{"id":38742,"date":"2022-05-24T10:10:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T22:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertynoise.co.nz\/au\/?p=38742"},"modified":"2022-05-24T10:10:42","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T22:10:42","slug":"school-dropout-turns-254-into-10m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertynoise.co.nz\/au\/school-dropout-turns-254-into-10m\/","title":{"rendered":"School dropout turns $254 into $10m"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOTO: Daniel Walsh met his wife Sophie when he was 22 and she was 18.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A Sydney high school dropout who was making just $254 a week at his first full-time job has turned the tables and now has a net worth of $10 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Daniel Walsh, now 31, left school when he was 15 and was paid a pitiful wage through the award rate while working as an apprentice electrician.<\/p>\n

He toiled away for four years, managing to save half his earnings while also paying $50 in weekly rent to his parents. Finally, when he was 19, he bought his first property.<\/p>\n

Since then, he and his 27-year-old wife Sophie have leapfrogged their way up the real estate ladder and now own 13 properties between them spanning across four states to the tune of $10 million.<\/p>\n

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Rent from their tenants covers all the mortgage and maintenance costs as well as netting the couple an extra $100,000 in passive income every year.<\/p>\n

And of their $10 million property portfolio, they only owe $3 million to the bank. The other $7 million has been paid back or is the result of house prices going up.<\/p>\n

Recalling his days earning well below minimum wage, Mr Walsh told news.com.au, \u201cBack then I sacrificed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understood if I worked hard for 10 years then I wouldn\u2019t have to for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The couple have carved a fortune for themselves through property.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n

Mr Walsh nabbed his first property near where he grew up, a partially built home in Thirlmere in southwest Sydney near Picton.<\/p>\n

The four bedroom, two bathroom house ended up costing $324,000 all up, back in 2011.<\/p>\n

To secure it, then 19-year-old paid a 5 per cent deposit of $34,000, which was the sum total of his life savings.<\/p>\n

When construction costs ballooned, the young man was forced to sell his car to pull together enough funds to complete the build.<\/p>\n

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However, it was ultimately worth it, as just a year later the property was revalued and had risen by $100,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understood very young that this wasn\u2019t a sprint, it was a marathon, you want to build your portfolio over 15 and 20 years [at least],\u201d Mr Walsh explained.<\/p>\n

He said he spent hours of his time speaking to mentors, reading books and watching television programs devoted to property.<\/p>\n

To save money, he said he never went on a night out or bought food out, allowing him to save half his pay check.<\/p>\n

By the time he turned 25, he had a net worth of $1 million, but you\u2019d never have guessed it because he was driving around with a $1500 car.<\/p>\n

Recently, however, he bought a $400,000 Lamborghini for himself.<\/p>\n

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\"Daniel<\/div>\n

Daniel Walsh is now a rich man.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n

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\"Daniel<\/div>\n

Daniel Walsh met his wife Sophie when he was 22 and she was 18.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n

Since then, Mr Walsh has gone from strength to strength, with his most recent purchase wrapping up just last month.<\/p>\n

A year after his first property purchase in 2011, he bought another house in the same suburb, mostly using equity from the previous one.<\/p>\n

Then for two years he buckled down and saved hard to push his portfolio to the next level.<\/p>\n

By this point in time he had quit his job as an apprentice electrician and was driving trains for a living, once again on a barely liveable wage, of just $39,000 a year.<\/p>\n

He worked punishing hours driving garbage out of Sydney to a depot near Goulburn, working 12-hour night shifts and sleeping just seven hours during the day until his work began again.<\/p>\n

However, after two years, Mr Walsh became a qualified train driver and his wage shot up dramatically, with $80,000 as a base rate, not including overtime.<\/p>\n

This significantly increased his lending capacity from his bank\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

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\"Danny<\/div>\n

Danny Walsh worked as a train driver for eight years before quitting to become a buyer\u2019s agent.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n

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The long hours made him tired and he got into a car accident that made him rethink his priorities.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n

In 2014, Mr Walsh dipped his toe in the property space again, picking up two houses in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Then in 2015, his wife Sophie bought her first property in Adelaide.<\/p>\n

A year after that, he bought a house in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The pair then got married in 2018 and \u201cjoined forces after that\u201d for their properties, by buying another Melbourne dwelling together as well as three more in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

They also own a mansion in Sydney<\/a>, where they live, which they purchased for $2 million.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Mr Walsh started his own property buyers agency, Your Property Your Wealth, and ran it as a side gig while still working long hours driving trains.<\/p>\n

READ MORE VIA NEWS.COM.AU<\/a><\/p>\n

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