PHOTO: SUPPLIED Michael Burge is about to settle on this, his fifth property.
In 18 months, 31-year-old Bay of Plenty man Michael Burge has built a property portfolio worth just under $1.75 million.
He moved from Auckland to the Bay of Plenty two years ago to start investing in real estate, after several years spent learning about the sector. In the next couple of weeks, he will settle on his fifth property.
He says the properties now generate enough rent that he would not have to work if he did not want to.
Burge said, growing up, his family never “completely struggled” but it was sometimes a problem. “To me that didn’t make sense. The 1 per cent have everything – I wanted to find out how did they get there? What did they do? What do they know that I don’t? Unfortunately this stuff isn’t taught in schools so I had to find it out for myself.”