Fast food worker turned investor from Mt Druitt reveals how he got 29 homes at age 29

Ex-housing commission resident Eddie Dilleen is preparing to buy himself an unusual present before his 30th birthday in September – his 30th property.

He needs just one more purchase to get there.

The 29-year-old already owns an incredible 29 properties spread across the country, having bought his first in his late teens while working at McDonald’s.

Nine of his properties were purchased over 2020 and early 2021 and the value of his portfolio has surpassed $6 million.

MORE: Eight minute sale nets family extra $600k

MP Craig Kelly gets windfall at Shire auction

Many of his properties were purchased while working jobs that paid $60,000-$70,000 a year and he said he grew up “extremely poor”.

“People assume I got money from my mum and dad but we lived in poverty,” he said. “My mum was on a pension and that was our only source of income.”

Mr Dilleen first came to the attention of The Daily Telegraph in 2017 when he had just accomplished the feat of buying his tenth property at age 25.

Pushing his portfolio to 30 properties in a few short years has defied even his lofty hopes and now he has set his sights on owning 100.

He attributes his success in property investing to a unique strategy which he claims anyone can follow – as long as they’re not squeamish about debt and are prepared to make sacrifices.

He worked two jobs while starting out as an investor, spent little and saved quickly, he said. “I’ve never seen taking on more mortgage debt as a problem because I buy properties with high rents and that pays the properties down.”

He added that having a strong drive to succeed and well-defined goals helped him get ahead in the property market, along with a natural interest in finance and the housing market.

“I lived in a housing commission property near Mt Druitt until I was about 12. I hated growing up in that environment so I was very hungry,” he said.

A key to his success was buying in what he calls “bread and butter locations” where properties are usually under $400,000. The locations are far from where he lives in southwest Sydney and include regional areas or outer capital city suburbs in NSW, SA and Queensland.

Most of his properties are units in southeast Queensland snapped up for $100,000-$300,000.

Many have doubled in value since he bought them. His last purchases were duplexes and townhouses in the Logan area in Queensland for about $500,000.

He believes inexperienced investors often make the mistake of considering only properties they want to occupy and only look close to where they live.

He also believes saving too big a deposit can be a mistake. He prefers instead smaller deposits and relies on getting into rising markets quickly – often with larger mortgages. This allows him to gain rapid equity in his properties, which he uses to purchase other properties.

EDDIE DILLEEN’S INVESTING STRATEGY

Strong cash flow

One of the keys to his strategy is targeting properties where the rent is high enough to cover most, if not all, of his mortgage costs. This keeps his debt manageable and means he is able to continue getting new loans from banks because little of his personal income goes into servicing his mortgage costs.

The regions he typically targets when seeking higher rental returns are lower socio-economic areas or regional centres. His first property was a home in Central Coast suburb Tuggerawong that he purchased for $138,500 in 2010. The initial rent was $220 per week, netting him a rental return of about 8.3 per cent – enough to cover his mortgage costs.

High growth areas

The idea here is to purchase in suburbs where the prices will rise in the future. Rising prices mean he will get more equity in the properties without having to spend years chipping away at the mortgage. He will often draw out that equity by refinancing his mortgage and use the funds as a deposit for his next property, a process known as “leveraging”.

Refinancing his properties this way also means he does not have to keep saving cash deposits each time he makes another purchase.

“I don’t see leverage as risky, because my cash flow is high,” Mr Dilleen said. Most of the properties he bought recently were in southeast Queensland.

Undervalued properties

Mr Dilleen aims to purchase properties below market value, ensuring he takes ownership of the property with equity already locked in. Buying below market value requires a strong knowledge of comparable sales.

He also leans on some previous experience working in a real estate office when he was 20 years old. “I’ve seen how agents appraise properties and I have learned to spot which ones are good value,” he said. “Most people use price guides as too much of a starting point. I look at comparable sales. I do my own research.”

A thrifty lifestyle

Being disciplined with personal spending is critical, Mr Dilleen said. “I live frugally and I save a lot,” he said. “I don’t buy fancy cars. I live humbly.” He added that working two jobs at the start of his investing helped. “I have used (refinancing) but I have also saved a lot of genuine deposits. I would save a deposit for a $300,000 house in one year when I was working two jobs. I would be in an office during the day and work in a bar at night. I worked hard for a few years. I saw it as delayed gratification.”

Source