Timestamps:
0.13 | Marching on to Property
8.21 | Soldier Turned Investor
15.06 | Disciplined Decision Making
16.57 | A Whole Different Game

Resources and Links:

[8:48] We only really put in that one deposit with a bit of savings in between refinancing. And we just rolled on and just kept punching these out.

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 catch up with investor Timothy Brown, as he takes us through just how he managed to enter and grow in the property market after leaving the military. Learn how he and his partner went from working hard to getting one deposit together to a portfolio of 7 properties in just a few years.

While enjoying his time in the army, Brown was always thinking ahead for what he was going to do when he returned from his service. 

[00:13] The military almost made me push to property because no matter what type of soldier or if you're the best soldier, you're salary capped, you have a government salary. And unless you're promoted in rank or doing specialist roles or whatnot, or keep going up the hierarchy in a different way, your salary is going to be capped by the government so you can be the most outstanding soldier and you're not gonna get any extra pay. And that was a problem for me, because I wanted to be able to build more for my life, because my mind and as I told you, at the start of this, I wasn't built for school, I wasn't built for that typical structure of society, the nine to five, that that's just not me. And I just needed to break out of that. 

[00:57] So I just was brainstorming pretty much every spare second of my life thinking, 'What can I do? How can I do something?' And just thinking of other roles, I didn't want to leave the military at this time, I was like, 'No, this is, this is an awesome job. But I'm not going to do this forever, I need a game plan.' And that led me to investing. And that's when I just started scratching this little itch of investing. And it's opened up this whole new world for me. And it just changed the trajectory of my life completely. And it was the best thing ever. So I spent actually talking about being in the Middle East, every spare moment I had over there, if I wasn't out on task, or if I wasn't in the gym training, I was studying investments, particularly property, it was nonstop. And the obsession just hasn't, hasn't stopped since then. In fact, it's just increased day by day almost. 

[1:48] Yeah, and it was just something different that I wanted. And I had a look at other investment types, stocks and all that stuff. And it just, it didn't, it didn't feel right, I did end up going into the stock market. And I actually built my first house deposit in the stock market, because I'm very analytical and calculated. And I knew that to get into the property investing, I had to get a deposit together. And I wasn't prepared to wait that long for a deposit. Because as people know, particularly these days, the hardest part is just saving, just being diligent and disciplined with your money being organized, capturing that surplus cash and trying to save a deposit. And all while the market is moving on you as well. So yeah, I put some money into the stock market after a lot of research and did quite well with that, and ended up building my first deposit there. And that's where I started the property journey.

After working to build up the capital needed for his deposit, Brown used the services of a buyer's agent to get his foot into the door. 

[3:27] I was using a buyer's agent for most of these properties as well. So straight off the bat, I was prepared and understood the value of a buyer's agent. And that's why that's why I did it. So I'd already built a house with my partner, Georgie, in Adelaide. She actually, credit to her, she actually managed that when I was overseas in Iraq, so she she probably had the most stressful time while I was deployed in Iraq, she was home trying to organize the house being built so props to her for doing that but that was technically our first that we were going to live in that one though. 

While deployed in Iraq, Brown’s partner was back in Australia developing their own home for nine months before his property investments took off. 

[6:09] So we purchased a property through a buyer's agent that put us into a unit in our size of a townhouse Villa kind of thing out in Western Sydney, which, you know, this was the start of my mindset journey around property thinking or, you know, some of these properties, I doesn't necessarily mean I want to live into them. And that's one of the biggest lessons I learned when you think about investing, yeah. It's sexy, it’s cool. You own these big properties on the world map. No, it's a business transaction if the numbers work, and if it's if it suits your personal financial and goal circumstances, then that's that's a decision to be made. So that's what we did that first out west and seeing that's done. That's done considerably well.

Brown explains to us how he managed to be successful in the property investment sphere while only investing in smaller properties. 

[8:21] Most of them are townhouses or units and stuff, just because our because our wages weren't crazy, the servicing wasn't there to be able to buy bigger properties, plus some, you know, the ninja strategy that we employed with our buyer's agent was to leverage off a few more of these type of properties. A lot of the good deals on the market value that we're able to roll on to the next one pull equity pretty much straight away. So really, honestly, we only really put in that one deposit with a bit of saving in between refinancing. And we just rolled on and just kept punching these out. 

[8:58] So we bought four in Queensland in the end. So the first one was in Labrador. And then the next one, I believe, I'm trying to think of the timeline of it all we went up to Townsville, which is a really really awesome spot at the moment, particularly for investing and then a couple more around the place

He reflects on some of the more difficult times in his investing journey. 

[10:29] I remember our first one or two properties, it took a couple of days to get finance and now we're talking and then this time, when it was getting some more eight weeks, sometimes for some banks to get finance around. And it just, it's not conducive with the usual transactions of a property where you have a vendor who's waiting for, you know, finance or a contract or to get settlement dates in and you're still pushing extensions every few weeks, it's it was just nightmarish, and everyone else was experiencing at least so it was a crazy time for finance. And it's slowing down now, but still is pretty, pretty hectic for some banks, particularly. But one of the lows, I guess you could call it, was one we had two properties under management by the one managers in Queensland, and they just weren't managed well at all. And it was a lesson to learn for myself to make sure you have good managers. 

[11:26] So we just, we weren't getting bills paid because we obviously wanted everything to be done by the manager as you employ him to do and we set up all the rates and water and stuff to be sent to them and pay to them and it just wasn't happening. And we were getting, you know, late, late notices and extra fees and this and trying to sort it out was a nightmare trying to contact them was a nightmare. Had a few repairs that needed to be done such as aircon and stuff like that. And, you know, aircon in Queensland like as a, as a tenant, you want to be able to have that so you can maintain that good relationship with a with a tenant, I think that's really, really key. You don't want to be one of these landlords who just treat your tenants like not well at all. And it just wasn't getting done. It was months and months and months just to get simple repairs done. And I felt horrible for the tenant. But I was just pushing so hard and obviously resigning in Adelaide at the time, I wasn't physically there to be able to do anything. 

[12:22] And there was a lot of back and forth between the managers to kind of determine to turn to a point where it's just I've pretty much sat in the mud, there's no way I'm putting any assets under your management anymore because it's just it's very, very, very poor management. I think that's a massive lesson for us. Because it just caused so much headache for something that's meant to be dealt with, you know, holy by them. I'd much rather pay triple for good managers than pay cheap for poor managers because it pays dividends when things go wrong. Absolutely it is 100% a key component of any future strategies or purchasing properties for me right now

[13:56] It does take a bit of resilience to push through and you know, if it's your first it was probably our third or fourth or that was really happening but if that's your first property if that's your first experience of property investing, it can be full on and you need to really be robust in what you're doing and really have your goals set out so you can see through those obstacles because if if you if you're not looking that far ahead that can be really detrimental to your success in investing.

Through his experiences, Brown has learned about working with a variety of property professionals and shares his advice on mortgage broking. 

[15:06] If that broker is not right for you, then it's still not it's not a good scenario. So I think the key is to understand if they're good at what they're doing, competent and experienced. And if that competency and experience suits you, your position and your goals, I think there's got to be compatibility there. So I think, during my obsessive research all these years before, I was pretty knowledgeable, and all the buyers agents and all the people in the property space out there, and some of them were absolutely loved, and I loved what they were doing. But I didn't go with them, because they just weren't doing the things that suited my position currently. And also, the things I wanted to achieve. So I think that's really, really key is not only understanding what they can do for them, and other people, but what they can do for you in your scenario and your circumstances. So really just Yeah, even if it's a phone call, just just get onto them and, and try and understand their vibes and see if it's a match for you.

Coming up after the break, we learn about how rewarding Tim Brown’s property investments ultimately became…

[17:20] This is mad, this is so good. And then just deploy that cash, back out into the marketplace and try and do it again.

The importance of discipline…

[18:54] If you don't know what you want, and where you're going, you're not going to understand how to get there. 

His driven mindset towards his own success… 

[24:24] We kind of live in a structure that's designed by the wealthy for the wealthy really, that's the way I look at it right? So it's a game that you need to play

And that’s next. I’m Tyrone Shum and you’re listening to property investory. 

After learning his lessons about different property professionals, Brown shares with us what that moment was when he realised this was the path forward for him. 

[16:57] When you pull significant equity. And you're thinking, and I'm thinking, that's, that's my year's wage. And it's been a couple months, like, hang on, and then just my brain is ticking the more this is happening, this is this weird. And you get, and you understand that it's just a different game. It's a whole new way of thinking, and you got it. Yeah, that was the aha moment for me like, Oh, this is mad, this is so good. And then just deploy that cash, back out into the marketplace and try and do it again. That's, that's what really kind of set it off for me if like, ‘Yep, I think I'm doing the right thing here. You know, instead of trading my time for money, I'm gonna get this equity in cash, from just putting my money in the right place,’ you know, putting a bit of time and energy into getting loans up and talking to people and whatnot. And then that's it. So yeah, that was really it.

Brown explains to us the freedom he gains from his investment strategy and his mindset towards his property investments. 

[18:54] If you don't know what you want, and where you're going, you're not going to send how to get there. And I think, I think that's a massive thing. So for me, my why is freedom in terms of time, I don't as I said a couple times now it's, it's this nine to five structure that I just don't like. I want to be able to have my own time. And, and with that becomes options and experiences and I want to be able to spend that time where I want and how I want and that means to me more time for my family more time traveling overseas and seeing the world and learning that history of the world and, and going places and doing things I want to do that that's that's what it is to me just being able to be free and out of the system of nine to five work until you're 60-65-75 and then you get your freedom. It just feels it feels like slavery to me really like if I think about it, they've been off and I just wanted to be out of that as quick as possible.

[19:53] And I think if you can delay gratification and put the things in place now then it's so achievable. And I think just getting that abundance mindset and getting rid of that, you know, limited mindset really lets you know, oh, this is achievable, we can do it you can get to where you want to go, particularly coming from someone you know who's had a capped income. And I'm thinking that I just can't do it. This is a big boys game. This is a rich man's game, I can't do this. You can't Yeah, absolutely can you just get your wits about you get disciplined, discipline is freedom. And not many people understand that unless they are disciplined. So if you can really, you know, develop that really abundance mindset, you can get to your wise and my why, it’s that time, freedom and time.

Brown credits his time in the army for his remarkable discipline in his property journey and acknowledges the influences and advice he’s received in his life. 

[21:29] [The Army] put steroids on that in terms of the discipline, and the structure and the regimen to nurse and stuff and I think that's why I got along so well with Army was that I was, I was happy to, you know, for my PT top 14 centimeters across and 30, centimeters back, etc. Like that, not to an OCD kind of stage of just, you know, just having everything in place. And I'm a very neat and organized person as it is. But I don't think there was any specific one person mentor. And just a really close tight knit family and inner circle that you know, you want to do it for really. 

[24:29] This is really strictly for investing. Basically, we kind of live in a structure that's designed by the wealthy for the wealthy really, that's the way I look at it right? So it's a game that you need to play and that's what I figured out this is a game and you need to be able to put your little pieces in tactical positions to be able to play this game and I think you know that going along with that is where we grow up being told to do certain thing told to save told to put your pennies away don't get into any debt. And I'm and so to do the opposite of that not not saved in terms of just putting money away, and then get into lots of debt with property and do all this stuff, it's, it's a weird thing to do because it's obviously goes against the grain of like, you know, kind of what we're told. So another's go along with that one of the other pieces of vices, no one ever saved their way to wealth. And I love that and if that can land on you and you go, ah, but we're told to save, isn't that what it's like? Oh, okay. It's very conflicting. It was a really conflicting stage for me particularly earlier on where I'm thinking about what is happening to my brain when I'm trying to process two different trains of thoughts and two different kinds of pathways. But yeah, I know, that's probably not like one piece of advice. But that's kind of a concept of what I've learned from different mentors, whether it be a virtual mentor who doesn't even know me or, you know, influences in my life such as, like other people in business or investing.

[26:39] Every investor is the same to start earlier, because you just got a bit of time in that market. And that's the advice I'd give to myself or anyone who's asking, particularly for young guys and gals who are thinking about doing anything, just get started. Just take decisive action now. Because I think the difference between success and knowledge is just taking action, just doing it.

So why invest in property? Brown shares with us an important point. 

[29:57] I think people fail to say it's like the options that it gives you. It's a time that gives you the freedoms that it gives you to then spend time with family. So yeah, are these I think always going to find that balance because you know, you see some people who work to death are so super successful. It's like they never even eat up any of their own fruits they grow. It's like, well, that's the opposite. I think you have to find a good balance.

Thank you to Timothy Brown, our guest on this episode of Property Investory.