In this episode, we sit down with Aaron Christie David, the founder of Atelier Wealth Mortgage Brokers. Aaron specialises in helping property investors join the top 1% of Australian investors. We discuss his journey from Sri Lanka to Australia, the challenges and successes he faced, and his insights on scaling property portfolios. Aaron also shares his thoughts on the current market, the recent interest rate drop, and the importance of having a supportive partner in your investment journey. Learn about his strategic advice for first home buyers and investors alike, and how to navigate the property market with confidence. Don't miss this inspiring and informative conversation!
In this episode, we sit down with Aaron Christie David, the founder of Atelier Wealth Mortgage Brokers. Aaron specialises in helping property investors join the top 1% of Australian investors. We discuss his journey from Sri Lanka to Australia, the challenges and successes he faced, and his insights on scaling property portfolios. Aaron also shares his thoughts on the current market, the recent interest rate drop, and the importance of having a supportive partner in your investment journey. Learn about his strategic advice for first home buyers and investors alike, and how to navigate the property market with confidence. Don't miss this inspiring and informative conversation!
(02:05) Aaron's Early Life and Journey to Australia
(04:59) Career Beginnings and Corporate Experience
(07:35) Starting Atelier Wealth: Challenges and Successes
(11:09) The Importance of Support and Alignment
(12:11) Aaron's Personal Property Journey
(15:55) Building Intergenerational Wealth
(17:28) The Value of Sharing Success Stories
(19:44) Introduction to The Smart Property Show
(20:23) Exploring Recent Interest Rate Drops
(22:15) Impact on First Home Buyers and Upgraders
(23:27) Investor Market Trends and Strategies
(25:39) The Rise of Rentvesting
(28:03) Predictions for 2025 and Election Impact
(32:46) Final Advice for Aspiring Investors
About Aaron:
Aaron-Christie David founded Atelier Wealth, a Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) approved Mortgage Broker. Aaron’s focus is clear – supporting property investors to make confident decisions to build their property portfolio. He has been recognised
in the MPA Top 100 Broker rankings for the last three years.
With over 10 years of financial services experience, with a career spanning Wizard Home Loans and Commonwealth Bank, Aaron's decision to become a broker was to help more Australians fearlessly buy investment properties to achieve intergenerational wealth.
Connect with Aaron:
Visit the website: atelierwealth.com.au
Follow the Australian Investment Property Podcast’s Official Instagram account: instagram.com/aupropertyinvestmentpodcast
Follow Aaron on Facebook:
facebook.com/aaronchristiedavid
Follow Aaron on LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/aaronchristiedavid
Subscribe to Atelier Wealth’s YouTube Channel:
[00:00:00]
Julian: Welcome back to the Smart Investor Show. Today we welcome Aaron Christie David, the founder of Atia Wealth Mortgage Brokers, and he specialises in helping property investors scale their portfolios to join the top 1% of Australian investors. Being a strategic mortgage broker goes beyond rate. It's working towards a passive income target or portfolio value.
Aaron has been ranked in the top 100 brokers four times, and his brokerage has won a number of industry awards. Aaron and Bernadette have two girls, Sienna and Zara, who are the driving force behind why they invest. Property can be a game changer to create intergenerational wealth. He sets the bar high personally, professionally, and in property.
His ethos is you can't be what you can't see, and he truly wants to see more investors succeed. To inspire others to achieve success through investing in property. Aaron [00:01:00] has published his first book, the Happy Home Loan Handbook, providing a blueprint to help more first home owners enter the property market.
I'm certainly looking forward to this chat with Aaron.
Aaron, Christie, David, welcome to the Smart Investor Show. Thanks, Jillian May. I appreciate you inviting me on. Thank you very much. It's great to have you on. Uh, I've been fortunate enough to, uh, be with you on your show a couple of times, so it's, uh, yeah, it's a real honor to have you, uh, as one of our first guests as well.
Thanks, mate.
Aaron: Uh, returning sir, buddy. I love it. Exactly like we were saying before you, you came onto our podcast, you've got you, I mean, you've got great track records, so for me, I'm, you know, I'm wishing every success for your podcast. And, uh, mate, like we said, put one foot in front of the other and a good message will never go outta fashion.
That's right. Getting
Julian: some good guests like yourself to start with will also help my traffic. So, mate, I'd, I'd always like to start to get to know, you know, we'll talk about the business, we'll talk about the market, we'll talk [00:02:00] about your insights as well around finance obviously. But I'd love to get the Aaron Christie, David story a little bit.
Go back, go back from the start and uh, and how did you get here? How did you get to Australia? And then, and obviously get us to the at welt story. Thanks, mate. Yeah, look.
Aaron: Birth lottery. Uh, I was gotta say, when you look back now, mate, you ly you know, we, we are from Lanken background. Um, and I think whenever you go back to Slanky, you realize, mate, we, we literally hit the, the gene pool lottery.
Um, my, my dad was working over in Saudi Arabia. Uh, you know, as, as a lot of people with expats will do, they go over and some good dollars. At that stage when I was born, uh, Lanker, then went into a civil war and there was probably a few places to go. At that time. It was ada, uh, the UK or Australia, and we're very lucky that being my parents chose Australia, so it was myself and my older brother.
I. And I think back, mate, that's a big move for, you know, as a migrant family to move to Australia with no job lined up. There wasn't [00:03:00] a lot of cash and savings. I can't imagine making that move. And I'm established two, two daughters. Um, you know, just think about it. And that's with the internet. Now you go back there mate.
They're traveling with travelers checks. It's, it's crazy. But I think that's what the, I think that's what the yearning for a better Life does. And, uh, we got to Australia. Moved to Canterbury as our first stop.
Aaron: Then we grew up in, uh, Fairfield West. Then we grew up in Denzel Park, and that's kind of where we, we, we spent a lot of our, now our twenties, uh, living, living at home.
And schooling. You know, I went to Macquarie Fields High. Um, you know, it was part selective. Is that a also
Julian: a sporting school or,
Aaron: nah, my brother went to Westfield. My older brother went Westfield. That's right. So he played cricket. Yeah. Uh, my younger brother went to Ston. He was smart, and I sat somewhere in the middle.
That sounds like me. I'm one off three, so I reckon I'm right middle somewhere. And now three boys. What could possibly go wrong? You know your poor mom. My mom. Yeah. I credit my [00:04:00] mom, uh, a lot with kind of keeping us on the straight and narrow. Uh, there's no doubt made if, uh, and my, both my parents were fairly disciplined, uh, with us.
Not fun at the time, but now being a parent, I'm like, you have got to run a very tight ship as a parent. And yeah, there you'll be phases where things might go off the rails a little bit, but it's an ability to come together as a family and reset. And I think we had some fairly good examples of that growing up.
And, but I think the big thing was my mum was that you've gotta get educated. You came to this country, you've gotta get a degree. So, you know, all three, my, my two brothers and I, we, we all went to uni and I think that kind of gave us a, it gave us a really good foundation, a platform to get, you know, into, uh, professional services.
My brother's an accountant. I did my master's in, uh, my undergrad in marketing and then Sean did his, you know, finance degree. So I think that kind of got us to a point my parents like, right, we've got you to this point. Now the rest is up to you and how you apply yourself and how you go out with a work ethic that they've set us up for, mate, I.
I was very fortunate. You know, I learned some [00:05:00] awesome roles. Um, you know, one of my probably best gigs, uh, was working at Wizard Home Loans under Mark Boris and, and Brad Seymour and the team there. And that really kind of got me to financial services, but it got really got a place to my challenger mindset.
And I love being a challenger. Uh, I played competitive sports, so for me, I'm finding a way to win. And that was like, they call it a disruptor today. That's what Wizard Home Loans was back in the day. And. Uh, yeah, height of the global financial crisis. Lose my job and then eventually get back on my own two feet.
And I've got a, uh, got a gig over at, uh, Commonwealth Bank, working in marketing, particularly for, for, for broker distribution through home loans. And that's where I, I guess I got that exposure to the broker, uh, channel and, uh, make to jump forward a few steps. Kind of looking at, do I study my MBA, do I go down, you know, this path of, you know, becoming a broker And that's when my wife Bernadette was like, become a broker.
Um, this could be, you know, this could be a good career move for you. And [00:06:00] so, you know, me with two degrees under my belt, you know, becoming a lowly mortgage broker's not a, not an easy transition. Um, but mate, here we are. I've been outta the bank for over 10 years now, and. May, it's been a rollercoaster, but I can't change, I wouldn't change the the course because it's got me to where I'm today.
Julian: Well, that's right. I think, um, all that experience, particularly in that corporate world, it really, um, I guess teaches us a little bit about discipline and the big factories that, that, uh, corporate can be particularly a bank that you came from. Um, but there are a lot of good structures, a lot of good systems in CRMs and, uh, process ticking things off.
And I think, I'm sure, no doubt we wanna talk about your current business, but no doubt a lot of that is instilled in you, which is, uh, always thinking back to what, what you did back in, in the, uh, when you worked in the corporate world.
Aaron: May, you're absolutely spot on as much as like being a, a number in a, you know, big corporate like CBA might pain you.
I've gotta tell you, mate, the discipline and the structure and the rigor [00:07:00] that comes at working in one of the big four, I'm so fortunate, but I, I genuine, that's where I'm today because every idea is thought through. It's a highly competitive environment, so you've really gotta stand out with your talents.
You do what you say you're gonna do, for example, your follow up. So all those building blocks that CBA gave you to have a good corporate career. And if you apply that principles to small business, I generally say that's probably why our business does so well is 'cause they walked away with a whole set of like tools on my tool belt.
To imply take from a large successful organization and apply to a small business. That to me is probably the X factor.
Julian: Now talking about the small business, which is not so small anymore. Um, award-winning. Oh, see Mortgage Broker. Tell me a little about Attia Wealth and this, I guess even the journey then.
'cause no doubt it didn't start where we are today. There's been a, a long road to get to where you are.
Aaron: Thanks, man. Look, I mean, I started out, when I left the bank, I took a, I bought a mortgage choice franchise and it seemed like a good stepping stone. I didn't expect that I'd exited it, [00:08:00] but it seemed like the right, you know, support the right, you know, they gave you leads and the right infrastructure.
I thought this could be a good opportunity. It was in a great area in Alexandria, in Sydney, so really growing corridor. Uh, and then probably. 12 months in, I realized that that wasn't, it wasn't gonna serve me long term. Like you couldn't market outside your territory. There was people in there that had golden handcuffs that could never leave the franchise because it's too big and they can't leave.
Aaron: Uh, you have no resale ability, so you actually don't own your own asset. And so all this kind of weight on me and.
Aaron: the first 18 months, I was like, we've gotta get outta here. I made a decision at that point and we're making some, you know, now we're making some traction IE income and I told Bernadette, we are leaving pretty much effective immediately.
And that just doesn't, that doesn't go down well, um, naturally. But I said, I'll back myself to redo what we did except bigger and better. And that's when at l was born. And again, it's just. Failing forward mate. Like some people that might take the wind outta their [00:09:00] sails and go that, that, that, that's really hurt them.
For me it was just fuel to the fire and I'm like, I've gotta make this work. I had no money. Uh, I've got work ethic. I don't have kids. At the time, um, yes we were nearly married, but I also had a really good supportive, you know, spouse in Bernie. Yeah. That she just gave me that freedom to go, Hey mate, if you can see the vision and in my mind again, this is how I want it to work, well then.
Pull the trigger and make it a success. So there was no option, and there's no ego when I talk about this, but there was no option for it to be anything less than what it is today. Yeah. And I still think there's unfinished business. There's so much unfinished business. That's what keeps me going as well.
Julian: It's like you feel like I'm just getting started. Right. And 10 years in,
Aaron: right. That's exactly what I say. I'm like, we're nine years in July. Mm. I'm just getting started and I think the team feed off that energy as well. 'cause imagine if I was a bit lax as a business owner and just sworn in and sworn out.
No, no, no. I'm in the trenches with everyone else. Mm-hmm. I'm like, I'm at the cold face. And I, I think the second that I [00:10:00] do pull back like that, it almost gives permission for the team to go, well, if he's taking his foot off the pedal, why can't I, I feel like so many business owners are ready. They're finding ways to check out too early, whereas they're leading so much on the table by showing up.
Best version of yourself giving this thing 150% and then you know, people feed off that energy and that type of conviction as well.
Julian: You know, it's a huge, uh, that whole, you know, Bernadette supporting you, that support mechanism, something people don't talk about that often, but for you, um, I had the same, same, same issue as well know leaving that, uh, corporate world with the golden handcuffs in the corporate world.
Yeah. Same as you got two girls as we talk about. And though at that stage, a private school. So there's, that was the worst time ever I could consider to start a business from scratch, you know? So, um, but. If you get the right backing of support and belief, uh, you can make it work. And one thing I always talk about, uh, even in hiring is you've gotta find people with that burn in their stomach if they don't wanna succeed or don't have that burn.
[00:11:00] It doesn't have to be about money. It can be other things in life that, uh, yeah, you know, the hierarchy of needs, so to speak. Um, it's very rare you see success. Oh, mate,
Aaron: I think that's. Definitely the, the X factor, again, for a lot of couples, even when it comes to say, investing and property, we'll probably jump ahead to this at some point.
Yeah. When you can get alignment as a couple. That takes that friction away, and that's one less hand break to focus or worry about. But if you're spending a lot of your time convincing your partner that this is a good idea, when they should be trying to support your ideas and well, not every idea is a good idea.
Sometimes it takes refining that as a couple and sharpening the sword and, you know, getting on the same page. I'm, I'm cool with that, but at some point you just need to go. I'm gonna back you to the ends of the earth. If you think this is a good idea, I'm gonna give you every, every bit of support I can sometimes, easier said than done, but I'm like, if you can just keep having this mentality that we're, that together, you know that our successes are our successes, our losses are, are shared as well.
I don't know, mate, they [00:12:00] just, it gives you that permission to. To succeed and doesn't become that kind of ceiling on your, um, on your growth as well. No, very true. Very
Julian: true. We're both very lucky. Yeah, absolutely. Now, getting into, I guess one of the things I'd like to talk to you about is around your property journey as well.
Um, whatever you'd like to share. Yeah. Tell me about your, uh.
Aaron: The Christie
Julian: David family
Aaron: property journey. Yeah, yeah. Look mate, look, my parents probably paid their home up when we were teenagers and we didn't really speak openly about money. It was very common for a lot of families, you know, migrants, whatever.
It's particularly subcontinent families. Yeah. It's not something we talk about. You're right. There's so many eth ethnicities that just do not speak about. Money as a, as a, as a household. And that's not wrong. I don't, I don't think my parents, I think my parents just tried to shield us from what was happening financially.
And look, they bought one investment property. It was a strata property. My dad used to complain about strata. I'm like, I couldn't understand it because I'm like, you bought a unit, it has strata. I don't like you can't argue with it. And anyway, so he was telling me to buy property. And so, and [00:13:00] again, I always come back to you can't be what you can't see.
So I'm, you are telling me to buy property, but you don't believe in the asset. Math aint mathen. You know, eventually I did, I bought my first property using the first homeowner grant a, an apartment in north, in North Parramatta. The real estate agent played cricket with my dad. That's ultimately how I got this property.
And it was an accident. Uh, but you know, I could get in there, I could renovate it. Yeah. Not rent it out for six months to get the first homeowner grant and then put it back on the market, and it did okay. It did. Would if, would I tell a client today to buy it? Absolutely not. It overlooked a cemeteries on a busy street you couldn't do much with.
It was an old unit, but may have got me in the market. Yeah. And I think the equity go and buy another unit in Liverpool. Again. Terrible idea, but that's all I could afford. Right. I was a graduate, I. Um, I was trying to save what I could, the equity. Then those pull out money for our wedding, for example.
There was just ways that I'm like, this works. And then I went and bought a sports car, you know, 20 something using, [00:14:00] saying like, I love it, absolute mistakes after mistakes. But as a 20 something year old, you dunno what you don't know. I used to read all, you know, investor magazines and see how, you know, you actually see Scotty O'Neil and some of these blokes back in the day.
Like, how are they doing it? And I couldn't understand it. And then being in corporate, you have a lifestyle, so you're not. Rented near the city, expensive suits, watches, holidays. I blew my money and eventually got to the point that when I started the business again, it, that's nowhere near as self-employed friendly as what it is today.
So you need an a BN registered for at least one or two years. The business ain't making money for the first two years, uh, all out cash went into the business, so it took us outta the market for a very long time. And eventually we ended up buying another property. It was in Little Bay. I bought off the plan 'cause I thought we were gonna live there, gave it's time to save up and rent.
Found out we're pregnant. We're like, we don't wanna live here, we're just gonna move down the coast. And that's where we made a sea change to the, this is before, um, before Covid. And we bought here. We like, oh, we'll just rent for 12 months and figure out where we wanna buy and what we [00:15:00] wanna do. 12 months later, COVID hits, prices, accelerate, and look eventually, mate, we sell out.
Properties, and we were reinvesting at that time. So we had I think, three properties on the go at some point. Then we sell out and then get a large deposit, and we buy our home down here in Winona. And then since then, we've gone to buy commercial to other investment properties. We, we buy, we we're in a heavy accumulation phase, uh, throughout this year.
Mm-hmm. And, but our business has now given us the ability to go and borrow, uh, and, and, and equity on tap. So for me. We may have had to wait a while, but the business has become our big driver. And now for back of that, we have some success to go and invest in property,
Julian: which is, it's really important, especially when the business hits certain milestones.
Yeah. To use and, uh, um, use that money wisely and take it out and, uh, build your 'cause, you know, things change as well in businesses. Right. So, uh, building up that nest egg, I know one of the important things for you is that [00:16:00] intergenerational wealth is something you've talked about in the past.
Aaron: Yeah, be done, man.
I see it. I can come to this within one generation, I can change the entire, my entire bloodline of property. Right? Yeah. Like there's not many ways that you can come into a country. And within one generation, rewrite that script so quickly. And property lets you do that. I've, I've done it for clients. We're doing it for ourselves.
My team, you know, a, a number of them have to buy pro. None of 'em have bought property. So I'm like, if I'm doing it for clients, I can do it for my team as well. Do it for myself, uh, our family, and again. You know, go back to this saying you can't be where you can't see. So the second you can see something, a achieve, you know, achieve that level of success is like, well, they can do it.
I can do it.
Aaron: And that's what you need as a oma. Again, it's not a competitive sphere. It's more like, Hey, tell me how you've done it. Let's collaborate. Share me, share what you know. This is exactly what podcasting, it's exactly what case studies do. For example, property communities do that. [00:17:00] Um, courses will do that.
Where if you are around a cohort of people that want the same thing together, it's like, Hey, we're on the journey together. I'll share whatever I know. You tell me what you know, we're all gonna get bigger and better. And it's like, Hey man, the pie just got. Even bigger for everyone that's winning and succeeding.
And in fact, we want more people to come on that journey with us. And that's what that abundant mindset is all about rather than, but if I tell someone they're can take away from my success and I've gotta be really, uh, careful with who I tell my journey to. Hmm, nah, I, I don't subscribe to that type of
Julian: mentality.
And I think that's something ingrained in the Australian culture right, as well. That whole tall poppy syndrome. And, uh, we don't like to hear about those things. But, um, it's important particularly in, in the business you're in to talk about that and share that and encourage, um, clients and investors to, to take action, which is, for me, one of the biggest words, you know, taking action and, and getting started like you did.
You said you didn't get it right. You didn't get it perfect, right? You said you made a couple of mistakes, but we all have, I did that mistakes 20 years ago and bought an apartment off the plan and [00:18:00] Yeah. But that, that's what. I've got that story to tell today and that's how we help our clients, um, you know, advance their, their wealth generation story much faster, um, than I did, whose heart
Aaron: would bleed more.
A young family that is renting and can't get into the market, or a young family that's on their fourth investment property and you know, has issues with Tets like. The SOB story will win every day of the week. Correct. But why aren't we championing the family that's being able to take action, grow a portfolio.
They're not relying on government, they're providing housing for, you know, land, uh, renters that need accommodation, for example. They're increasing their own wealth position. And I feel like the second that people do really well, I don't care, call it tall, poppy court, whatever, but. Their success is somewhat silent because how can they share that, those wins and successes without saying like, absolute douche bags.
Like it's, it's a, it's a tough, it's a tough road for successful investors 'cause it can be quite lonely. It's like being successful in business and uh, the similarities are [00:19:00] striking where it's like that upper echelon then kind of keep to themselves going, no one understands our journey. No one's championing our journey.
No one's celebrating our successes and we always gotta keep it under wraps so they won't even tell their friends or family that they've bought those properties. That's right. Because it almost offends others in their circle. Mm. I can say this, having worked with so many investors going, their successes aren't celebrated.
I'm like, come on. Like that's, that ain't right.
Julian: Mm. I mean, I'm sure you have it as well, Aaron. You know, a lot of people will say, I, I don't wanna give a testimonial 'cause I don't want to
Julian: you guys. Or they'll write to us and tell us how amazing we are. Yeah. But they don't want to go public with that.
They're public because they don't want people to know that they're investing in property, which is go exactly what you, the point you just made.
Aaron: Correct.
Julian: The Smart Property Show is proudly bought to you by search party property, nominated by REB as Australia's best buyer's agency and buyer'ss agent for 2025.
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Contact third party property today for a complimentary discovery call. All right, mate. Well thanks for the background. Now let's get No, it's all good. We want to get into your brain and, uh, yeah. Your expertise around finance. Yeah. Um, as one of the leading mortgage brokers in the country. I want to sort of talk about a few of the, I guess, present matters at hand, and, uh, probably start with what you've seen.
It's been a, what, two, three weeks now since, uh, we had a little, little interest straight drop. Uh, yeah. Something's been debated for a long time when it's gonna happen, and let's face it, we all, we all just base it on a 50, a toss of the coin every, every month, right? Yeah. Um, when's it gonna happen again? We all have different views.
I've heard. Economists views and [00:21:00] demographer's views. You know, I personally think it's gonna be later in the year, but I guess first question is, yeah, what have you seen since that rate drop in your business around lending and then around, um, investors? Confidence
Aaron: is probably the word. Julian. Great sentiment.
Even at the start of the year, we knew it when we came in at the start of the year, and we just saw a smashed inbox of people that were reaching out, going, I wanna buy, I wanna talk, blah, blah. I knew at that point. This was gonna be a big year. And generally, I mean we get a lot of inquiry, but this was extraordinary.
And I said to the team, I like strap yourselves in. This is gonna be a year where people were gonna bang on the doors and they'll want it done fairly quickly. 'cause sentiment was so strong, the rate cut then led to confidence. And I think you, you're probably seeing, you know, inflation. Pig back a bit. Uh, but most importantly, people's borrowing capacity have just gone up a Sid, but they can see that there's a future rate cut.
You said when, so it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when there might be that next rate [00:22:00] cut or cuts. And I think that in for people going, right, but if I get to the mortgage now, the repayments probably will go down. Whereas you go back 18 months, people are buying, going, all right, my repayment is gonna continue to keep going up.
Yeah. And it's given relief. To to first home buyers going, okay, I've got a little smid extra in borrowing capacity. Waited for all this time at 13 rate rises and prices didn't fall like expected. They stayed where they are or increase. Okay, waiting, didn't service. We need to get into the market. And I go through every segment 'cause I'm like first time buyers, bang, like they're winning.
Especially some of the government talks and packages and, um, legisl, encouraging building and things like that. Correct? Correct. Um, and then you take Upgraders, and I think this is probably the most winning segment in 2025. You might sell in a slightly weaker market, that's cool depending on what asset you have.
But then to upgrade into a family home that you're gonna be in for the next 15 years. This could be the window or time when you get in [00:23:00] and
Julian: you know, well selling in a lu weaker market depending on where you're selling because uh, we've obviously got a lot of other strong markets. We talk about Perth and Adelaide and Brisbane.
Right. Spot on. So yeah, it could be other way around.
Aaron: Hmm. Mate, spot on. So you can be selling a really sweet. Sweet market. And then you could be buying in a market where's you've got up like that would've cost you far more back in the day. And now it's like, if I don't get in now, prices will continue to rise.
And I think any property outcomes renovated again, come with the premium too. So I think the upgrader market tick the investor market, you your point earlier will always be, there's always investors doing something at any given time. Rates up, rates down, rates on hold. Um. Building a portfolio, being opportunistic, whatever it is, which our investor book is so resilient.
It's very true. Now, some investors will worry about cash flow, but other investors are willing to push through, eat some glass, as we say, be negative on cashflow, knowing that they're banking that capital growth, that when they can sell out at some point, if they [00:24:00] choose to pay out the debt and they, they're going through that accumulation phase and knowing that there is no property or very few properties at this stage that are neutrally geared, and they're.
They've prepared themselves for that reality as well. And then off the back of investors, you probably see SMSF investors, commercial investors, they're really getting, you know, into the game as well. And I think that's, it's talking to a level of sophistication. Yeah. Buyer agents, brokers, property savvy accountants, for example.
I feel like the, the bar has been raised in the property world. Now it's like it's not enough just to buy one or two properties. We're buying properties through trust, through SMS s through companies, special purpose vehicles. We are like there, find me away. And I think investors are very hungry to go find me away.
'cause they still wanna keep going because they're bought so well that equity's there. Yeah. And that confidence is there to keep going.
Julian: That's some really ni really good points. So, I mean, one of the things, it's funny you said that about, uh, [00:25:00] 18 months people are just gonna wait for the market, whereas, like you said, our biggest year was last year.
2024 was the biggest year in the company in seven years, you know, and we, we have a lot of common connections in the buyer's agency scheme and a lot of them all said the same thing. So yeah, it shows that in a market that people saying, well, no, we're not investing 'cause we're at the highest 13 interest rates, um, increases.
Yet a lot of us. You know, have seen the market being very buoy from an investment point of view. Mm-hmm. Um, and I think the two trends we saw, which. Alliance with what you just said. One was superannuation, SMSF. Mm-hmm. So we, that was a huge trend for us last year and that continue on already this year.
Yeah. And the second was, um, rent vest. Yeah. What are you seeing around that? 'cause that was somewhere people just like, I can't live in Bondi. I can't afford it. Um, but I want to, I need to invest. And so these are couples generally, they're in their maybe early thirties, no kids yet. And they've realized I can't get the dream home.
I can't live in Randwick, Bondi Ji. Yeah. Um. But I, I need to invest. And we've seen them buy two properties over the last couple of years. 'cause they've done so well [00:26:00] in some of the markets that we bought it. That's,
Aaron: well I think you're right. It's not that we can't afford to buy into those areas. You could afford to buy something, let's say city, Melbourne, Brisbane on, on combined income 2, 2 50, right?
Yeah. But then what happens is now you are shackled to this giant mortgage and that has changed your entire psyche going, now I'm just gonna work to pay off this behemoth mortgage. And it's taking the soul. It takes their soul outta 'em. All their friends are just walking billboards for like how bad it impacts your lifestyle.
It's like, can't come out 'cause we're trying to save our money. It's like, that's no way to live. Um, so I feel like rent facing has really grown in popularity as one house. Prices of outpaced income. So naturally it's made it, you're buying less than what you are used to on those incomes.
Aaron: But also going, hang on.
I've got an income producing asset here that then is tax advantageous compared to having a giant owner occupied mortgage and when we buy this behemoth house with this behemoth [00:27:00] mortgage. We actually can't invest because all our money has gone into here and there's very little borrowing capacity afterwards.
'cause they may have maxed themselves out. So I think the penny has dropped. Again, we talk about like, you know, property savvy accounts buyer's. I think they've all come to the party going, hang on, rent investing can be a good model if you are able to swallow your pride and rent as opposed to have your pride, which is, but I've got my own home.
And that seeing that, that ticket to freedom or like a status symbol as well.
Julian: Yeah, no, that's, I think that'll continue on that trend as well. Particularly as we are seeing, like you said, if in our, in our industry, in sector we hear you are busy. We, we know that's gonna come to us in probably a month or two's time.
It just, it just generally happens. 'cause they're kind of getting all their, their numbers together with you first. Yeah. And then start looking for the property. Whether they build that team of experts, as we call it. Like you said, do they engage a buyer's agent or not? That'll be, um, you know, that's up to the individual's decision.
Spot on on. And what about, so looking [00:28:00] into your crystal ball, I think you've got one on your desk there somewhere. What do you see for 2025? I know we are, we, we've talked about the confidence in the market. Yeah. But let's talk about the next, you know, we've got an election coming up, so we're not, that generally means we've been through many of them.
It's one of the good things about being around for a while. Yeah. We know. We know that the topic of interest and the one that's gonna be plastered all over the news stories for clickbait is gonna be the word property. Mm. The policies are gonna be based around that. So once we get through that, what do you see happening thereafter?
Aaron: Yeah. You got, you got a cohort of borrowers that tend to put things on hold for whatever reason. Yeah. I'm gonna wait to the election to make a decision. I'm like, that's cool. I can't make it. I can't sell a loan. You need to buy properties for a loan to be facilitated. I was saying, what, what's the advantage of waiting?
So if anyone's listening, going, I might wait. Just convince me of the reason to wait, because I'll tell you what from my mind and my ex, my, my research tells me. So, uh, you get a liberal government [00:29:00] that, you know, if they came into, uh, into power, um, they, uh, one of their, um, election promises is to allow first time buyers to access $50,000 outta super.
To go and buy their first time. Now again, you and I have been around the block for a little while. The second that you tinker it, first, homeowner grants, it drives the market upwards, particularly certain price points. So imagine if you could as a couple, pull out a hundred thousand dollars and you're gonna take that a hundred grand and buy owner rock inside I in a West, or I dunno.
North shore. Like an entry point. Yeah, an entry level pro unit. It just pushes those, those values up. And that's across, I'm not talking that's federal. So this is across the
Julian: country. Yeah. I mean, you see that in established property, but you take that next layer and talk when they have the new home buyer grants, when they're trying to push the construction industry and straight away you call your builders and they say they just had a party because they've just increased their, their building price by 50 K.
So the price. Automatically next day has gone up. So actually the [00:30:00] poor first home buyer doesn't actually get a 50 grand dollar grant. It, it goes
Aaron: spot on. You're not, if you pull 50 grand out, but it hasn't given you $50 extra, 50 k extra in the property market or a new bill. So this is where again, you we're trying to have emotional conversations with Yeah.
First time buyers. It, it, I dunno, just the ration and emotion. Is it, it's, it's. It's too much to take in. Mm-hmm. Particularly as they're trying to get into the market. I think for investors though, it's, it's a perfect opportunity. It's like, perfect. I don't, I don't subscribe, like this is the best time to buy.
Right. But we're talking about rates coming down. We're talking about, you know, far more borrowers, brokers, buyer's, agents are becoming far more sophisticated in the way they can go about scaling a portfolio. Yeah. I say to people, why don't you attach yourself to this rocket ship and then go, because in 10 years time where you will be with your, like your wealth [00:31:00] position, you'd be incredibly different if you made some game changing decisions and moves today.
And I. Look mate, I put on the record, I'll tell this pretty consistently, like don't ask me in 10 years time how we're doing it. Something like our po your podcast, our podcast. I'm telling you when I'm doing it, now he's how to do it. Don't come to me in 10 years time. 'cause I want to kind of, I dunno, I wanna relax a little bit more.
Um, but goes to the video tape. You can tell them, mate, it's like, Hey, everyone's dropping the breadcrumbs, how to do it now. And if you are not making moves or if you're not making decisions, if you're not taking action. The only person that's gonna be on is yourself. Right? No one is coming to save you.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, we mate, we send out so many loan strategies, we do not follow up. And that's a fault of ours. Mm-hmm. But like if you, you've gotta want it bad enough.
Julian: Yeah.
Aaron: You've gotta make it a priority. You have to want it bad enough. I can't sell you until this mortgage. I can't sell you until this investment property.
We can only meet you halfway about where you want to be. And we've only got so many hours in the day. And those hours [00:32:00] get allocated to people that are banging on the door hungry and. Yearning to grow a property portfolio and we can match that energy. And the same would be for yourself as a buyer's agent.
Yeah, we've got this like complex that we wanna help everyone, but we can't help everyone. You have to want it for yourself.
Julian: Yeah. And I think we, it's only when you get confident in your business, you know, nine years in and uh, yeah. And with us seven, it's that when you can start making those choices Right.
And you don't take everyone in, you want people. Yeah. Even, even as the customer, you know, a client, we want them to be motivated to buy, we want them to have the right reasons why they wanna buy. Uh, and we want them to take action, which then it makes it a great relationship, um, ongoing. And hence why we have so many, like you repeat clienteles this coming back year after year.
Aaron: Yeah. No thanks man.
Julian: Now mate, in terms of, I guess final question, uh, for all our listeners out there who have been inspired by your words and want to get ready, wanna get ready to, let's say either invest or buy a first time loan, what should they do to, to get ready to [00:33:00] take action? I.
Aaron: I think don't underestimate how much time is involved and people just roll up and go, okay, yeah, I'm ready to get pre-approved.
It's like, Hey mate, there's, there's a, there's a process and I hate, I hate being a hand break or slowing things down, but once you take a step back and you go, but what are we actually trying to do here? What are we trying to achieve? And try and tease out a plan. Uh, yeah, a long term vision for what you're actually trying to achieve.
How I wanna buy this next property is a great idea. Do you wanna buy the next one and the next one and the next one after that? Again, it can be a little bit hard to say 'cause you just wanna get in the market.
Aaron: But if you have a desire to grow a portfolio, then be upfront with that desire. If someone laughs at you, then you just walk out and you find the next broker.
You find the next team member. If they can't help you, don't take no for an answer. There's a certain level of person resilience that you are gonna need. I mean, I have met people that took no for an answer four years ago. That's four years they've been out of the market and. It's hard because your no could really deflate someone and cause 'em to take no action.
But I'm like, there's gotta be some [00:34:00] type of resilience. Here you go. I am not taking no for an answer. I'm gonna be the master and commander of my own destiny in my own ship. Yeah. Put yourself in the driver's seat and if someone's not willing to give you a yes, you keep going to, you get a yes. You keep going.
Um, and they're the people that you wanna partner with for the long term. So I think it comes down to a little bit of mindset. Uh, the next one is just plugging yourself into as many resources as you can. Look. This is not me plugging my book, but, um, you know, I put a, i, i, I put my pen to paper. We're trying to help first time bias 'cause I just, I specialize with the investors.
So this is kind of my gift to a lot of first home buyers because. I can, I, I'll speak too fast and they can't keep up. Again, there's so much to learn, right? So I'm like, this is a self-paced book where you understand from go to woe how to start from where you are to how to get keys into your hand and how to achieve that dream of home ownership.
Because first time buyers, I've gotta say, get pedaled. So much rubbish that is so hard to buy. And we sat around our, our, our table [00:35:00] this morning with the team having coffee. I was like, how many clients this week have we not been able to get, get a solution to? I was like. None, everyone we got options to.
Wow. So it's like there are solutions, there are options. You've just gotta be willing to turn over every stone. Yeah. And to me that if anyone's listening and they want copies of the book, I just, I give it away. I'm like, I just wanna put in people's hands. I don't even, like, there's no need to make money off the back of that.
Uh, it's just like, Hey, stack the deck in your favor. Don't listen to the media. They'll, they'll tell you that, you know, first time buyers can never get, it takes 20 years to save for a 20% deposit. You don't need a 20% deposit, you need a 5% deposit. Like there's stuff like this for Julian where I'm like, it gets me going.
Yeah. That's good. Love the passion getting going. Um. And that's probably why I wrote the book. 'cause I'm like, I can't just keep walking around like this chip on my shoulder going, the media is wrong, their voice is louder than mine. But what I can do is I can show people, there's a blueprint. I can give them examples and options about how to get into the market.
And to [00:36:00] me, it doesn't matter if you're buying your first property or your 15th property. There is a way and where there's a will, there is a way you've sort of keep knocking on doors to help you get there.
Julian: No great inspirational words, mate. Thank you for that. And uh, yeah, I was gonna give you a plug as well, so I've got one here.
Oh, thank you. Come. Thank you. I've got a bunch of them and, uh, yeah, we'll, uh, we'll put some, uh, show notes in there and if anyone does want one, let us know and we'll, we'll get, get them, get them out to you. No thanks Matt, appreciate it. Thank you very much for your time. It's great to have you on. Thank, I'll be looking forward to having reversing the, the camera and the, and uh, the speaker and, um, talking to you.
And, uh, you know, it's been great to, to uh, really dig in deep and understand a little bit more about you personally, but also, uh, get, get a lot of insights for you for, uh, a lot of our listeners. So thank you very much again. Ah,
Aaron: mate, look, you're, you're a legend and uh, yeah, I guess from one podcast or two, I know what it takes to get.
To get this going. Um, but also the, the message is pure. Like you, uh, you know, I'm not saying this to blow any smoke, uh, for you mate. But there's no [00:37:00] agenda. You're not trying to sell something to a course or like, Hey, you have to use us, for example. Hey, it's just like how do you arm yourself with so much good information that you're gonna walk outta this if you've spent the time, what, 30 odd minutes investing in yourself.
We wanna give value and it's like, Hey mate, we wanna help people take action. That's when the rubber hits the road and things aren't always smooth sailing with our respective businesses, I'm sure there's things that. Happen that go wrong. That's just how you deal with it. Uh, but I say credit to yourself and the team.
I know you guys played with a very straight bat. You do a great job there as well. So kudos to you guys, and good luck with your journey. Thanks mate. Appreciate the kind words and
Julian: uh, catch you soon. Pleasure. Okay, see ya Aaron. Bye. See ya.
Hug. Thank you to our guest, Aaron, Christie, David, for sharing his insights today. And of course, thanks to you for tuning in. I hope you got something valuable from this episode. If you enjoyed the show, it'd mean a lot. If you could take a moment to rate and review it on your favorite podcast platform, it really helps us reach more listeners like you.[00:38:00]
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