Property Podcast
How Jim Valery Went From Unemployable to Purchasing a Home at 23
February 28, 2021
Jim Valery is the founder and solo director of New Style Developments, a boutique property development company based in Brisbane. Taking an unusual path to property investing, Valery worked as a coal miner and then spent time working in trade unions before opening New Style Developments, where he has bought and sold over $30 million worth of property.
Join us as we discuss his professional highs and lows including how he was virtually unemployable prior to starting his own business, his foray into the property market as a 23 year old, and how he embraced the entrepreneurial outlook.

Timestamps:
2.57 | Greenfield Developments are Usually Handled by the Large Developers
8.08 | Country Life v. City Life
11.16 | Step 1: Explosives. Step 2: Coal mines. Step 3: Property investing.
17.02 | Would Going From Coal Mining to a Trade Union Mean Taking a Pay Cut?
23.33 | Taking the First Step on the Property Ladder
30.32 | Valery’s Worst Property Investing Story

Resources and Links:

Transcript:

Jim Valery:
[00:14:47] If someone was the only person prepared to put their hand up it's very hard to criticise the way someone does a role. So at times I wasn't happy with how people were doing things and I, with that mindset, put my hand up and said, 'Okay, well, I'm gonna run for that position as well’, and probably had very little experience in that world. 
 
**INTRO MUSIC**
 
Tyrone Shum:
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 Jim Valery, who grew up in country towns across New South Wales and Queensland. After working in the mines, he is now the founder and director of New Style Developments, where he has undertaken over $30 million worth of property deals.
 
**END INTRO MUSIC**
 
**START BACKGROUND MUSIC**
 
Tyrone Shum:
Valery may have been born in Sydney, but he’s a country boy at heart. He took the skills and lessons he learned from working in coal mines and trade unions, and applied them to the property development business he runs.
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:00:28] I'm the sole director of New Style Developments. And I guess my role is more about the oversight into working with our team both internally and externally. In development space, it's important that you have the right consultants, but it's also important that you do have the relationship with them to be able to drive them and give them the right input. So it's all about making sure that I guess the buck stops with me to make sure that internally and externally, we're doing the thing that's delivering the right result for our investors, making sure everyone is adequately safeguarded predominantly in Brisbane City Council and more aligned to infill developments, rather than the Greenfield ones. I just feel that it's probably a lot better infill where I believe that there are better productive growth is more stabilised because the market's already established, rather than the fluctuation that you might get in the Greenfield areas.
 
Tyrone Shum: 
Valery expands on what infill versus Greenfield is...
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:01:43] An infill development is generally referred to as a development that is being done within an area that has got significant infrastructure around it. So it's already got roads, shops, schools, etc, that all the infrastructure is there, it's surrounded by houses that have been there for quite a while. A Greenfield development is more going into the outer suburbs of an area, a lot of times you're creating your own roads, at times, they will often do master planned estates in those areas where they're creating their own schools and shopping precincts as well. So they're planning quite a large area. Greenfield you'll generally see 1000 lot subdivisions in a number of stages where infield could be anything from one to two up to sometimes 30, 40 lots of divisions. But generally, you won't find much bigger than about 30 to 50 lots of divisions or a billion fuel development.
 
Greenfield Developments are Usually Handled by the Large Developers.
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:02:57] Very much. I guess it's something—the volume's here for them, they've generally been holding a property for a number of years, and there's obviously a lot more competition, I guess, when you're going against some of the really major players here that have held the property for a long time and bought at the right price. So for me, it's about not wanting to go and do that direct competition and keeping the infill areas where we can be, making sure that our competition is a general Mum and Dad sale. So we keep our new builds at the right price of the suburb, and it becomes an attractive option for buyers.
 
Tyrone Shum: 
He shares what a typical day looks like for him at the moment.
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:03:51] Any given day at the moment, I guess I do have a team. So we've got Ben, who does a lot of our operation on field work, and he provides our in sales and development management in acquisition areas. So there'd be a lot of interaction with them overseeing where developments are in all areas, a lot of networking and touching base, whether it be through consultants and upskilling, or whether it be just interacting with people and assisting people out in the small areas. But generally, it's a lot more oversight in looking at the bigger picture rather than as much hands on with the nuts and bolts—that's generally done by the consultants or our external or internal people. And it's more of the oversight and making sure that the total picture is moving the right way.
 
[00:05:03] The strength is from the team and it's where everything is. As soon as you're relied upon by other people to be doing certain areas, that's got a big impact on how you can deliver yourself.
 
**PERSONAL STORY/BACKGROUND**
 
Tyrone Shum: 
Valery steps back in time to explore the places where he grew up.
 
Jim Valery:    
[00:05:26] I was actually born in Sydney, in Ashfield. Moved through to Mudgee, which at the time it was a farming and a sawmilling. It's quite big with wines and coal mining, Mudgee in New South Wales country. But moved to Gladstone, started all my schooling in Gladstone. And so I probably have the ability to be calling a number of spots home.
 
[00:06:03] So, I was probably four or five years old when I was in Mudgee. And then probably up to about six or seven by the time I got to Gladstone . So not a great deal of time to plant your feet in those other areas. But yeah, grew up and obviously, they were good areas to grow up in.
 
[00:06:36] Obviously, at that age you're with your parents and my father was quite into carpentry, dovetail finishing, and some of the higher end cabinet making areas of carpentry. So it was probably an opportunity where he acquired a sawmill out in the Mudgee areas. So it was in relation in there. It was the moving of the family out there to Mudgee to utilise and to be living there, well, he had the sawmill going and it was great to be able to run through in a rural area running through the fields with my brother and it was certainly a much more relaxed environment, I suppose, that you grew up in, rather than city living.
 
Country Life v. City Life
 
Jim Valery:    
[00:08:08] So I grew up in Gladstone and started to work there the first time. I probably had a significant accident when I was a young fellow there too. And that put me in grade one or two. Boys being boys and playing in the backyard with fire and incinerators and aerosol cans and petrol, they sort of don't mix. So I grew up there, did all my education and schooling there. Started doing some work there, played a lot of rugby league growing up as well. So rugby league was a big part of my sports and my social circles whilst growing up. And that also led me to be looking at moving out into the coalfields in Moranbah, inland from Mackay, and to be working in the coal mining industry. It was certainly an assistance in playing a builder I believe in being able to play it at a level which was attractive to some other teams in regional areas to be going out there and playing football, giving me a start into the coal mining industry.
 
Tyrone Shum: 
Valery explains the locations of the different places he has lived and worked in Queensland. He shares how rural areas differ from the cities, and why this was a great fit for him.
 
Jim Valery:    
[00:09:26] It's northern Queensland, Gladstone's in Queensland as well. It's a bit Central Queensland and then Mackay's up towards the north Queensland areas. It's about four hours away from Townsville. So it's not right up at the peak, but it's certainly up in the northern part of Queensland. And Moranbah is a little place about 200 kilometres inland from the coast, so it was out in very much the regional areas again. Where at the age that we were there, there was TV and other things, but a lot of the rural towns don't have the added entertainment districts or precincts or things like that. It's about interacting with people. And I think for a lot of reasons that's a great way to get up and walk because it allows you to connect with people skills, and being able to interact with people and talk to people. And that's a big part of life. If you can be talking to people it's certainly a major head start.
 
[00:10:44] I was 21 years old when I went up to Mackay. So they've got a little bit of work. Actually worked at Armaguard, being a bigger guy, as young guys will, worked in Armaguard for a while and got some construction orientated work in Gladstone. But when I was 21, I was moving up to Moranbah and stayed there for about 15 years. And had a great time in Moranbah.
 
Step 1: Explosives. Step 2: Coal mines. Step 3: Property investing.
 
Jim Valery:    
[00:11:16] I started off with, of all things, explosives, obviously having had the incident when I was a young fella, and then being moved into the explosive field, so I got to play with more dangerous toys. But then it was moving into the jungle of machinery operations, and driving the big trucks or the big loaders. And I guess that was good, because it gave me a real first exposure into property investing. And obviously, you're on a reasonable wage when you're in a coal mine. So that was the introduction to property investing. And probably the downside, or the bad side, of property investing where you do have a lot of spruikers, who will come and talk to high income areas and high income people. So it's probably fair to say that my first couple of purchases were the greatest choice.
 
Tyrone Shum: 
Valery shares about his move from Moranbah to Brisbane, and at what stage in his career he decided to make a change and start investing in property.
 
Jim Valery:   
[00:12:34] It was quite early, probably... if I moved up there when I was 23, I think we were looking at our first house from about 23. So there's obviously, the realisation and I guess as everyone does, the initial plan was to be working up there for a few years, and then set yourself up and go back to the place you knew, being Gladstone. But it was living there and enjoying the lifestyle, enjoying the direction of the community and making... I guess actually, when you do move, you make new connections and new networks and it becomes something that living in Moranbah there, which was only a town of about 8,000 people at the time. It was great.
 
[00:13:16] It was certainly what I enjoyed and certainly what I probably still would have done other than progressing and moving into a full-time role with the trade union, which when we moved down to Brisbane, coming from Moranbah, a town of about 10,000 people down to Brisbane. It was certainly a major change or difference. But it was obviously the right move at the right time. And it allowed me to continue to move to where I am now.
 
[00:14:07] I guess it was more along the lines of the coal mining industry is called a heavily trade union industry, it's quite militant in that area. And it's from, I guess, the belief that you can't be criticising someone to do something you're not prepared to do yourself, or, if someone was elected unopposed to do something. So it's very easy for people to be criticising and complaining about the way someone does something, but unless you're prepared to do it, or unless that person has actually had a competitor.
 
[00:14:47] If someone was the only person prepared to put their hand up it's very hard to criticise the way someone does a role. So at times I wasn't happy with how people were doing things and I, with that mindset, put my hand up and said, 'Okay, well, I'm gonna run for that position as well’, and probably had very little experience in that world. And for whatever reasons I became shift delegate, made my way through to become one of the executives, you know, responsible for leading the 500 or so workforce. And then, for that same reason, moved down to Brisbane and took on the full-time union role. It was the fact that the only person who nominated was someone that I didn't believe I'd be comfortable with doing the job. So I either had to put my hand up or accept the way they did the job.
 
**ADVERTISEMENT**
 
Tyrone Shum:
Coming up after the break we will delve further into Valery’s time working in the trade union.
 
Jim Valery:
[00:18:02] And when you're looking after a workforce or membership of only 10,000 people, and seeing how many people had also been affected by investing in property in the wrong way, then probably a realisation that when you're in regional areas it is very hard.
 
Tyrone Shum:
Then his career prospects post-trade union.
 
Jim Valery:
[00:21:59] I became pretty unemployable. Where, for working as a blue collar worker, I would have been a union troublemaker. So they would have been people who wouldn't have liked the idea that I had played an advocacy role looking after workers previously so they probably didn't want me in the workplace.
 
Tyrone Shum:
Valery expands on the first property he purchased.
 
Jim Valery:
[00:23:33] So there was originally me and my partner at the time, we went and saw the local financial planner with a viewpoint of buying something in Brisbane. Bigger market, we thought that that was the right option.
 
Tyrone Shum:
And that’s next. I’m Tyrone Shum and you’re listening to Property Investory.
 
**END ADVERTISEMENT**
 
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Tyrone Shum:
Valery discusses how long the process of moving into full-time trade union work took him.
 
Jim Valery:   
[00:15:48] So that was probably over over a period of time... a couple of years, probably three or four years in working my way up locally, and moving into the full time role in about 2005, which was certainly a significant change. It would be fair to say that at the time I hadn't embraced IT, technology, as well as some other people and younger people had—it was certainly something that I had to really adapt to a new way, or a new life.
 
Would Going From Coal Mining to a Trade Union Mean Taking a Pay Cut?
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:17:02] I guess for the trade union I was in, the principal of the Union, that the mining industry again was that the officials got paid the same as the people they were representing. The wage of the officials was always based off what the coal mining wage was. And you didn't have the ability to run for a position unless you also worked in the industry. So it wasn't a matter of people from outside the industry coming in and doing the role. It was people who have been in the industry and knew the industry, they were the only ones who could run for the position. And to make sure that the right people were able to run and were happy to run. They had to maintain, to make sure, the wage was also the same as what they could be earning whilst working in the mines. So there was no real change from the wage point of view, but there was probably a bigger looking in.
 
[00:18:02] And when you're looking after a workforce or membership of only 10,000 people, and seeing how many people have also been affected by investing in property in the wrong way, then probably a realisation that when you're in regional areas it is very hard. It's very easy for people to be going and making unrealistic offers or comments and that but you don't do the research, I guess you don't do what you need to do. There's not as much availability at your fingertips with that maybe into a different era, I guess, with the podcasts and much more robust and established Internet where everything can be at your fingertips, and to not learn is your own fault. That's certainly changing but I guess when you're not exposed, and you're not surrounded by that, like-minded people.
 
[00:19:05] And as you said earlier, that mindset that you need to be doing those areas, it's very easy to rely upon the views of other people, when you're not exposed to the support systems you can get with Inside Property Groups and properly network. So there's a realisation and seeing that it wasn't isolated to myself. There were a large number of people who had been buying the wrong way. And we're severely impacted and greatly up to get affected, you know, whenever there was a change in their workplace, because they bought the wrong way.
 
Tyrone Shum:
He explains what he moved on to next after his time in trade unions. He has always been passionate about helping those in regional areas access the same services as those in the cities and this is what he set out to achieve.
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:19:53] I guess it was seeing a realisation just myself. It'd been to other people. Having immersed myself in Brisbane, I moved into looking at more of an advisory service or a one-stop shop where I could continue helping people on the regions by giving them access to the right consultants, lawyers, accountants, whatnot, based in Brisbane and being able to analyse and look at things in a bit more detail in, in purchases by leveraging to talk to the right agents, rather than just listening to speakers and just provide them a platform of information where they could go as a one-stop shop.
 
[00:20:45] So it wasn't daunting, where they didn't know where they had to look, or they couldn't work out where they should look, it was providing them an opportunity to have a large amount of resources and consultants into one spot to enable him to do some sanity checks on any investments they were wanting to do. And probably was during that time that it was a realisation that people still like property and enjoy property and wanted to be in property but just a generalised buy and hold option, something they were wanting a bit different, looking at something a bit different to that and looking at other ways that they could be involved in property, rather than just buying and holding there's probably a level of impatience, whether it be or, or catching up last time and going okay, well how can we do something that has got a bit more proactive nature to it.
 
**PROPERTY INVESTING JOURNEY**
 
Tyrone Shum:
We discuss when he made the jump to property development.
 
Jim Valery:   
[00:21:49] It was finishing my time at the trade union. I became pretty unemployable. Where, for working as a blue collar worker, I would have been a union troublemaker. So they would have been people who wouldn't have liked the idea that I had played an advocacy role looking after workers previously so they probably didn't want me in the workplace.
 
[00:22:17] And the fact that as a secretary of the Union, I was in charge of the operation. The business world didn't see that to be a business acronym, where that was only a trade union. So there was a realisation of having to create something for myself, and it was moving into the development space. And I've been involved in that since about 2014. A realisation that through the choices that I had made, I wouldn't go back on any of those choices now. But truly the choices that I had made, it led me to the path that I have now where there wasn't the ability to go back to a safety net, and working and getting a wage, it was going okay, well I need to embrace the entrepreneurial outlook and create the way for myself or create the income for myself.
 
Taking the First Step on the Property Ladder
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:23:33] So there was originally me and my partner at the time, we went and saw the local financial planner with a viewpoint of buying something in Brisbane. Bigger market, we thought that that was the right option. They talked to us about looking at other options, one of which was a house in the Mackay area, in Decatur Beach.
 
[00:24:03] And the second one was a house and land package on Bribie Island. So they were the first two and it's fair to say that I still owed more on what the properties were paid for some six or seven years after I purchased them I still owed more than the property was worth. So in looking at it now there's a realisation that it was a spreaker there was a lot of incentives being paid to various people to get people to put their name on the line. But as a 23-year-old who was on good money in the mines, it wasn't as much of a... I had other things I was enjoying doing. I wasn't going to be doing all this research. Okay, yeah, cool, I'm going to take the advice of that expert, that's what we'll do. And I can continue to do what I was enjoying doing, being playing football and enjoying life. So there wasn't the research that needed to go into it.
 
[00:25:05] I think at the time, they were talking about Bribie Island, was one of the last states available in Bribie Island, which was over 10 years ago, and I do know, it's still opening up new estates in Bribie Island now. So the belief that it was the last lot of land, house and land available that areas without doing your research was certainly an attractive idea. The fact they're still releasing lots here now, basically realise it. Now, that's something we should have looked at a lot more deeper.
 
Tyrone Shum:  
 It's a scarcity mindset that they'll try to sell to you. And unfortunately, without the knowledge and due diligence, as you explained, that was probably a challenge that we've discovered. Do you still have those properties? Or did you end up selling those?
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:25:52] No, I'd sold those properties and moved on to look at different things through various things to do with the timeline and your life that aren't in the portfolio now, no.
 
Tyrone Shum:
Okay. And those particular properties, were they initially for investment or for you to live in?
 
Jim Valery:   
[00:26:10] No, those were certainly both investment properties, yes.
 
Tyrone Shum:
Valery shares how many properties they have purchased for development mainly for clients, and how many properties he has in his property portfolio.
 
Jim Valery:   
[00:27:00] The last six years, we've probably done in excess of 12 or 13 properties, probably in excess of $30 million worth of transactions, either buying or selling property. So a little bit going on.
 
Tyrone Shum:
Then he expanded on the types of developments he has done.
 
Jim Valery:   
[00:27:19] I have done apartment development previously, also townhouses previously. I've done a new build, a hybrid, new build, and land subdivisions. But generally, I guess through the path of realisation land subdivision to the areas that I do want to play in, as you hang your skills further within the development space. That's certainly the area that we are focused on now and that’s our primary. You could never say that you wouldn't explore something else because you don't know what is around the corner. There could be something coming up, it's just too good to refuse but fit certainly on the land and the house and land options. Providing the land that the builders can then package it up and utilise various selling methods to make sure that we can sell out the stock and look after the investors who do come on board.
 
Tyrone Shum:
Valery sheds light on his main focus at the moment which is land subdivisions, and expands on if he partners with the builders on his projects.
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:28:30] We'll utilise a number of builders to provide people opportunities. The build is certainly something that should be up to the buyer as to who they want to build through. Sometimes there will be people who will be buying and queuing investment channels and they will already have something packaged up, but it's always in a two-part contract where they settle on the land and then they have a contract with the builder. Number one, that provides them a better stamp duty opportunity because you're paying stamp duty on the land only. But it also provides you the ability to utilise an alternative builder if they wish to or to utilise a builder where there has been a design packaged up as well.
 
Tyrone Shum:
For further clarity, he explains if buyers can build through his company as well as purchase the land.
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:29:28] We do work on having relationships to give people choice. And we can generally advocate on behalf of a seller to try and get the right price. But I mean, generally there's packages done up that one block might have five or six different builders who've got a design on there and the buyer might choose which one works best for them, or they might choose to engage the builder themselves. It depends on how much time that person wants to put into it, whether they want to be utilising something that's already been designed or whether they want to design their own place. 
 
Valery’s Worst Property Investing Story
 
Tyrone Shum:
He takes us back to a moment in time when he had one of his worst investments.

Jim Valery: 
[00:30:32] Looking at one that we did in Stafford, which was a few years ago now. And it was on a busy road. We had done developments on a busy road previously. And the realisation and going 'okay, well, our goal was to have the lowest house and land or land availability in a suburb’, so we knew we were at the bottom of the suburb, and we were going to have the cheapest available land in the suburb which was reasonably close to the city. And the cheapest houses available, I believe that the generalised houses in that area were selling at about $540,000, $550,000. We were working on the idea that there were $520,000. So we were going to meet the bottom of the market.
 
[00:31:24] It was at the time that the Royal Commission into banking happened and just, the availability of credit just dried up remarkably. And there was a significant learning for us that once there is that credit shortage, those people who can still get credit move up, and they are looking for the A class properties or the B class properties, or the C class properties. But there's no one left looking at a D class property. So they became properties that we certainly pushed and marketed considerably. And essentially, they were significantly lower than we had hoped for. And based on what the evidence was, that they would have achieved.
 
[00:32:12] And so as a company we had a learning not to be doing things on busy roads here, regardless of discounting, because in times money is hard. People can push their way up to the best lots rather than just being so reliant upon set price, everyone's pricing has to come down. And there's no one left at the bottom. See, we had a project that didn't perform, and it performed negatively. But that's something that we absorbed as a company to make sure that none of the investors had to have any absorption of that nature. They still had their interest return if they were on an interest return basis. And that's something we have to wear.
 
[00:33:02] So as a business... guess we won't do those areas anymore. And it was certainly a learning for us. And it's one that we paid for. But number one is you got to make sure that the people that you work with, significantly, investors, there's a rule that investment is about the return of capital, and then a return on capital. So we want to make sure that there's always a return of capital. And we hope to make sure that the return on capital is positive.
 
Tyrone Shum:
Valery explores why he went down the path of discounting those properties initially, and ponders if he could have done anything more.
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:33:53] This was just a smaller development. So it was only two house renovations that are back lot. So we combined both backyards and created one lot of land. And it was two renovated homes. So there was no real ability to do much more. Yes, there could have been a holding of the stock and we certainly did explore that, but the structure that was set up, and given that there was a few different investors, that isn't what they signed on for.
 
[00:34:24] So it was something that we had to go 'Okay, well, we'll sell them at a loss rather than having someone sign up for something that they didn't want to do originally.’ So there were options that we could have looked at holding, we certainly did look at conversions into multiple boarding houses or key person accommodation. But at the end of the day, there was fatigue from people in saying 'Okay, it's a big game. This is longer than we want.’ So it was a matter of going 'Okay, we have to execute the finalisation of the project for them.’
 
Tyrone Shum:
To get us back on a positive track, he shares his ‘aha’ moment.
 
Jim Valery: 
[00:35:18] The 'aha' moment was through doing the education. It's important to continually improve yourself no matter where you are, what you're doing personal development. You know, we are our best

**OUTRO**
 
Tyrone Shum:
Jim Valery’s story continues in the next episode of Property Investory. Join us for part two where we’ll talk about the relationships between the individuals involved in projects and the effects these have on the final product…
 
(Snippet from part 2 episode)
Jim Valery:
[00:03:18] I am very reliant upon the builder as well. You know, I can do everything great myself. And if the builder doesn't play their role, or if they make mistakes, or they don't build things to the right quality, that has the ability to affect the overall project.
 
Tyrone Shum:
How he makes decisions on which sites to commit to...
 
(Snippet from part 2 episode)
Jim Valery:
[00:17:49] It comes down to the site, obviously. So the more constraints the site shows when you're doing the research, you know, we've got some that you'd happily go unconditional on, right away. Because you know what the legislation says, you build up your network, I can talk to my town planner straight away and talk to my civil engineer straight away.
 
Tyrone Shum:
And that’s next time on Property Investory.