In this episode, he unfolds the horrifying account of how his life was changed in an instant over 20 years ago, the little albeit determined steps he took after, and how he came out stronger on the other side. Plus, he shares how a simple advice that started as an offhand suggestion ultimately changed the course of his life and eventually brought him to a place of property investing success today.

Timestamps:
01:04 | Making the Most of Every Minute
04:52 | Growing Up on the Border
08:18 | Taking Steps
11:35 | From Canberra to Sydney
13:50 | Trickery
16:38 | Multiplex Exposure
22:42 | Keep Your Insurance
28:06 | Harnessing His Positive Outlook

Resources and Links:

[00:28:06] I suppose it comes back to an attitude. Like, even though I came out of hospital, my leg healed, and, over a period of time, my head healed to a point. It really came down to making a decision that, 'Hey, I'm the breadwinner. I made a commitment to my wife [that] I'Il look after her and my kids'.

This is Property Investory where we talk to successful property investors to find out more about their stories, mindset and strategies.

 

I’m Tyrone Shum and in this episode we’re speaking with Raymond Hempstead, the managing director of 'One Contract Property'. Previously an accountant, his life was changed in an instant over 20 years ago which led him to where he is now. Hempstead didn’t let a mountain of obstacles get in his way—and he certainly wasn’t waiting until he was 57 to become a success.

Tyrone Shum:   

A big part of Hempstead’s day is running his business. He helps people buy property using their superannuation, and has an eight-year public product ruling across that aspect. He’s a testament to overcoming the odds to make every minute of life count— starting at 4 AM most days!

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:01:04] I'll do some quiet time. So for the first hour and a half, it's on me. And then I get into the office— emails, planning [a] to-do list, what properties we'll have coming up or settlements. And then we end up start[ing] the day with the team at 8:30 with a Teams meeting with all the people in the office and Zoom meetings for the staff around the country. And then we're into our day.

Tyrone Shum:   

Working from home has been a blessing, as it allows him to use his space productively— and takes away his commute time from Dural to the CBD!

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:01:48] We've got a tri-level house. And so the lower ground level of the house has been converted into the offices. And we have 16 staff that come here most days, but the BDMs [Business Development Managers] are out on the road.

   

[00:02:00] If they're not out on the road meetings, then they're in here. But yeah, we've got a fairly good work environment, I reckon a really good work environment and culture across the business. But there's a door that comes down the stairs into the office. And at the end of the day, it's nice to shut that door at times.

  

[00:02:48] I know I've fallen into that trap some mornings where I know there's a lot of stuff on. A bit of stress. And instead of getting up and going for my walk I’ll come down to the office at four o'clock. And I found that those days [when] I miss my walk and the quiet time a lot harder. So literally being focused and going and doing the walk, doing the exercise, having the quiet time, reflecting, and then starting the day—I find those days go much better.

Tyrone Shum:   

One way he’s found to reduce stress is to incorporate exercise into his day, and he doesn’t need to leave home for that, either.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:03:32] I suppose we're blessed. I've got a 300-metre driveway going up to the road, and it's got a bit of a good incline to it. So it's half an hour [of] walking up and back there. So I'm off the road. But yeah, it's still dark. 

  

[00:03:45] A funny story, the other morning— We get our bins collected on Monday morning, and I pulled one of the bins back down the driveway. And the neighbors next door —and this was actually a little bit earlier I started—but the noise of the rubbish bin actually woke up the roosters. And so, literally, there was half a dozen roosters around the surrounding properties that were going off the tree at four o'clock in the morning.

  

[00:04:15] I don't think my neighbours liked me that morning.

Tyrone Shum:   

Hempstead grew up in Queanbeyan, just outside of Canberra. He attended local public schools before he left when he was 18, choosing Sydney over nearby Canberra for one very good reason.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:04:52] I didn't want to become a public servant. But I'd actually left school in Year 11. Got my real estate qualifications [in] a real estate sales and agency course. And I sold property in North Lyneham in ACT when it was a greenfield site—and I hated it. 

  

[00:05:11] Back then, it just wasn't for me. It didn't suit me. And I came back to the restaurant one night with my fiance, and I quit. And she said, like, 'What are you going to do?' And I said, 'I don't know'. This is how much thought I gave to my future. I'm sitting there eating pasta, and she said—and now understand, I'd been engaged for like three or four weeks, so she's really excited by that decision.

  

[00:05:37] She said, 'You were really good at maths at school. Why don't you become an accountant?' And I— literally between mouthfuls— I took a mouthful and said, ‘Okay’. And two weeks later, I had a trainee accountancy role with a medium-sized chartered accounting firm in North Sydney. And so I did that for the next 16 years.

Tyrone Shum:   

Growing up in Queanbeyan meant he got to experience a countryside childhood where he had the ability to hop on his bike and ride to his heart’s content.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:06:11] I had some mates that used to have property, probably a 45- [to] 50-minute ride outside of Queanbeyan. And just being able to spend time out in the country. When I was growing up, that was really nice.

  

[00:06:26] Back then, it was just a little road racer. 

  

[00:06:33] So it was a big ride going out towards Burra, if anybody knows the Queanbeyan area, going out to Burra past Googong Dam out that side.

  

[00:06:41] It's some nice countryside out there.

Tyrone Shum:   

The reason he got into real estate was because of his dad. He, and some other influential adults in his life after he finished school, taught him much more than he expected to learn.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:08:18] I love my dad— [he’s a] very, very brilliant man with computers, not so much with finances. Like, he was a workie. He was a great workie. He taught me some great work ethics.

  

[00:08:28] But when I left school, I had a part-time job in a shoe store. And the owners John [and] Maria—they actually took me under their wing and I started as a trainee manager in their shoe store. 

  

[00:08:41] They were small business owners and also property investors. So that was the start of my understanding about, one, business, but also, into property and what property could do. So I take my hat off to John and Maria—they gave me a lot of information and education around that in what they were doing. I think they had— Back then, they had six properties across [the] ACT that they were renting out and investing in.

  

[00:09:27] He literally took me— He had two girls, and he literally took me under his wing like his son. Like, I was still an employee. But I was privy to how they ran the business: the cash flow, the stock control, how you— like in the shoe store—how you're ordering six months in advance for next season's fashions. Or they had a 24-hour supermarket that I was involved with—like, working in there with them. 

  

[00:09:51] Again, stock control, the day-to-day process—even silly things that everybody can understand: just dusting down shelves. I had... My dad taught me a great work ethic, and I was a good worker. But up until then, I wasn't exposed to business and what the potential of business and property could do. And so yeah, it was a blessing actually meeting them.

Tyrone Shum:   

The job helped to open his eyes to the potential opportunities that were out there, as well as to take him to new places.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:10:33] We even got on site. And because I was cheap labor...actually [I was] even doing earthworks, like just doing some renos on that side of it. And I got to fly up to Queensland a few times with them, because they were looking at properties in Queensland. 

  

[00:10:49] We got to fly around and actually inspect properties and the potential purchases that they're looking at that stage as well. Huge, huge eye opener. 

Tyrone Shum:   

While Hempstead was working with John and Maria, they encouraged him to get his real estate qualifications. What started as an offhand suggestion ultimately changed the course of his life.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:11:35] I did it along with Maria, the wife, and we went to Reed TAFE, down in [the] ACT. The plan was to actually move to Queensland together and start up a real estate agency in Queensland. And during that period of time, I'd met my now wife, my fiance. 

  

[00:11:53] And so I made the decision at that stage to actually step away from them— which was heartbreaking for them and for me— but step away from them and start selling in North Lyneham and [the] ACT. And I did that for about three and a half months. And that's where I went from that. And it didn't suit who I was at that stage in the direct selling.

 

[00:12:31] And I was an 18-year-old kid. Like, I've got a few greys now, and people said to me, 'Raymond, you're never going to be successful in real estate until you go grey'. I said, ‘I’ve got to wait until 57 to become successful?’

 

[00:12:52] But yeah, when you're an 18- [or] 19-year-old kid trying to sell someone a $400,000 and $500,000 and $600,000 property…

[00:13:04] It was a challenging time. It was interesting, though.

Tyrone Shum:   

[00:13:07] So it's three months after that you had that decision. And then after that, it was pretty much straight to Sydney. Is that what happened?

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:13:15] In those few minutes that I was thinking about it, a lot of my friends and family were in the government service, or public servants. And I didn't see myself there. And so, then when my wife said, 'Become an accountant', it was like, 'Okay'. So then I spent the next two weeks, like the next couple of days, applying for jobs and then driving back up and down between Queanbeyan and Sydney for interviews. 

Coming up after the break, he details how his first day on the job wasn’t quite what he expected…

[00:14:11] And I rock up to work on Monday, all excited.

How his business mindset took him to Bathurst…

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:18:37] My wife fell pregnant fairly quickly. And then our first child was born 13 months later. So it was very much focused on business: How can I make money? How can I support my family?

He explains how attitude is everything.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:28:25] And I could have easily sat back and just whinged and bitched and complained or just get out there and do something.

And that’s next. I’m Tyrone Shum and you’re listening to Property Investory.

Tyrone Shum:
In his quest for an accounting role outside of the public service, Hempstead successfully landed a job. He thought he’d walk in on his first day and get to work, but his new company had other plans.

Raymond Hempstead:  

[00:13:50] The agent called the company I was working with said, 'Okay, you start on Monday'. Great. So I found myself a little shoebox, in the back of a house that was a converted house. It was like literally a converted laundry. It had a bed in it and a fridge in North Sydney. And so I got that on like a Saturday, and I was supposed to start work on the Monday.

  

[00:14:11] And I rock up to work on Monday, all excited. And I walk up, catch the lift up to the floor, and it's gutted. There's nothing there. I'm beside myself. I've just moved from Queanbeyan to Sydney. I'm here. And the place is deserted.

  

[00:14:11] Long story short— over the weekend, they actually, like previously to me starting, they’d bought a building about two streets away, and they bought a three-storey building themselves. But no one remembered to actually tell me to rock up the new building, not the old building. 

  

[00:14:50] A couple of days of... and their phones weren't connected. And so literally [it was after a] couple of days before we connected again and I came...yeah. I was literally looking to move back to Queanbeyan again. They caught me and then we started.

 

[00:15:42] It was an older building, but they gutted it and fitted it out nicely. 

 

[00:15:47] So it was nice, like, I'm coming into a medium-sized chartered accounting office as a newbie. And I love the smell of a new property. As you walk in, and I still remember that today. Going up the stairs and walking in. That was an exciting time.

Tyrone Shum:   

He stayed in accounting for 16 years, but didn’t stay with the one company for that entire time. After getting married, he moved on with his career.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:16:38] And then I went as an assistant financial controller with an Australia-Chinese joint venture company. And then after that, I moved out into my own businesses. 

  

[00:16:48] But while I was with DH & Co, I was exposed to, I suppose, the high-end or the bigger end of construction in dealing with multiplex. So back then, there was a lot of subcontractors going broke from multiplex construction sites. And so, the accounting firm had a relationship with Multiplex. 

  

[00:17:11] They would actually audit any subcontractors coming onto site. And if they failed the audit, then the accountancy practice would take over the management of that company while they're on the multiplex site. 

  

[00:17:24] So I got to be involved in Sky Garden up here in Sydney Grosvenor Square. And then also then go back down to Canberra in Tuggeranong Town Centre that was being developed up where a range of the subcontractors didn't pass the audit. They were great tradies. But they just needed a bit of financial management on the way through. 

  

[00:17:45] So being able to walk through sites and construction sites and see that side of it—that was a big eye-opener in my real estate construction journey. 

Tyrone Shum:   

[00:13:04] With all these experiences that you learned from meeting all these contractors and so forth like that, did that also sort of engage you back into property as well? Or were you just staying within the accounting realm for that period of time?

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:18:16] I moved out of accountancy and moved out to be self-employed across a range of businesses. And because I got married young, and we literally had our first child in month 13 of being married... 

  

[00:18:37] My wife fell pregnant fairly quickly. And then our first child was born 13 months later. So it was very much focused on business: How can I make money? How can I support my family? Because we made a decision back then that my wife would be a full-time mum, and she wouldn't work anymore. 

  

[00:18:54] And I suppose we'd been blessed for the last 34 years that she has been able to do that and be a full-time mum for all this period of time with our kids.  

  

[00:19:03] So it was a lot of business and running business and investing into business. Our first foray into... and so we rented for a long period of time. But our first foray into property was building some new houses up in Bathurst—in one of the new estates up there. 

  

[00:19:21] So, there was a couple of land subdivisions. 

[00:19:24] Actually, if I go back, while I was with the accounting firm, they had actually offered me to cover a mortgage or co-sign a mortgage for me when I was in the accounting firm. And when we went away on our honeymoon, one of our major clients actually donated their holiday home in Queensland for our honeymoon, which was fantastic. 

  

[00:19:21] That was the directors of John R Turk & Sons electrical wholesalers. So while we were up there, we were traveling around and enjoying ourselves, but I went over to a place called Lamb Island, and there was some investment properties over there. And so that was literally the first decision to buy a property at that stage. And we put a deposit down [and] came back. 

 

[00:20:13] That ended up not going ahead. But that was my first foray into property investing because I could actually see, 'Okay, buy the property, have tenants, pay it off, and then have long-term security'. So that was the start of it. But then, after I was married, the Bathurst properties were the first ones that we built and designed. It was great. They were Rawson Homes they were building out that way. And so we modified the designs to how I wanted them, to how I saw them. 

  

[00:20:47] I suppose, one of the mistakes— I always looked at the property as… not that necessarily if it was mine, but what I would like, how I'd like it, if I was living there as a tenant. So I looked at it through the tenant's eyes. And so the things that I got Rawsons to do was to minimise the maintenance and minimise upkeep from my side, that being the landlord, but also, how it makes it easier for the tenant. So I took it from that point of view.

Tyrone Shum:   

That subdivision was completed in two stages on opposite sides of a hill, one of which with a view that motorsports enthusiasts will know well.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:22:03] The second one actually looked right across Bathurst up across Mount Panorama. That was a really nice block. So we bought those off-the-plan in a new subdivision. And yeah, [we] just pushed on from there. So that was nice.

  

[00:22:27] The subdivision was being done by the land developer. I just purchased two blocks from him off the plan.

Tyrone Shum   

All seemed to be going well for Hempstead, until…

Raymond Hempstead   

[00:22:42] I ended up losing them. 

  

[00:22:44] And the reason I got out of accounting for 16 years, I had a motorbike accident when I was coming home from work one day. And I had some major head injuries. And a few weeks before that, I had an argument with my insurance broker, and I cancelled all my insurances. So guys, don't cancel insurances. 

 

[00:23:14] I'm running a consultancy business, in accounting and bookkeeping. Wife with two kids at home. The third child was just, my son, was born. He was four months old. And I cancelled my insurance—I was always going to replace them, but I just never got around to it. And driving home from an accounting client one evening, I ended up under the front two wheels of an international traveller that looked the wrong way. 

  

[00:23:43] So because of that, I couldn't do accounting anymore. Like, my head injury...I had some bad head injuries. I was at the Brain Injury Unit down at Westmead in Sydney. And a set of accounts, like a financial set of accounts, literally were black and white to me—they meant nothing. 

  

[00:24:02] I had a long period of time in recovery. So we lost the houses. We had to get out of our business. And so that was a really hard time because of my silly decision in cancelling my insurances.

Tyrone Shum:   

During a time that was so challenging in so many different ways, he couldn’t seem to catch a break.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:24:43] It took five years to get compensation because of the accident. And because the legislation changed... Because I had [a] severe head injury... The legislation changed like a year or two beforehand, where the degree of brain injury you had to have to get like millions of dollars payout, I ended up being like 0.25% under that. And so I missed out. And we spent five years fighting and having QCs and all the rest of them. 

   

[00:25:13] We got a pittance for the compensation paid. It is what it is, but yeah, that was a hard time in that side. So I ended up having to... and I suppose, because at that stage, the properties were negatively geared. If I had have positively geared properties, it wouldn't have been a problem, because they would have looked after themselves. But because [they were] negatively geared, that was just the writing on the wall that I couldn't actually hold them.

 

[00:25:59] I couldn't work for nearly six months, even though I tried. My left leg had...I had to have surgery and have a rod put in my left leg. But then, I couldn't do accounting. I maintained some consultants that I had employed. But then, you know, I got stabbed in the back by a few of those and a couple of the accounting firms I worked with, that they just backdoored me and took the accountants, took my staff—which wasn't nice. 

  

[00:26:29] And then I ended up reaching out to one of my smaller accountancy clients, and then I ended up going and selling, 'Look, I'll sell shopfitting for you because I can go and talk to people. I can sell'. And so that then started bringing in some money on that side of it.

Tyrone Shum:   

The accident affected him in countless ways, and in all facets and areas of his life.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:27:16] Any noise louder than what we're talking now, during that six to 12 months, I’d just go mental. I take my hat off to my wife and my kids for putting up with me for that time, because I was not the same man that I am. Or that I was.

  

[00:27:37] It was a hard time for my family coming through that and just dealing with their dad that's going a bit crazy at times.

Tyrone Shum:   

Head injuries are well-known to have the potential to change who you are, either temporarily or permanently. Thankfully, Hempstead has been able to overcome the majority of challenges he was presented with.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:28:06] I suppose it comes back to an attitude. Like, even though I came out of hospital, my leg healed, and, over a period of time, my head healed to a point. It really came down to making a decision that, 'Hey, I'm the breadwinner. I made a commitment to my wife [that] I'Il look after her and my kids'. 

  

[00:28:25] And I could have easily sat back and just whinged and bitched and complained or just get out there and do something. And so that's what I did. I just got out there and worked. And I found something I could do to generate some money.

Tyrone Shum:   

[00:28:45] You mentioned you went out and did some sales work as well as consultancy work after that—but how long after? It would have been at least more than six months.

Raymond Hempstead:   

[00:28:56] It was probably 12 months afterwards that I got involved and started doing that. And then going out and selling. Like, even during the process in the healing time, I tried to— again, I'd had surgery; my leg was in plaster, literally driving to see one of my international clients in the city. 

   

[00:29:20] I drive there, and I'd have my leg up, raised up, and driving into the city, because by the time I go from— oh, we were living in Doonside in Sydney at that stage—from Doonside to the city, my leg... I got to the city and my leg was just swollen. 

[00:29:38] I tried to do stuff, but I just kept on hitting limitations with my mental capacity. And, I suppose, because of the noise sensitivity from the head injury— that held me back quite a bit as well.

   

[00:30:27] Because of what I was doing, I did a lot of training and support of internal accountants or bookkeepers of the businesses. So even though I wasn't necessarily doing the hands-on work, I was training them and just monitoring their progress and making sure what they're doing was correct so then we could report back to their external accountants accordingly. So it was still a lot of head work that I couldn't do.

Raymond Hempstead’s story continues in the next episode of Property Investory. He shares the highs and lows of working in specific industries…

 

[00:00:48] And then we had a disagreement on pay, because I was on commission only.

 

The days and nights where he was lucky to get a wink of sleep in a 24-hour period…

 

[00:06:26] I can make some good money in demolition—in retail demolition. So I went out and sold during the day.

He describes his not-so-peaceful European family holiday.

[00:10:12] I went to Italy with the family during that period of time for holiday. And again, my phone was on, I had a team here in Australia working.

 

And that’s next time on Property Investory.