Lisa and Felize D’Angola, pictured in front of one of their Sydney properties, were bankrupt but turned their life around. Picture: Jonathan Ng
A Western Sydney couple have revealed how explosive changes in rents and house values have allowed them to keep a $9m portfolio of 19 properties without spending much of their own money.
Investors Felize and Lisa D’Angola said their immense property portfolio is mostly positive geared, with nearly $400,000 a year rents covering almost all the costs of servicing their $4.4m mortgage debt.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for a couple who said they hit “rock bottom” after their family concrete business collapsed in 2008, forcing them to “live off credit cards” for the good part of a decade.
“We lost everything. We nearly lost our house. We have come from dead broke,” Ms D’Angola told The Sunday Telegraph.
Following a series of non-payments by builders, their company was forced into liquidation, owing creditors vast sums while they were owed hundreds of thousands they would never collect.
One of the couple’s properties is a block of four units near Cairns.
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The psychological toll was immense. “I had a nervous breakdown,” Mr D’Angola said.
They spend the next few years paying off their debts and trying to resurrect their business until, by 2018, they were finally back on their feet and ready to start building wealth again.
They saw property investing as the way to do it and pulled equity out of their home through a refinancing deal to buy their first investment, a rental in Penrith, and later, another investment.
The couple’s strategy relies heavily on purchasing undervalued assets, renovating or waiting for revaluation, and refinancing to pull out equity for further deposits.
They target areas where the rents are higher than the likely repayment, relying on buyer’s agency Binvested to source them undermarket deals – often forced sales.
Higher rents relative to their repayment have meant banks have been happy to continually provide them loans, Ms D’Angola revealed.
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They own 19 properties spread across NSW, QLD, Vic and WA, including this home.
She credits their trauma from 2008 with their investment success, claiming the collapse gave them a “thicker skin for risk” that forced them out of their comfort zone.
The couple’s 19 properties including 10 properties in Queensland, seven in NSW, including their St Clair residence, along with single investments in Victoria and Western Australia.
A further two properties awaiting settlement, meaning they will soon have 21 properties.
Despite their $4.4m dent, the couple said they are “ahead in the game” because their rental income covers their holding costs.
Even as interest rates spiked in 2022 and 2023, the couple managed to stay afloat by increasing rents every 12 months.
“Most of them are cash flow positive, some new ones are cash flow neutral,” Ms D’Angola said.
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They said they have no plans to stops buying. Picture: Jonathan Ng
She noted that the high yield from some properties is used to support the costs of others, ensuring they never have to inject a large amount” of their own wages to keep their properties.
In one explosive example of their strategy in action, the couple purchased a property in Miles, Queensland for just $90,000. It was revalued six months later at $503,000.
Ms D’Angola noted it was a forced sale and they purchased the property way under its value. “The price was below the building cost,” she said.
The $413,000 equity jump in six months was used to fund deposits for further acquisitions.
“We pulled all that equity out, and bought four units and another two properties,” Ms D’Angola said.
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Another of their properties: their homes are mostly positively geared.
Another major win includes a block of units in Cardwell, Queensland, purchased for $980,000 four years ago. They now have it listed for sale at $2m.
The couple, now in their mid-50s, said they wished “we had started a long time ago”. Their goal is now to see Felize retire from concreting in two to three years.
“We are happy to keep going as long as we can,” Ms D’Angola said. “Another 10 or 30 properties would be nice”.
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