Investor In Focus - Amornrat Jo Laohawee

Pressure on land reserves nationwide has meant new ways of accommodating Australians as they age. One such alternative is to assist downsizers into homes in the community with long-term leases offering security of tenancy. It’s a solution for which Jo’s three bedroom, two bathroom Perth house and land package was ideally suited, a fantastic outcome for someone who’d started investigating the property market with some degree of trepidation.

Almost 40, Jo had moved to Australia from her native Thailand nearly a decade earlier. She’d established a solid career in neonatal nursing, developed a strong savings record with her bank and built equity in her house when she realised she would need to invest her money to make it grow. With English as her second language and lacking the professional networks to help her even know where to start, Jo faced great odds to building her portfolio.

“Being a nurse and working difficult shifts wasn’t something I wanted to do all my life,” Jo says. “I wanted assets to give me choice and I felt safe with property as it was tangible.”

Jo’s family back home had instilled the concept that property and land were a great way to build wealth, but she didn’t quite know how. Those early challenges of not knowing the Australian property market and the banking landscape - let alone the varying real estate restrictions from state to state - were frustrating. With no frame of reference regarding the validity of information she was being given, Jo often said that she didn’t even know what she didn’t know. Ambitious and driven, she understood her lack of property education was holding her back and she didn’t want that to be the end of the road.

By the time Jo came in contact with Perth-based investment consultant, Joseph C, she had become frozen in terms of what to do. As they slowly established trust, she engaged him to seek out her first property. Joseph found a house and land package in Perth that suited Jo’s requirements, but when rental yields dropped as the market levelled off, it was a challenge to deliver on his promise. As he interviewed property management companies in the area close to Jo’s investment, Joseph became aware of a company offering alternative living solutions for the Over 55s. After thoroughly checking out the mechanics of it (and realising that a solution offering higher rental yields and quality tenants more than matched what he was looking for) Joseph took the proposal to Jo.

For more information about this property that Jo purchased VIEW THIS PAGE

“It’s been such a success that I’ve now bought a second property to do it all over again,” says Jo. This time the property has been purchased through her superannuation - a unit in a Queensland development tailored to the Over 55s market.

“I’m achieving a 6% yield in a property within 16 kilometres of Brisbane,” she says. “As my key strategy now, I’m looking at providing quality homes for older Australians.”

Jo’s tip for new investors would be that at some point, you have to trust somebody.

“Unless you’re prepared to trust somebody, you’ll only ever be limited by yourself and what you know,” Jo says. “The biggest thing for me was to release that trust and all of a sudden, my whole world opened up.”