Patience the lesson as first dubious purchase becomes hefty portfolio

I bought my first property on the 25 January 2012. It was step one in a simple goal to never worry about money again.

Almost nothing went to plan, and yet it still worked.

There’s a lesson to be learned.

When my mentor first suggested investing, I had a list of excuses as to why it wasn’t a good idea: no deposit, a $40,000 personal loan, too young, wrong location. All valid, but not helpful.

I signed a contract … then pulled out. Not just once, but three times. I concluded there were no cafés nearby, I was staring down the barrel of too much debt, and friends and family said I wasn’t ready, and I believed them.

Eventually though, I managed to commit and settle on a purchase.

Year one, zero growth. Year two, still flat.

That wasn’t the plan. I’d done the research; the growth was supposed to come early.

The problem was I’d bought in the Queensland suburb of Goodna and while my property hadn’t flooded, the suburb had, and associated stigma put the brakes on short-term growth.

By year three, things started to move, albeit slowly.

Patience pays dividends

Fast forward 14 years, and the property has almost tripled in value. But here’s the key point – most of that growth came after year five.

One thing that did go to plan is that it’s been tenanted every single day since I bought it.

That one ‘slow’ start? I’ve since turned that first property into a portfolio of 10.

I could have sold early and made a huge mistake, blamed the market, blamed my mentor for pushing me into a bad investment.

Fortunately for me, I didn’t. I adjusted my plans instead. I found another way to buy property number two.

That’s how progress works. It’s not linear, predictable, or comfortable.

The plan rarely plays out as expected. The winners don’t abandon plans at the first hurdle; they adapt and keep moving.

One more lesson.

After I pulled out of the deal (for the third time), my uncle John stepped in. He offered to fund my $30,000 deposit and defer repayments—in exchange for 25 per cent of the upside until I paid him back.

He made a 33 per cent return in under three years.

The bonus lesson was seeing the value of backing myself and understanding the value of compound growth.

You earn it or you pay it. On this purchase I’ve managed to earn it (the eventual value uplift) and pay it (in the case of John’s interest bill).

My advice is to stay to the course long enough to let the market and time do the heavy lifting.