Multi-millionaire property prince Rajesh Kumar spills wealth secrets
New migrants from India are missing the chance to make it rich in Australia because “they get carried away” splurging on fancy watches and mobile phones.
This is Rajesh Kumar’s verdict. And if anyone can talk about building wealth it’s him. The 43-year old father-of-two has amassed a property portfolio worth near $7 million in just seven years, after shifting to New South Wales from Chennai in South India.
“They get carried away with all these fancy toys like phones and watches and cars and everything,” Kumar told the Indian Sun. “They start splurging on those things and they don’t see the bigger picture of creating wealth.”
The problem is that new migrants arrive in Australia without knowing what’s possible here, Kumar explained. “In the subcontinent region, it’s all about survival,” he said. “Here it is slightly different. You can dream about what you want to achieve, and you can work hard, and really achieve it.”
So what’s Kumar’s advice to newbies making a life down under?
“Save, save, save. Save the deposit to get into the property market,” he said. “Once you get into the property market, and created a safety net, then you can do whatever you want – that’s what I’ve done.”
But the IT professional who lives in Castle Hill has done more than just make himself rich. He’s also helped a number of others build property portfolios, and they’ve enjoyed “great success as well,” in his opinion.
“I’ve had a little success in real estate, in building my portfolio, so I’m trying to share this with other people,” he explained. “Why not look at what I’ve done, and you can do the same?”
“This is a country of opportunities,” he said. “So much is there to share; it’s not only for me, or only for someone else, but we can create opportunities.”
Kumar first came to Australia to study in the late 1990s. He returned to India and made the move to migrate in 2001 so his wife Aarahi could undertake a Masters degree there.
The couple lived in Melbourne for three years before moving to Sydney.
“As soon as we moved to Sydney we always wanted to buy property, but the property prices were so high we couldn’t afford anything,” Kumar said. “We were searching for houses for nearly five years.”
Then one day Kumar’s bank manager suggested they build a house to get instant equity, which they could invest. “That’s how the whole thing started,” he said.
The couple bought their first property in Castle Hill in 2008. “I spent about $565,000 on that house; for the land and to build,” Kumar said.
They had the property valued after the house was completed and found out it was worth $680,000, earning them more than $100,000 equity.
Kumar used the equity to buy a unit in Wentworth and continued to build his portfolio. Today he has five properties and has bought and sold several others over the years, mostly in the state’s northwest region.
“This is a booming area,” Kumar explained. “Wherever infrastructure happens that area booms.”
While Sydney has become “a million dollar city”, Kumar said the northwest is now the state’s development corridor for major infrastructure projects, and so it’s ripe for investment.
“There’s the train, and the airport is coming up,” he pointed out. “Where these sort of activities happen it creates traction, and that’s how the property prices go up.”
And Kumar doesn’t see prices dropping any time soon, saying “it’s 101 economics: demand and supply”. Migration, both from interstate and overseas, is driving demand for housing in New South Wales.
“That’s why I’m confident it’s not going to crash just like that,” Kumar said.
“And also the interest rates are not going to go up as well because the economy is not performing well. And it also depends on the employment rate as well… so that is more than 6% now. It has to go down to 5% for the interest rate to go up – until 2018, I’m telling you, nothing will happen at all.”
So with that in mind, perhaps you should think twice about buying your three coffees a day.
Because as Kumar said: “You can be on a $200,000 salary or $300,000 salary but still wealth cannot be created; you have to save and invest it – only money can make money.”
BLURB: Kumar’s tip
The northwest is now the state’s development corridor for major infrastructure projects, and so it’s ripe for investment.
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