In this episode, the self-confessed property-obsessed agent tells the story of how she kindled the flames with the real estate brochures of the time, how if it weren’t for her passion for real estate, she might not have completed high school at all, and how she dealt with a nightmare situation of her first investment, a $221,000 property, catching on fire!

Timestamps:
00:42 | A Lifelong Love
03:04 | Ye-Haw
06:36 | Coming Home to HomeWorld
09:47 | A Girl on a Mission
13:12 | An Average Unit on the Worst Street
16:16 | Following the Fire
19:42 | Making a Beeline for Beecroft
22:09 | Reconsidering and Restructuring

Resources and Links:

[00:09:47] I always wanted to be in real estate. So since my parents sold their first property, I was about 12 years old, that was the moment that I knew I wanted to be in real estate. I want to do open homes. I want to do anything to do with property. And I don't want to spend time sitting down and reading books and listening to teachers, because I knew what I wanted to do.

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 Laura Nasr, director of Christian Bel Real Estate. The self-confessed property obsessed agent grew up surrounded by the smell of new homes, and was hooked from the very beginning. Having been an investor and renovator for over 12 years, she’s accomplished so much— but she’s just getting started.

Tyrone Shum:   

Along with her family and her jewellery line Milo and Mila, Nasr’s life is all property, all the time. And considering her favourite childhood hobby, it’s no surprise! No matter the task at hand, if it’s anything related to real estate, she can be trusted to give it her all.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:00:42] I'm probably the most obsessed real estate person in all aspects that you will ever find. I'm definitely happy to get down and dirty [and] do rubbish removal, paint, take out toilets. I've done it all. And I love it more now than I ever have before.

 

[00:01:01] I did buy my first property that needed a lot of work in Sydney's western suburbs of Penrith when I was 18. And since then, I've just been accumulating and changing strategies along the way.

Tyrone Shum:   

As a mother of two, Nasr’s day revolves around her children as much as it does her career.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:01:26] I usually get up when my children get up, which can range anywhere between 4:30 in the morning and 6:30. We get up, we have breakfast, they go to childcare, and then I go to the gym. 

  

[00:01:39] I start work around 9:30 [or] 10 o'clock in the morning. And then I basically call all my clients [and] drive around in the car. I find that moving gets me more in the momentum of the day. And then I finished typically around 3:30. Besides Thursdays when I work a full day, and I do also work Saturdays and Sundays. So a big balance between health, family and work is my day.

  

[00:02:26] I'm really lucky that I do have a live in nanny to the property that we live in. And so she will take over the children early in the morning. The children do also go to childcare. So I have a longer day, the days that they go. But I do have a lot of flexibility, a lot of support and a lot of family that live very, very close by, so that enables me to do basically everything that's on my goals list.

Tyrone Shum:   

She grew up in the Blacktown region, where she went to school in Riverstone. Despite being an area of Sydney, it wasn’t that long ago that it looked like worlds away.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:03:04] I lived in some very interesting streets of the Blacktown council area, and gradually moved to the Hills area and [I] finished school in Kellyville High School.

  

[00:03:24] It was very western there, we saw a lot of chicken farms, a lot of horses, and a lot of interesting characters. 

  

[00:03:31] So my parents started off by buying their first house, I think it was for $60,000 or whatever it was back then. We lived there while my parents renovated. They sold that and basically we gradually moved. 

  

[00:03:44] So a lot of my childhood from a young age was assisting my parents with the smaller type things, passing the hammer, the nails, taking out the weeds or whatever it might have been at that age appropriate time. So my whole childhood, my whole life has always been around property and around real estate.

Tyrone Shum:    

While her life mission has remained the same, she can’t say the same for the area she lived in and now sells in.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:04:24] It's completely different. And it's so funny because I now sell, within my business, a lot of the new subdivisions and a lot of the new development sites. And I can tell the people, or the buyers or the developers, like, 'I used to drive down your street when there was a chicken farm here', and, 'I used to buy eggs from here', and, 'My parents used to do this and that', and, 'I used to horse ride around the corner'. 

  

[00:04:50] So it's completely changed and I'm really lucky that I had grown up in the area and been able to witness that change. And that also really enhances my interest in real estate and interest in development because I have seen a lot of it happen in the northwest.

Tyrone Shum:   

Acknowledging she wasn’t overly interested in school, if it weren’t for her passion for real estate, Nasr might not have completed high school at all. 

Laura Nasr:   

[00:05:57] When I was at school, I was definitely more interested in the sporting and the creative side. 

  

[00:06:02] The only reason I ended up going to year 12 was because at that point in time, you could fast track your real estate license by finishing the HSC. Otherwise, yeah, I definitely wasn't a very academic student. 

 

[00:06:16] But I was very social. I spent my weekends either doing sport or getting my parents to take me to the new HomeWorld down in Kellyville.

Tyrone Shum:   

HomeWorld was more than just a display village to Nasr, who saw it more as a real-life mood board for her future life.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:06:36] I loved it, I think it was always to dream big. And at that point, coming from a house that was quite conservative and being surrounded by a lot of your typical weatherboard [and] fibro type of home, seeing a brick mansion was pretty exciting. 

  

[00:06:51] And HomeWorld really offered that place for me to dream, set goals, and get excited about architecture and development and property really. 

  

[00:07:02] So I loved going there, I got my parents to take me to all the open homes in the local area as well, because I loved seeing all the Mercedes and the BMWs in the driveway. So it was all that whole experience of your dream life or your goal in the future. And that for me was why I really enjoyed it.

Tyrone Shum:   

During her high school days, Kellyville was a very different place to what it is today. 

Laura Nasr:   

[00:08:01] It was a huge change. It was, at that point, a very new area. The homes are very different, the people that were very different. The demographic particularly was very different. But it really opened my eyes at that point to a lot of different cultures, which I always find very valuable, understanding different ways that people are and live. And I loved the different languages as well. 

  

[00:08:26] So it was fantastic because then I had a different group of friends that had different ways of living, different interests, and so on and so forth. Because Riverstone, going to school there, it was still quite rural, a lot of my school friends lived out in South Maroota, Maraylya, those very Hawkesbury type properties. So, it was a huge change, I guess more suburbia than out in Kellyville.

Tyrone Shum:   

As the only child to follow in her parents’ property-sized footsteps, she knew where she was headed and what wasn’t necessary in order to get there.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:09:47] I always wanted to be in real estate. So since my parents sold their first property, I was about 12 years old, that was the moment that I knew I wanted to be in real estate. I want to do open homes. I want to do anything to do with property. And I don't want to spend time sitting down and reading books and listening to teachers, because I knew what I wanted to do and all the rest of it. 

 

[00:10:11] So I didn't have any intentions to go to university. But if to get your real estate license was to go to university, then I would have done that.

  

[00:10:32] It took me 12 months at TAFE to do the license. I don't know how you do it now. But you just go to TAFE. But in between that time I worked, I did work full time. I used to volunteer a lot with local real estate agents on the weekends. And then I did have a couple of other jobs in cafes, I used to deliver the papers, when I was younger, I used to iron people in the streets clothes for five cents a shirt. 

 

[00:11:03] So I always had that intention of 'I want to buy a property by the time I'm finished [with] school'. That way, I'm not just one of those people that have you gone to school, wasted time, and not done anything because I have no interest, I've at least added value by working in those periods of time that I didn't go to school.

Tyrone Shum:   

With her entrepreneurial spirit on fire from a young age, she kindled the flames with the real estate brochures of the time.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:11:42] I think I got it from, to be honest, going to all the new home estates. And thinking to myself, 'I would love to live in one of those homes one day'. And what would that mean, for me? And what would the steps be to get that? 

 

[00:11:59] So whilst my parents were into renovating and flipping homes in some sense, it was more internal and wanting to do it for myself. And also exciting. Like, in my spare time, I used to pick up all the... I mean, we've got the internet now. But in the western suburbs, we had the Homes Pictorial and the Property Showcase, I couldn't wait to pick those up, cut out the squares, say, 'I'm gonna buy this kind of property first, this one second', and I put it all on a poster. 

  

[00:12:30] So instead of having posters of like Backstreet Boys, or whatever it is, I had little photos of the types of properties that I wanted to buy. And that kind of led me to getting my pre approval as quickly as I could, when I [had] just finished school at 18 years old, and looking for property. 

  

[00:12:49] And I said to my parents, 'It's cool. I'll do by myself. I've got the initiative, I know exactly how much my pre approval is for'. And I went out and I bought something that weekend.

Coming up after the break, we learn all about her first investment…

[00:13:49] So I thought, 'Look, I'll go with something that just needs a lick of paint and those minor type of improvements, rather than going to get something with land and potentially larger issues'.

The unexpected reason why it needed so much more than just a lick of paint…

Laura Nasr:   

[00:18:11] And then obviously, to have it re let again, once we could have access, we had to do the renovations.

She explains all about the two hour circle.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:23:47] So we basically drew a circle.

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

Tyrone Shum:   

When it was finally time to purchase her first property, she took an age-old real estate phrase and made it her own.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:13:12] That was in Penrith, in one of the worst streets. It was a little unit, double brick, two level walk up. I bought it at a silent auction [and] paid way too much. I was just so excited that I was going to buy my first property. 

  

[00:13:27] And I had later that day made offers on other properties out in Shalvey, and Dharruk, which are those cheaper type areas where I could get a house for the same value. But at that time, I was a little bit nervous about termites or asbestos, all that kind of thing, because I didn't have an additional amount of funds to be able to rectify those issues. 

  

[00:13:49] So I thought, 'Look, I'll go with something that just needs a lick of paint and those minor type of improvements, rather than going to get something with land and potentially larger issues'.

Tyrone Shum:   

Its appeal to her was all in its practicality. While it’s far from what she would consider investing in now, it was great for her first step onto the property ladder.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:14:16] I really liked it because it was in walking distance to Penrith station. It was on a huge block of land. So if you were to redevelop on that property now, you'd probably get 60 [to] 70 apartments. When I bought that it had six. So I thought, 'You know what? There's potential here'. 

  

[00:14:37] And I liked the fact that it was double brick and slug construction. So I felt like even though it's ground floor, which is obviously not ideal, it is a little bit elevated, so that's okay. And the structure of it's quite good. So I felt like it's lower risk for me. And the strata levies at that point were fairly low.

  

[00:15:13] I rented that one out. It was vacant for a good 12 months. There was a fire that happened in the basement, which... in a positive mindset, I was thinking, 'Oh, well, that's fantastic. Because if the whole building burns down, the six owners, we've basically potentially got a portion of the land and we can go and sell it to a developer'. Anyway, structure, double brick, it didn't burn down. It was just black for quite a number of months. So I had that property for about six years, and then I sold it.

Tyrone Shum:   

For a first-time investor dealing with a situation many would consider a nightmare, Nasr took the setback in her stride.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:16:16] You didn't get any income. I mean, landlord insurance covers a little bit of that. But the loan was really, really small. So I didn't have a huge amount of pressure. 

  

[00:16:29] I had also purchased another property at that point, which was producing positive cash flow. So it kind of neutrally geared the portfolio at that point. So it wasn't a huge stressor. And keep in mind, I bought this property for $221,000.

Tyrone Shum:   

She decided to move on from the building after its resurrection, but it wasn’t due to the effects of the fire.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:18:00] I think there was a bit of an investigation as to why the fire happened. And then there was obviously structural reports and things like that that had to be done. So it did take a long time. 

[00:18:11] And then obviously, to have it re let again, once we could have access, we had to do the renovations. A lot of the improvements, 90% of them I do myself, even today to what I own. And so to be able to get out there, it takes longer than if you're contracting somebody out. To rent it again. It was a little bit harder at that time to get tenants.

[00:17:09] I got a new tenant in there, I got a little bit of money to redo the place, [I] just did paint[ing]. And then, yeah, it wasn't a huge thing. 

  

[00:17:19] Our sinking fund didn't have enough money. So we all had to pay additional funds to be able to make the site secure. So we had instead of just an open basement garage, we had gates and electronic swipes and all the rest of it. So I guess that led me into not wanting to be a part of a strata building anymore.

Tyrone Shum:   

In the time it took to make the building liveable again, Nasr had her hopes pinned on one thing— which was probably the exact opposite of what the other owners wanted.

Laura Nasr:  

[00:18:51] I try and be always be positive. And I was really hoping that all the reports would come back and say, 'You know what, we have to knock the building down'. And then I was getting excited about what could it be worth, and I was looking at how big the land is in the area, and what the zoning is, and how much the site could be worth, and then that means X amount for me. 

  

[00:19:09] So it was more that mindset rather than, 'I don't have someone in there, and I'm not getting the income'. I had a full time job. Like I said, I had another property that was positively cash flowed. So I wasn't in a stressful state.

Tyrone Shum:   

Her next purchase took two years to get into— or not get into.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:19:42] I bought a unit in Beecroft. [It was] probably my worst purchase because I bought it thinking that I would live in it. And it was more of an emotional one. I wanted the top floor, I wanted the extra space and all the rest of it. And I did also buy that one off the plan. And it didn't really grow in value at all. The strata was huge. And I never ended up living there.

  

[00:20:37] I put a tenant in there. It was at a way lower value than what I thought it would be. But it was still fine. I had a big enough deposit that I used from Penrith to put it into Beecroft. And then again, it didn't matter if it was, you know, $50 or $100 less a week, because I had bought it with the intention of living in it. So I was trying to minimise the amount of repayments I had to start with. 

  

[00:21:06] So I guess having bought two strata properties back to back, I thought, 'You know what, I just want to offload them. They're not making crazy great returns, they're not going up in that much value. And I think I can do something more exciting'. So I changed my strategy.

Tyrone Shum:   

Her takeaway from that purchase was loud and clear.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:21:42] My learning lesson was don't buy units. And don't buy investments that you fantasise about how nice it would be being there.

Tyrone Shum:   

With those two units under her belt, she shook things up and changed her investment strategy.

Laura Nasr:   

[00:22:09] I decided, 'You know what? These are not working for me. I'm going to sell the both of them, offload it, and I'll just restructure my property portfolio'. At that point in time, I met my future husband, and he had different types of investments, like I had all the strata, and he had all the land. And both of them were in different structures where his wasn't working for him. And mine wasn't working for me. So we sold everything off. And we said, 'You know what? [Let's] start from scratch'.

  

[00:22:57] My husband's a builder. So I'm very lucky that I could look at properties that needed additional work that I wasn't comfortable [with] or had the skills to do on my own, which was the reason at the start [that] I didn't buy an older home in Shelvey, or Dharruk was had that nervousness around the issues that older homes bring. 

 

[00:22:57] So we said, 'Okay, well, what do we want to do?' My husband loves building. I like renovating. I like older homes, and we like land. So we had a look. And we listened to lots of different podcasts similar to your own with investors. And some said, 'Don't invest if you're going to do the work yourself more than two hours from where you live'. 

  

[00:23:47] So we basically drew a circle. And this is pre kids. So we went and visited all of those areas ourselves. And we've been like, nearly every suburb you can think of two hours from Sydney. And at that point, we said anything under $500,000 because we want to get to this number by two years, for example. 

  

[00:24:11] So we found a property that [was] our first purchase together, [it] was an industrial zoned land. It had a residential house on it, though, and it was near a growth area. So it was in Gosford, and the rent was neutrally geared. It was neutrally geared. But there was potential to add value. 

  

[00:24:35] So our strategy is always buy something under market. So we always look at what's on the market, oldest to newest in the search bar on realestate or Domain rather than newest to oldest, which everyone I think typically does. 

 

[00:24:48] And this property had been on the market for, like, six months. And it was actually on real commercial, not realestate.com. So it was adjoining a medical centre across the road from a hospital. So we thought, you know, 'Tick tick tick, later on, we can develop it and it will be worth a lot more'. 

Laura Nasr’s story continues in the next episode of Property Investory. She reveals the rest of the Gosford property story…

 

[00:26:11] So we used that strategy to then get a higher bank valuation to then go on and purchase the other properties.

 

What and where those other properties were…

 

[00:27:19] So after that property, we bought a little our three development site on the Central Coast.

She shares some of the tips and tricks she’s learnt along the way.

[00:06:06] And we do also have the skills and the knowledge around how to get around that or how to improve on those things.

 

And that’s next time on Property Investory.