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News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Death of the middle class': Tradie's drastic action to get ahead financially
Sam Harper was earning $90,000 a year when he decided he needed to do something drastic to secure his financial future, believing the 'death of the middle class' was looming. Mr Harper, 27, was working as an electrician in Perth when he became sick of earning just enough to be able to pay his mortgage and weekly expenses. 'My partner and I both had a mortgage of like $480,000 and, once you paid for that, and your groceries and living expenses, yeah, you can live comfortably, but there are no overseas trips,' he told Mr Harper had always worked hard. He'd learned a trade and slogged it out as an electrician, but he didn't feel like he was getting ahead. 'We are going down that path (where there is going to be) the death of the middle class because the gap is getting bigger between the rich and poor,' he said. 'The way I look at it is, that is out of my control, so you have to start looking at different ways to get ahead. 'At some point last year I had this realisation that no one is coming to save me.' The only time he'd really made a big amount of money was from the sale of a duplex he bought when he was 22 years old and during the pandemic. 'I got lucky buying a duplex in Victoria, and it felt like a lot of money back then, but I paid like $270,000, which is absolutely nothing,' he said. 'I sold it 18 months later and I definitely got market growth for that one. It sold for $400,000.' The young Aussie was stoked with the sale and the profit he made from it, but he wasn't real estate savvy and viewed it as a one-off than a way to continually make money. 'I was pretty stupid back then,' he said. 'I thought it was great but it wasn't until later down the line that I started looking at real estate a bit more.' Alongside his partner, and with the profits from the sale of his Victoria property, Mr Harper purchased a home in Perth in late 2024 for $520,000. The plan back then was to get some equity into the property, use that equity to buy an investment property, and eventually amass a real estate portfolio. It wasn't a bad plan, but the electrician realised that he would have to cover multiple mortgages, even if he rented them out. 'I realised I'd be stuck in my job and in more and more debt and I didn't really like the job' he explained. Around this time, he had his primary property revalued after spending around $30,000 in renovations. To his delight, the property was reappraised at $700,000. 'I was surprised by the $700,000. I thought mid $600,000. It was definitely life-changing,' he said. The tradie had been able to save money because he was able to do a lot of the renovations himself, using his skills as sparky and watching YouTube tutorials for the parts he wasn't as sure about. That staggering evaluation made Mr Harper realise house flipping was a really simple and clear way to make money. Ultimately, he decided not to sell that property, with the couple instead refinancing and then flipping another home shortly afterwards. He struck a deal with a homeowner where he renovated the property and then they agreed to share some of the profits. 'If it sold above $530,000, we'd split the profits, and it sold for $610,000,' he said. The young tradie pocketed $98,000 from that sale, which gave him the confidence to start buying properties to flip. In the past 12 months, the 27-year-old has purchased two separate properties in Perth. From the first, he made $85,000 in pure profit, and from the second, he made $125,000. 'It is a lot more than I was getting paid as a sparky,' he pointed out. Mr Harper is pragmatic about his success. Yes, a lot of money is coming in, but he also needs to use that money to keep house flipping. 'It is the type of business where, once you get the money, you reinvest it back in,' he said. That doesn't mean he has quite gotten used to seeing over six-figures pour into his savings account. 'Once the money hits the account, it is still pretty crazy,' he said. 'We definitely have a long way to go, but looking back to where we were 12 months ago is pretty surreal.' Financial planner Alex Jamieson told that Australia's wealth gap is widening. 'The middle class used to buy from a purchasing power perspective in today's standards is no longer anywhere close to the purchasing power,' he said. Mr Jamieson argued that 'if you don't own a house', you're unfortunately missing out on amassing wealth. The problem being that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Aussies to break into the market. The financial planner argued that the middle class is having a tougher time these days due to the cost of living. 'Historically, one income was able to achieve a lot more in purchasing power than what the combined income of today can achieve for a couple,' he said.
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
In the heart of Dalkey: modern duplex living for €695,000
Address : 1 Castle Mews, Castle Street, Dalkey, Co Dublin Price : €695,000 Agent : Hunters View this property on The design of Castle Mews on Castle Street in Dalkey allows owners in the complex to enjoy all the benefits of living slap-bang in the middle of the village, without feeling like they are on show. The ground floor of the development is slightly elevated at street level, so while the residents can look out, nobody can look in. Number 1, a three-bed duplex, has come to the market through Hunters with a guide price of €695,000. At 94sq m (1,011sq ft), it is the largest property at Castle Mews, which has 13 units, a mix of apartments and duplexes. It is also one of the few homes on the scheme that has its own front door from the street. The Dalkey development was built 20 years ago, and the owner bought number 1 about 10 years ago. He rented it out for a few years while working in the US and when he returned last year, he decided it was time for a full renovation. Livingroom Dining area Kitchen It is now features engineered walnut floors throughout, three newly fitted bathrooms and a contemporary kitchen. For new owners it will be a case of unpacking and settling straight into life in the south Dublin seaside village. READ MORE The entrance to the duplex is on Castle Street with steps leading up to the front door. To one side of the hall is the livingroom, which is at the corner of the block creating a nice bright room, with an electric fire and acoustic wall panelling. There is a guest WC off the hallway, and across from the livingroom is the kitchen and dining area. The units in the kitchen are matt black and have marble-effect countertops that wrap around the room with a breakfast bar at the end. The dining area is beside two windows and is large enough to comfortably fit a table that seats six. Main bedroom Home office Communal terrace Upstairs there are three bedrooms and a bathroom. The main bedroom also has the corner aspect so it is bright and spacious, but comes with blackout electric blinds to ensure an uninterrupted sleep. The balcony off the room is the perfect spot for morning coffee, and the en-suite bathroom is fully tiled with Porcelanosa tiles and has a walk-in shower with matt-black fittings. The second bedroom is also a double room and the third has been fitted out as a home office. The main bathroom has a bath with fixed showerhead and is also tiled in Porcelanosa. [ Contemporary Foxrock three-bed with converted garage for €895,000 Opens in new window ] As well as the balcony, the duplex has access to a communal terrace with a southeast aspect. This is well maintained by the management company, with residents paying an annual fee of about €4,450 for the upkeep of the development. Number 1 has a C1 energy rating and comes with two secure parking spaces in the underground car park. The location in the centre of Dalkey village is hard to beat. You step out the front door and into the action, with Castle Mews just seconds away from restaurants, cafes and pubs. The Dart station is a five-minute walk away and the stop for the Aircoach is directly across the street.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Aussie couple makes $500,000 in just 55 days after knock on the door: 'Absolute steal'
A Sydney property has sold just 55 days after it was last purchased, but for $500,000 extra. The Matraville duplex sold in late February for $2.55 million to a couple, and they had only just moved in their belongings when they got a knock at the door from LJ Hooker agent Aaron Del Monte. He had been showing a client an off-market property next door, but they weren't satisfied with how it looked on the inside. Del Monte told Yahoo Finance they saw the nearby duplex and wanted to know more. "I did everything I could to try and get the owner's details," he recalled. "I went and door-knocked it and I said to the owner, 'Look, I know you just bought it [but] if you could make a profit on it, would you?'" Tiny Bondi studio apartment sells for $1.2 million over asking price after split-second decision Cashless concern as date Australia will ditch physical currency revealed Average amount Australians have stashed in savings by age revealed: '$811 to $130,000' The fresh owner rebuffed him initially and said there was "no chance" he was willing to sell, considering he had only just bought it less than two months earlier after a three-year search. But Del Monte didn't back down and promised to make it worth his while if he allowed his client to at least have a look through the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home. While it didn't make the owner's wife happy, he agreed, and the agent's clients loved it. They initially offered $2.8 million, and within a week, they agreed to a final price of $3.05 million, which is well above the suburb's median house price of $2.61 million. "Both the buyer and the owner were so excited," Del Monte told Yahoo Finance."Because the buyer loved the place, and the owner was obviously over the moon. Who makes that kind of money in that time?" The agent's clients had just sold their place in north Randwick and wanted somewhere in Sydney where they could live when they weren't staying at their other home in the Southern Highlands. Because they had originally lived in Bellevue Hill and that harbour-side area, they thought $3 million was an "absolute steal" for what was on offer. "They liked that in Matraville they could walk to the beaches," he said. "It's a lot quieter than the areas that they've lived in. From there, they could also travel to the Southern Highlands pretty easily. So it just worked." The couple wasn't even originally looking in that area of Sydney, but Del Monte convinced them they could get far more bang for their buck if they expanded their search just a touch. "What was unique about this one is that it's full brick, with cement slabs between each floor," he said. "It had a huge basement flexibility in terms of floor plan. The style of it was probably more to their liking than the modern style home. "I was just connecting the right buyer with the right property. They weren't as worried that it sold for $2.55 million as what other buyers probably would have been, because their perception of value is very different from the areas that they were looking in." It's a big win for Del Monte as the person who bought the Matraville property in February has now tasked him with finding a new home. The agent has noticed a trend of buyers in those harbour-side suburbs branching out to capitalise on some of the cheaper areas like Kingsford and Eastlakes. "I opened up an office in Randwick for the simple fact that we can offer a lot more to that southern end of the eastern suburbs by connecting the Double Bay, Rose Bay, Bellevue Hill type of buyers, because there's a real shift at the moment," he while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data
