Q: I am 46, and very much the "average" person, who worked many years at a job where I earned about $40,000 a year.
Monday, January 24th 2005, 2:15AM
by The Landlord
About 10 years ago, I did extensive research on residential property investment in NZ that was self-conducted (I did not take a seminar).
What impressed me was that people who owned 30-plus residential properties often had a story about a property that made them money, with 100 per cent finance, from the first day of ownership.
I decided to build a property portfolio worth at least $2 million over the next six years using these three simple rules:
1) The anticipated rent must exceed what the principal and interest payments would be with 100 per cent finance, plus related expenses. Put another way, a property would have to generate a net profit.
2) If I cannot imagine the property being there in 50 years, I walk away.
I never get builder's reports, because I would never consider buying a property that made me suspicious enough to ask for one.
3) Always remember, "capital gain is promised to no one". Any property I buy has the potential of some day being owned purely by management work, without any of my own capital being put into it.
