Beau Arfi: How to buy 20 properties by age 27 in Australia. Mistakes of investing in 2023

Growing up, Beau Arfi struggled at school and was always short of cash at home, but a friend of the family’s lavish lifestyle inspired him to get his act together and make a change.

His parents separated at the age of 12 and during his teens he strove to live a comfortable life without financial stress.

Now, the 28-year-old from Melbourne now has a net worth of an estimated $4 million dollars and 20 investment properties.

In 2013, the young investor bought his first property in Bulleen, Victoria at just 20 years old.

It was a $134,000 three bedroom house on a 600 sq ft block and he put down $20,500 for the down payment and fees.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Beau said before embarking on his investment journey, he studied at TAFE and worked nights as a kitchen helper.

It took him 12 months to save enough money for the first real estate investment and Beau is thankful that he was able to continue living at home without paying rent.

His parents were “always stressed about money,” while his real estate developer friend and his wife were always traveling and leading a carefree life.

This motivated Beau to find another way to earn money besides working.

“It changed my mindset to think about not just buying one property, but abundance, because I thought real estate was a good way to achieve my goals,” he said.

And just 12-18 months later, he bought two more properties on the same street – two homes in Victoria – one property cost $160,000 and the other $170,000.

His third investment was an apartment and in 2019 he had six properties under his belt.

From there, however, he struggled to get further loans from the bank, so he shifted his focus to improving his cash flow.

To do this, he bought two car spaces for $50,000 each, making about $500 a month.

He now owns five autospots.

However, his worst investment was buying an office in 2019, just before Covid hit Australia.

“Offices took a big hit from the pandemic, so it was a pretty bad investment,” he said.

To make up for the shortfall, he listed his apartments on AirBnb and the parking spaces were also helpful during the difficult time.

Today his investment includes eight houses, four apartments, five offices and five parking spaces.

When he bought a house to live in in Bulleen for $590,000, he was also exempt from stamp duty because he had previously only bought investments.

This little-known tip meant he didn’t have to pay $30,000 in stamp duty.

Beau’s net worth is calculated by his net worth – estimated at $6.5 million – minus his debt – about $2.5 million.

When asked if he’s ever stressed about the money, he replied, “Yes, of course. But the problem with real estate is that equity is a comfort layer and you can always sell everything.’

And it’s stressful, but what’s the alternative? Having no investments and living from paycheck to paycheck.”

Today, he generates about $10,000 a month in profits from his investments.

He said one of the biggest mistakes he made was letting his emotion play a role in making financial decisions.

“If I could go back and change something, I wouldn’t buy the apartments. It was an emotional decision because I wanted to live in the city,” he said.

‘But apartments traditionally yield little compared to houses.’

Adding to that, Beau said he would never invest in Sydney because the market is too high and is therefore looking to Western Australia, Victoria and overseas instead.

He is currently in Dubai on business and owns two properties there.

Today, he is the proud founder of Maple Group – an asset manager that helps clients who also want to gain financial freedom through real estate.

According to research by Pearl financeonly 1.6 percent of Australians own two investment properties and 0.5 percent own three investment properties.