Sydney father reveals secret to buying eight homes in 16 years on $120k income
A Sydney father who moved to Australia as a 21-year-old student in 2007, reveals his top tips for scoring multiple investment properties.
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When Sydney man Lakhwinder Singh arrived in Australia as a 21-year-old student, he only had $1800 to his name and spent some nights sleeping on the street.
Now, 16 years on, he is the proud owner of eight properties across four states, collectively valued at $4.5 million.
The father of two boys moved to NSW in 2007 with the intention of studying so he could one day apply for permanent residency.
Things didn’t come easy for the migrant worker, who on one occasion ended up homeless after he was booted from a friend’s rental property.
But following a rough few months of settling in, Mr Singh eventually leased a home with five other men and worked at a car wash and the local Hungry Jacks to stay afloat.
Six years later, the then 27-year-old married his wife in India, got a new job as a baker and became a permanent Australian resident, which encouraged him to buy his first property.
“I was in a bit of a rush, I knew I had to do something so in 2014 I put my first deposit on an off-the-plan townhouse in Glenfield NSW,” he told news.com.au.
However, an issue with the builder and an increase in property prices saw Mr Singh’s plans fall through.
“I didn’t know property spruikers existed or the rules and regulations around property contracts. I realised the need to educate myself first before jumping into the property market,” he said.
After 12 months of research and attending property investment seminars, Mr Singh learnt “the tricks of the trade” and put a deposit on a house in Elderslie NSW.
“While buying this property my serviceability was borderline, so I decided to take on a second job while working full time (as a baker),” he said.
Eventually Mr Singh had increased his borrowing capacity, so “with a bit of creativity,” he was able to purchase a second home.
“Even though I was working almost two full-time jobs my income still wasn’t that high, it was more like $65,000 from the full time job and $40,000 from my second job, which was an extra 30 hours a week,” he said.
In 2016, he expanded his portfolio to Queensland and purchased two more properties using some of the equity he made from his investments and some personal savings.
His strategy to stay financially afloat involved ensuring each property had enough cash flow to cover mortgage repayments plus any additional costs involved in servicing properties.
But Mr Singh’s tricks didn’t end there, with the baker dipping into his $250,000 worth of superannuation to purchase his next home in South Australia.
“My super was lower than most financial planners advised to have in super prior to exploring this avenue but I decided to set up a self-managed super fund (SMSF) anyway to invest in lower value property,” he said.
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Mr Singh planned to rent out this property for the next ten years with the goal of doubling his super so he could purchase commercial property, but the market had other plans.
“The property experienced 60 per cent growth in one and a half years on the back of my property research and Covid, so I decided to sell it and am now looking to acquire commercial property in the near future,” he said.
In 2020, property prices took a nose dive due to the pandemic, so Mr Singh used the opportunity to purchase two more homes, one in South Australia and another in Queensland.
Mr Singh and his wife were making about $120,000 in income at the time and purchased the homes with some equity from his other investments.
His family and friends wanted to learn the family’s secrets so the baker turned his passion for investing into a full-time job and got his real estate licence.
“Income from my business helped me access my portfolio equity again and I have recently acquired another property in Western Australia,” he said.
“So the tally so far is I’ve bought seven properties and sold one, and am in the process of buying another one as we speak.”
The Singh family’s secrets to success
Mr Singh is now using his experience and knowledge as a property investor to inspire others to dip their toes into the market, as Australia’s housing affordability crisis continues.
His first tip to prospective investors is to find a property that’s 30 per cent house and 70 per cent land.
“Property has the potential to go up if there’s more land as land appreciates while buildings depreciate,” he said.
“That’s why I don’t buy units because I like to have a high land-value ratio.”
Another way to break into the housing market through investing is by purchasing a home in an affordable area, Mr Singh said.
This way, a homeowner can grow their deposit for their own home by earning rent and building their personal savings.
“The property they buy in another state will grow in value as well, so instead of saving up for a deposit for a million dollar house, they should start small by investing straight away,” he said.
As a guide, depending on where his homes are located and their value, Mr Singh leases his properties between $450 and $620 per week.
‘No pain, no gain’
Mr Singh worked tirelessly to build his property portfolio, stating that there’s “short term pain for long term gain”.
“At one time because I was working two jobs, I didn’t have enough time to sleep. I really only got five or six hours a night so that was tough,” he said.
The father also added work-life balance was hard to maintain while working almost 60-hour weeks so he had to leave one job to spend some more time with his wife and kids.
“It’s not going to be easy to get the Australian dream … investors should be ready for that,” he said.
The Singh family also sticks to a strict budget to manage their expenses, inspired by Mr Singh’s earlier years as a student.
“I always drive the cheapest car, and personally I don’t spend any money (on non-necessities),” he said.
Plans for the future
While the Value Buyers founder will spend the next year building on his business, it doesn’t mean his investing journey will come to an end.
“My aim is to build my portfolio even higher … and reach a $10 million portfolio value,” Mr Singh said.
At the same time, he’s using platforms like TikTok and Instagram to share his hacks to help other prospective buyers get into the market and build their portfolios.
“At the moment, everybody’s worried interest rates are going to go out of hand … and they don’t want to invest in a property or buy a house but they need to understand … interest rates always fluctuate,” he said.
“This is an opportunity, even though it’s hard to buy a house, if they can get into the market they’re probably going to make a lot more money than people who are going to wait.”
Originally published as Sydney father reveals secret to buying eight homes in 16 years on $120k income
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