Teacher shares secret on buying homes worth millions of dollars on a $70,000 salary – plans for more

A teacher has revealed how she managed to buy three houses with a salary of $70,000 and how she plans to buy more properties.

Monica Rouvellas, 34, is the proud owner of three properties worth an eye-popping $1.2 million.

She has built up her impressive real estate portfolio after years of struggling and failing to get a personal loan from the banks for a teacher’s salary.

Ms. Rouvellas lifted the lid on how she could turn her fortune around by making a small adjustment when applying for a loan.

Ms. Rouvelllas spent $25,000 of her savings renovating her first home (pictured), which allowed her to raise the rent by $100 a week

She founded a company and then set up a special purpose vehicle, a separate legal entity that can be created for a specific business purpose.

They are subsidiaries of the parent company and have their own assets and liabilities.

They can be used to take on greater financial risk while protecting the parent company.

Mrs. Rouvellas buys her houses through the special purpose vehicle.

The banks have been happy to provide her with a loan through her company because of several additional risk protection measures available to businesses.

“One thing I learned is that banks treat you differently when you take out credit products as a company,” she said real estate.com.au.

Ms. Rouvellas has rented all three of her properties for a price that covers their full repayment costs, and she plans to buy five more this year.

Ms Rouvellas, who is now a lecturer at Macquarie University, first considered buying property along the NSW south coast in 2016 but was denied loans when banks said the self-employed music teacher did not have enough income.

After being rejected several times, she and her brother went 50/50 in the special purpose vehicle and were able to purchase the unit for $350,000 with a 10 percent down payment.

‘You have the support of the Corporations Act, so that the banks have more alternatives if things don’t go well [and] you also get more asset protection benefits and there are more ways to minimize your load,” she said.

Mrs. Rouvelllas spent $25,000 of her savings on the renovation of her first property.

The 34-year-old and her brother then learned that the house was worth $100.00 more than the price they had paid.

Using the leverage of this revaluation and taking advantage of quick equity gains by buying in the right location at the right time, the property’s rent increased by $100 per week.

Ms. Rouvellas claimed that these increases in her profits not only covered mortgage bills and municipal rates, but also reduced her total debt by hundreds of thousands thanks to the equity she had.

Mrs Rouvelllas bought another unit on the NSW south coast (pictured) for $215,000, which increased in value by $85,000 in just over six months thanks to her formula

Ms Rouvellas, who is now a lecturer at Macquarie University, was denied loans when she became self-employed in 2016

Drawing on business and the law she was studying at the time, Ms. Rouvellas began restructuring her portfolio using corporate structures after banks rejected another personal loan.

“After that first property, I tried to get new loans from banks for another property, but I had a problem,” she said.

“They said I was off duty.”

After successfully using the special purpose vehicle again, Mrs. Rouvellas bought her brother out of the business and bought her second property.

She bought another unit on the south coast of NSW for $215,000, which increased in value by $85,000 in just over six months thanks to her formula.

Her third home in South East Queensland.

“I do a lot of research to see which areas are going to grow and where rents are going to be high,” she said.

My advice to everyone [investing] is to get advice on structuring your loans.

“It makes all the difference.”