EP 040: We Bought Property in WA… A Very Different Experience

I do have a story for you this week.

I nearly didn’t share this…
But I wanted you to see that building wealth is not all sunshine and rainbows.

You will hit challenges, just like in business.

A few weeks ago, after a delicious dinner, Bianca’s (my partner) phone kept ringing.

It was odd, as she was not expecting any calls.
And, it was a private number.

With the number of spam calls we get nowadays days, we didn’t think much of it and ignored the call.

It was getting to that time of the night when we were putting Jack (my son) to bed and the phone started to ring again.

With it being later, we were even less likely to answer the phone.

Not to mention that it had been a big week, and we were looking forward to spending some time together.

Just her and I… pretending like it was the old “pre-kid” days.

Like clockwork, the phone rings again.

And again.

And again.

It hit a point in which we started to ask ourselves if we should answer it.

“It might be important.”
“Nah, it’s probably just someone trying to sell us something.”

Anyway, we decided not to answer it and savour the evening.

Thankfully, the phone did eventually stop ringing.

But…

Then we got a text message… “URGENT CHECK YOUR EMAIL.”

Now we were super curious… and concerned.

We opened up the laptop.
What we saw was an email from one of our property managers.

It clicked!
That’s who had been calling us!

There was one line in the email that stood out:
“We think the house you just bought was a drug house.”

Wait… what?!?
We were in shock.

The house is in an extremely nice area.

We called them straight away.

I asked why they thought this?
What about the evidence?

They replied with:
– The bench tops are… sticky.
– The carpet has this… smell.
– There are odd people coming to the house looking for the previous owners.
– Someone is even moving furniture in the backyard…

WTF…

We went to bed that evening thinking we had just made a huge financial mistake.
I felt sick, and I’m sure Bianca felt the same.

Over the coming days, we investigated more.

The good news.
We didn’t buy a house from a drug lord.

It turns out…

We bought the house from a couple going through a messy separation.

The house had been neglected while this couple caused havoc in each others lives.

Lucky, we have a great property manager.

It did cost us a few thousand dollars to get the house cleaned up…
But, I’m always playing the long game.

Never in a million years would I have expected to be dealing with things like this as a property investor.

This is the type of stuff you will have to deal with if you invest in property.

In this week’s email:
 ○ Investment update 
 ○ Buying property interstate

Do you prefer to listen or watch?

You can hear Grant and I discuss these topics in more detail on the podcast 
Click here to tune in: https://linktr.ee/businessandinvestingcom

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WHAT HAPPENED

Buying in WA…
Different from other states

Earlier this year, both Grant and I bought property in WA.
***Please note this is not financial advice or a recommendation***

Something I didn’t know when I got into property investing.

The process of buying a property is different in every state across Australia.

While I did do some research on buying in WA, I clearly didn’t do enough.

What caught me out?

In WA, the settlement of a property (the day it officially becomes yours) can fail three times with no consequence.

Yep, you can have settlement booked, and it just fails.

If that happened in other states, it would be a big deal and have penalties attached.

If a settlement fails, another settlement date has to be booked in.

This creates a bit more work and is a pain, as all parties have to be organised again.
(banks, conveyancers, buyers, vendors etc.…)

Our settlement failed four times.

The process of buying the house took weeks longer than expected and distracted me from other important work.

After everything settled, I am thrilled with the purchase and plan to keep it long-term.

But…
I wish I had done more research on buying in WA and had prepared accordingly.

***A hot tip***

If you are looking to buy property in a state you haven’t bought before…

It’s best to find someone who has bought in that state and question how the process is different from the state you are familiar with.

I should have paid someone with experience and dug deep.

A good lesson learnt.

If you want to hear more of the story of buying in WA.

Or, if you want to hear Grants’ experience of buying in WA, then check out this podcast episode.

That’s it for this one.

DISCLAIMER:
All information we share is NOT financial or investment advice and is purely intended for entertainment and educational purposes only. Always seek professional advice before acting on any financial decision.