Waterloo resident Cameron Galloway bought his first home five years ago and has never seen it to this day.
Now, he owns a total of three properties he has never stepped foot in.
Back in 2020, he decided to rentvest with the consultation of InvestorKit CEO Arjun Paliwal.
The rentvesting concept involves buying in a more affordable area that is projected to grow, while renting where you want to live, with the intent to build equity that can be put towards buying your own home in the future.
Back in January, The Courier Mail reported a 21.4 per cent rise in rentvesting nationwide.
As someone who works in finance, Mr Galloway said he saw opportunity within the chaos of the pandemic.
“I thought it might present an opportunity to look at property as a potential investment,” he said.
“Obviously there was market disruption and a lot of pain at the time but I thought in crisis there’s opportunity, so I gave it a shot.”
Cameron Galloway started rentvesting five years ago. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Mr Galloway was 35 when he decided to take the plunge into investing, buying his first property in Adelaide’s Modbury North, while still renting in Sydney.
“At that time I was single and renting a lovely place out by the water that I could never afford to buy,” he said.
“Adelaide’s fundamentals were all positive and Arjun suggested that we go with that.
“I was happy to go with Adelaide and it did very well.”
The home purchased for $468,000 is now valued at $820,000.
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Mr Galloway currently rents in Waterloo, in Sydney’s Inner West.
Mr Galloway said while he had reservations at first about buying a property interstate, the buyer’s agent arranged loan pre-approvals, inspections, buying and managing the existing tenants, which are still in place.
“All I had to do is sign on the dotted line at the settlement,” he said.
“We had managers in place, and after that it just looks after itself.
“Today I’ve never seen it.”
Just a year later, the success of his Adelaide property gave Mr Galloway the platform to expand and diversify his property portfolio.
He continued to pursue properties interstate, this time in QLD, purchasing a home in Kearneys Spring, Toowoomba in 2021 and another in Douglas, Townsville in 2022.
The properties have grown by 42 per cent and 32 per cent respectively, pushing Mr Galloway’s equity growth to $759,500 in just five years.
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Mr Galloway’s property portfolio spans Adelaide, Toowoomba and Townsville. Pictures (L-R): iStock, Statik Illusions, Nikita McGuire.
Mr Galloway said since he started investing, more people have been “getting in” on the rentvesting model.
“When I did it, it was not really the done thing,” he said.
“But in the last four or five years, people are just happy to sort of replicate that model and go with a buyer’s agent to handle everything.”
Mr Galloway said property investment advice was best left to professionals as opposed to the likes of ChatGPT, with reports suggesting more and more Aussies are using AI for financial guidance.
“I think AI is not at that stage yet and sometimes it gives you the answer that you want rather than that you need to hear,” he said.
“It’s a little bit self pleasing, so it’s a bit worrying.”
Mr Galloway said while he uses AI chatbots for a bit of fun, he would never use it for financial advice or to review contracts.
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