Women in Focus - Esme Chin

Meet Esme Chin, 2009 Property Women of the Year finalist and this month's woman in focus, a real inspiration. Esme went from broke and unemployed to owning 14 properties in just a year all this without any equity or savings to use as a deposit.

The Dark Days

Esme was an ambitious entrepreneur in her earlier years, opening business after business. But after 20 years in business, she found herself broke and unemployed, as she was faced with a landlord who refused to renew her coffee shop lease (forcing the closure of this business in April 2008), an ice cream business that was running at a loss and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

It was the lowest point of Esme's life...what was she to do, after all she was a middleage woman with little to no assets to speak of.  She felt lost and found herself often in tears, worried about what her future would be like...

Drawing Inspirations from Others

Now knowing what to do next, Esme started to attend property investing seminars. She drifted from one seminar to the next, like a ghost with no direction. She wasn’t sure what she’d find in these events, but she kept attending, even if it was just to occupy herself.

Through these seminars, she was inspired by a chef who had bought 18 properties in 4 months. She then attended a Property Women's 2 Day Events in June 2008 where she met people like Jenny Storey, Rachel Barnes and Melanie McDonald. These people, who she considered her mentors, made her realise that there are still properties under $150,000 that yield positive cashflow rental return.

Armed with inspiration, and knowledge from the speakers, in particular notes from Jenny Storey's presentation at the 2 Day Event in June 2008, on how to find and research areas with these types of properties...Esme was ready to take action and start buying.

From a Simple Goal

Greatly affected by the things she learned from her mentors, Esme stopped feeling sorry for herself and started making plans. For the first time in her life she began to set goals and even created her own vision board.

She realised that to be wealthy, you need to have a cashcow. Her aim was to acquire properties that would generate positive cashflow to replace her income and later give her financial freedom.

“The first stage of my goal was a simple one – own 50 properties which will give me an annual income of $300000 per annum. For the first year I aimed to buy about 7 houses, which to me was a realistic goal at that time.

Second stage of my goal - Once I have accumulated 50 properties, I intend to revisit each one and see what I can do to add value to it – e.g. build a house behind it, add a room, a granny flat, subdivide, strata title, or build duplex, townhouses or units on it. Once I’ve added value, I will extract the excess equity made out of it.”

Esme knew she didn't have much money to start making purchases. The knowledge that she gained from the seminars she attended and the stories of how her mentors did it, made Esme determined to push forward. She started thinking outside of the box, asking herself, “How can I do this?” and sure enough, the answer came to her.

“Unlike most girls who spent their money on clothes, I spent mine on antiques, fine jewellery and paintings. So, I spent the next few months in auction houses and sold the lot, and anything else I could think of – e.g. left over goods from my old businesses and my antique furniture collection.” 

Overcoming Challenges

Esme’s year long journey has not been without challenges. The first obstacle that she had to conquer was her fear. When she was just starting, she would often feel nervous talking to real estate agents. To deal with it, Esme educated herself more on property investing and the more she understood it, the less she feared. Finance was also a challenge for her. Despite numerous bank rejections, Esme pushed forward and again went out of the box to find ways to get the finances she needed for her next property.

But Esme’s biggest challenge turned out to be her unsupportive husband. Because he does not agree with her strategy and had a negative attitude towards the regional areas in which Esme purchased her properties, she had to get the financing that she needed without his help or his money. She felt lonely not being able to share her investing journey with him. Fortunately, she can turn to her circle of friends met through Property Women, who encourage her to keep going and focus on her goal.

A Year Later…

In just a year, Esme went from 0 to 14 properties with many purchased without physically inspecting the property. “To think that one year ago, I wrote as my goal to buy 7 properties, for me to have climbed through a mountain of insurmountable challenges to reach a portfolio worth close to 2 million dollars, with a rental income of $100000, is to me nothing short of a miracle. To be acknowledge by my 84 year old mum who suffers from dementia when I told her of the number of properties I own and she responded, ‘Oh you must be the brightest of all your sisters is a moment I will cherish forever, for like her, I never thought I would amount to anything in my life.”  

Esme's Portfolio

Reaching Out to Others

A message from Esme...
"For every woman, who at some point of their life, find themselves in my situation, I'd like to relay them this Chinese pearls of wisdom ...

'where the hills and streams end
and there seems no road beyond,
Amidst the shady willows and blooming flowers,
another village appears...' "

When Esme started investing in regional areas, she realised that Australia is one huge welfare rice bowl. There are so many families who are on benefits. She feared that because most Australians do not invest in their future, many would end up destitute when they retire.

This realisation gave Esme another mission in life and that is to share her property investing success with everyone who she comes across. Today, she talks and inspires her fellow investors, property managers, and tradesmen to also take their own path towards property investing. She gives books and dvds to her tenants and drags her friends to seminars, in the hope that it can help them become involved in building their own property nestegg too.

Giving Back

Esme's Passion to help others doesn't stop with property. At 42 Esme found out from World Vision about the "leaking' women and was appalled that women in this day and age had to endure such a tragedy, when all they need is one operation to make them normal again. "Imagine leaking urine 24/7 and being ostracized by one's husband and family and to face life as a freak...I find this totally unacceptable."  Since then it has been Esme's goal to inform everyone she speaks to about the plight of these women and recommends reading "The Hospital by the River" by John Little to everyone.  Esme believes that we should give back to the world. "I believe the world is a circle, what you give is what you get and the more you give the more you get in return."
 

Esme’s Property Investing Tips

• Buy positive cashflow properties in regional areas over Australia that also have a reasonable capital growth. Look for rental yields of 8, 9, 10 or more percent.
   
• Renovate, revalue and take equity out from the bank so you can continue buying other properties.
   
• Have a depreciation schedule done as soon as your renovation is done to capitalise on the tax benefits.
   
• Buy properties that come with tenants. This will allow you to delay renovation for a couple of years. Banks also favour these properties because it can provide an immediate and stable income. Lastly, the fact that there's a tenant, points to it being most likely in a fair condition and most probably convenient to amenities.
   
• Do a thorough research on the area where you plan to buy properties.
   
• Educate yourself on properties and property investments. Subscribe to property magazine, attend seminars, take real estate courses and invest in educational books and DVDs.
   
• Talk to the locals in the area where you are planning to invest.  This can help you better understand the area.

How Esme Leverages Her Knowledge, Time and Money

Money

"If I find a good deal, I might do a joint venture with some of my money rich time poor friends. In every state, I build a team and I will let them know I am a professional property investor hence, I intend to buy a lot of properties. As a result I do deals with them whereby they give me discounts on their fees and services e.g. solicitors fees, insurances, pest and building reports, property management fees, repairs , building materials and even depreciation schedules."

Knowledge

"I seek out renovators and builders and ask them directly to introduce me to their best tradespeople and refer the cheapest wholesale places to buy materials; this saves me legwork, time and money. For example for my Sydney unit, it cost me $21,000 but the quantity surveyor valued the whole renovation at $45,000 and stated on the depreciation schedule that it was of a high standard."

Time

"Since I buy my interstate properties sight unseen, I save a lot of time and money on accommodation and airfares and it has allowed me to procure my properties at record speed. No way could I buy 14 properties in 12 months if I had to check each place out.

To save time, I also appoint property managers to manage each of my properties, saves me from having to go through the emotional roller coaster of having to deal with problem tenants and gives me more time so I can concentrate on expanding my portfolio. I keep my investing simple, I manage my property managers and if no good, replace them. I save a lot of time by doing my renovations over the phone throughout the different states that I invest in. By me not having to be present, I recently completed 5 renovations back to back in 5 different states, 2 in NSW, one in Victoria, one in Tasmania, one in WA, done all at about the same time. I just make sure I communicate well with them through the use of the internet, phone, mail and the use of photos. I always make sure I get 3 or more quotes and I am so familiar with the prices Australia wide, that if they are overpriced I would know instinctively. I get the property manager to check up on their work, on completion."

What Esme Think of Property Women and Her Mentors

“Attending the Property Womens' seminar was one of the best decisions I made in my life. It was the turning point in my life. Within the one year period of attending your course I went from 0 to 14 properties. I want to thank all my mentors for showing me how to do it, for inspiring me and for continuing to motivate me on my investment journey.

Without you, there is no me. Without you I will not be enjoying the $100000 passive income stream per annum coming from my investment portfolio - and to have achieved this in one year is truly beyond my wildest dreams!”

"To keep me focused I had to rely on successful stories, from people that have walked the path, so listening to Rachel, Jenny and Melanie was pivotal in changing my life. Little did they realise they became silent role models for me. Having role models is important for novices like me, whenever I was met with setbacks having the knowledge that others have made it, gave me the impetus to persevere, I needed to believe it could be achieved."

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