A Sydney dad has decided to get “ahead of the curve” and purchase an investment property for his three-year-old daughter, making her one of the youngest landlords in the country.
Jordan Veleski and his wife, Kaitlin, decided to buy a $370,000 unit in Melbourne’s Footscray in August last year for their now three-year-old daughter, Florence.
The Western Sydney couple, worried about how their kids will afford a home, decided to invest the $25,000 friends and family had gifted them for Florence’s christening and first birthday in an unconventional future-proof plan.
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“We were blown away with how much money we’d received, and we counted it the next day, and that’s when I had the idea,” Mr Veleski told news.com.au.
“I come from a Macedonian background, so it was always instilled into us that anything you get, handed down or at birthdays or a wedding, you just put that in the savings account.
“But I knew that was outdated advice.
“I knew that wasn’t going to mean much if I handed her like fifty thousand dollars in an account 18 years from now.”
Mr Veleski and his wife chipped in an extra $30,000 to buy the two-bedroom unit, which sits close to the newly upgraded Footscray Hospital and only 6km away from the CBD.
The property is currently bringing in $470 a week at a 6.6 per cent yield, and is neutrally geared, meaning it is costing the pair nothing to hold it.
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It was recently valued at $415,000 by the bank – a $45,000 growth in 14 months.
The couple plan to have it fully paid off by the time Florence is 25, and although the unit is in the couple’s name, they plan to sell it in the future and give the remaining amount to their daughter.
She will then be able to use the profit to buy her own home.
“I’ve been investing in property a little bit myself and became a buyers agent,” he said.
“I had the background knowledge, the software, the data, and I just said to my wife, I think the way things are going, we have to think ahead of the curve.
“Now you almost need to buy something for them when they turn 18 or 21 and gift them that money because they need that head start then, not when you die.”
Mr Veleski and his wife plan to do the same for their 18-month-old son, Jordi.
The Flo Buyers Agency founder said the reality was bleak, with many kids coming from “working-class families” having very little chance of owning their own home until “someone died” or had “parents to go as guarantors”.
His advice to parents also looking to get ahead is to research “low-risk property”.
“This country is so addicted to property that there doesn’t seem to be an end to it,” the father-of-two added.
“If you’re buying smart and you’re buying things that are like a low replacement value, you know, $350,000 to $550,000, you can’t go wrong.
“My advice to parents is: there’s so much education out there, there’s podcasts, there’s other people doing it, there’s articles, there’s so much information at your fingertips that there wasn’t 15 years ago.”
One avenue was taking equity out of already-owned property, enough for a deposit on a house, he added.
“I want people to know they can do this,” Mr Veleski said.
“If you want to get something done, you will find a way.”