $65 million.

Most of these properties have been purchased with equity he drew from previous purchases that had grown quickly in value, a process known in the banking world as leverage.

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He also purchased the bulk of his homes in areas with high rents relative to the mortgage costs.

This meant he spent little of his own money on the properties and could continue getting loan approval for new purchases.

Mr Dilleen, who grew up in housing commission in Sydney’s west and now works as a buyer’s agent, revealed he also took advantage of a quirk in superannuation policies to help build his fortune.

Property investor Eddie Dilleen has used his super to help build his fortune. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

It’s helped him build his super balance to a handy $2 million.

He said he was inspired to take action when he realised he had just $40,000 sitting in his super fund a few years ago.

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“The way I saw things, properties – if you bought them in the right areas – were going up in value way faster than any superannuation fund. It didn’t make sense to leave that money in there,” he said.

He decided the answer was to set up a self-managed super fund or SMSF which he could use as another vehicle to spur new investments. The SMSF set up a trust through which he could purchase.

“It cost about $3,500 to set up, which came out of my super, and was all done by an accountant,” Mr Dilleen said.

Mr Dilleen has $2m in super at age 32.

“You don’t pay any capital gains on properties in a (SMSF) if you’ve retired so it was also a nice way to reduce any tax I’d be paying.”

He said the process by which he built his super balance from $40,000 to $2 million was fairly straightforward in the beginning.

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In 2018, he used much of the initial funds sitting in his super as a deposit and stamp duty for a property in Woodridge, a suburb in the Logan area of Brisbane. It was priced at $153,000.

The original Woodridge property was later sold for $260,000. The profit was pumped into new purchases.

The first property Eddie Dilleen bought with his SMSF was this property in Woodridge.

This included a property in the Brisbane suburb of Beenleigh, priced at $135,000. That property was then sold for $395,000 thanks to incredible rises in home values across the area.

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This process of capitalising on the rapid equity gains in his properties was repeated to buy subsequent properties through his SMSF.

His Beenleigh property was bought for $135,000 and sold for $395,000.

Another one of his super investments was property he bought for $150,000 and sold for $275,000.

“The loan had just $80,000 still owing when I sold. I cashed out that $180,000 and used it to buy three more properties.

“Basically, what I am doing is I am leveraging properties that are doubling in value, deleveraging and then splitting up the liquidity by spreading the cash into new properties to build up my balance.

“Right now I have seven properties in my super and if I sold them all I’d get over $2 million.”

Another one of his SMSF properties is this house in Mount Warren Park, Qld.

Mr Dilleen conceded that this strategy was highly risky but he added that he figured it was better than the alternative.

“If I had just stuck the course with my super I would have only $100,000 in there. With this strategy, I turned what would have been $100,000 into $2 million.

“Property investors need to get on to this more. What I’ve done is better, 20 to one.

“It’s not for everyone, of course. The first few purchases, I was shit scared. But after two or three I got more confidence. I then I realised I’d be stupid not to do this more.

“I know this all sounds arrogant, but what helps is that I have a good eye for spotting undervalued property and that’s what makes this whole approach work.”

Many of his recent purchases have been in Perth, where values are booming.

He added that he has benefitted from the incredible rises in property prices seen since Covid hit in 2020 and feels he has been rewarded for taking a bold approach.

“The average investor sees the drawback (of an SMSF) as the ongoing accounting fees and it’s about $2,500 a year. Most avoid this to save money, I do it to make money,” he said.

“There are restrictions in what you can do. You can’t buy a property to live in it. You have to rent to a normal tenant, not to a friend and has to be rented at market value.

“Otherwise, if you can service the debt, they will lend for it. To me it’s full proof. Nothing can go wrong because I have figured out how to mitigate the risk.”

He also does lots of bulk buys.

One mortgage broker approached for this story recommended investors interested in pursuing a similar strategy approach SMSFs with caution.

“Buying property with your super is a really smart way to make money if you’re an experienced buyer and you know what you’re doing but in certain situations it can be kind of dumb,” the broker said.

“Some people will have their finger on the pulse and know which markets are great to buy in right now, but that’s not most people so this is definitely not something a novice should do.”

Mr Dilleen added that he didn’t believe there was anything wrong with investors snapping up multiple properties, even if there were many first-home buyers unable to land a foot on the property ladder.

“There’s a positive way to look at it and a negative way,” he said.

“I grew up poor and broke. Some think I am taking opportunities away from others, but at the end of day investors are providing rental homes. Government needs this.

“I know from childhood that there aren’t enough government homes. We waited 10 years for social housing. If there weren’t investors, where would all the people who can’t get bank loans live?

“The economy needs investors ... I was negative at first too. I thought f*** this s***: the rich get rich, the poor get poor. But I’ve learned not to hate the player or the game. Learn the game. Learn the rules. Figure out how to play it and win it.”

Originally published as ‘Kinda dumb’ way investor turned $40k into fortune