PHOTO: FILE
A 19-year-old property investor has revealed he now owns three homes without any financial assistance from his parents.
Cristian Caponi, who grew up in Sydney, avoided the city’s high housing costs by turning his attention to Perth, where apartments remain affordable.
“Honestly, I’d be upset too if I was looking at Sydney – I’d say definitely look outside your shell and see that there’s opportunity out there,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
Mr. Caponi’s property journey began in July last year when he purchased a 1960s one-bedroom unit in Fremantle for $190,000 while earning just $40,000, below the minimum wage. Two months later, he bought another one-bedroom unit in Langford for $247,500. By February, he acquired a two-bedroom unit in Swan View for $300,000, with his income having risen to $70,000 due to commissions.
Caponi attributes his early start in real estate to becoming a licensed real estate sales associate at LJ Hooker in Ashfield right after finishing high school, instead of attending university.
“I know for myself, it did make it a lot easier working in a full-time job,” he said. “Working a full-time job and having that sort of flexibility made it a lot easier to save up. I didn’t utilize any savings from my parents.”
Although living at home with his parents in Haberfield enabled him to save for a mortgage deposit and lender’s mortgage insurance, he did not receive any direct financial help. For his first property, Mr. Caponi asked his parents to be guarantors, which allowed him to avoid paying lender’s mortgage insurance or a deposit on the Fremantle unit.
“That allows you to actually get into a property without having to use any savings,” he said.
Western Australia offers a stamp duty exemption for homes under $430,000, but Mr. Caponi paid $4,700 in stamp duty on his first property. For his second property, he paid a 10 percent deposit, $8,000 in stamp duty, and $2,000 on lender’s mortgage insurance. The third property incurred $9,000 in stamp duty and $3,500 in lender’s mortgage insurance.
His three properties yield weekly rents of $410, $440, and $480, totaling $1,330, which is $53 more than his $1,277 in weekly expenses covering mortgage repayments, council rates, and water bills.
Being positively geared, Mr. Caponi can service his $682,750 mortgage and borrow more than the usual 5.2 debt-to-income ratio limit for owner-occupiers.
“The banks let me lend more because there is rental income that also did not make the property negatively geared,” he said.
19-year-old property investor Cristian Caponi (right) has revealed he now owns three homes without any financial help from his parents
Mr. Caponi aims to own 10 investment properties within five years and plans to stick with real estate instead of shares to maintain cash flow and leverage his existing investments for further purchases.
“Maybe, perhaps, I might have to sell one off but I do have that long-term focus,” he said. “In the next five years, I probably want to get around that sort of 10 mark – if I can get 10, that will put me in a good position.”
Mr Caponi’s property journey began in July last year when he bought a one-bedroom unit in Fremantle for $190,000
He followed that up two months later, buying another one-bedroom unit at Langford for $250,000
Mr. Caponi saw opportunity in Perth, which benefited economically from interstate migration in an affordable market.
“When there’s that key price and you get a lot of eastern people that are investing there, such as myself, it’s pushing up the prices heaps,” he said. “I’d say affordability, interstate migration is definitely another factor to it.”
Perth’s apartment prices have risen by 24.5 percent over the past year to $540,545, while Sydney’s median apartment price of $852,766 is higher than Perth’s median house price of $808,038.
In February, he bought a two-bedroom unit at Swan View for $300,000
After working in real estate, Mr. Caponi transitioned to working for a buyer’s agent. He now makes a living through property webinars and plans to open his own buyer’s agency once he obtains his license. He hopes to eventually have enough equity in Perth apartments to buy a house in Sydney.
SOURCE: THE DAILY MAIL