I learnt early on (See My First Ever Duplex) that selling most but holding onto a part of your project can be a great long-term growth strategy, so I decided that I would always try to keep a piece of each project I completed. It simply made mathematical sense that saving the transaction fees on the home held, such as sales commission, marketing costs, legal (sometimes) stamp duty could be combined with the retained profits as more than enough equity for a bank loan. Now I would be lying if I didn’t admit to the property equivalent of hoarding, as I loved creating these properties and keeping a part of something I conceived and believed in was appealing. However, I had also watched successful developers build large complex’s and hold a portion for wealth accumulation and ultimately cash flow. Other benefits were that I got pick of the litter, paid ‘the project’ the initial list price less the cost above, secured an early pre-sale which over time helped as others heard that the ‘developer’ was buying them himself, but I also had a vested interest in the final product outcome.

 

The decision to retain a unit in the project on emotion wasn’t too hard. Designed and marketed for the very top end of the residential owner-occupied market, the absolute riverfront location looked across a river bar to the big blue Pacific Ocean. It was a magnificent site. Ten storeys with just 21 units (two per floor) built to the river’s edge. Each home was at least 250m2 internally, plus generous multiple outdoor spaces and superior finishes, such as three-metre ceilings, floor to glass doors, state of the art integrated electronics to control lighting, temperature and security. Conceiving and designing the project I knew it would be special, but with prices set to start from $1 million per home (min), the question was how to both justify and obtain the funds. As such, I focused my attention on the ‘worst’ unit located above the river front restaurant, which we’d designed at council stipulation to approval for an active river frontage. Finding a way to make it happen, the home was an absolute please to live in, situated directly across the road from my office with room service on tap downstairs and our favourite restaurant one block away. This is before four oversized bedrooms, two bathrooms and a designer kitchen/living area the size of many of the homes I grew up in, but best of all sitting at level one and so close to the river you always felt like you were aboard a Luxury Yacht. The project sold out in three months, and on completion the building was critically acclaimed, winning several awards all contributing to significant price growth per unit, which resulted in an unsolicited offer on our home of $2,250,000 that I just couldn’t refuse.

 

This aligned with my 33rd birthday, and several significant life events including my ‘retirement,’ leaving my $400,000 per annum role in corporate life as Development Director, with the waves calling me.  There had to be more to life than 15-hour work days, 6 days a week. See, The Peninsula Home project for how that panned out.