Property Strategist Sam Saggers: ‘How You Can Benefit From My Wins And Losses’

Real estate is a game of winning or losing, and as a professional property strategist, in order to get to where I am today, I can honestly say I’ve experienced the full spectrum. 

But to understand how I’ve managed to turn any loss I’ve had into a gain and support others to do the same, it helps to know where it all began. 

From the moment I stumbled across it as a wealth creation vehicle, I’ve always loved property. Reminiscing about our youth can give us definition as to why we are drawn to certain things. 

PASSION FROM A YOUNG AGE

After toy soldiers my favourite game as a child was, without question, MonopolyTM. I would play this wonderful game for hours on end, not knowing I was establishing the framework for my later life. 

The game I now take part in is very similar, except that I’m playing on behalf of more than 4000 clients – including companies and even the occasional investment bank – and the dollars are very real. 

After all this time, I still love it. It’s not just the economic reward that keeps me playing, though of course that is nice. What I enjoy most about the game is what I call “the art of the deal”. 

WHY I LOVE REAL ESTATE

I am fixated by deal-making and profit creation, both for myself and for other people. Every day I get to take part in the grown-up version of that same game I loved as a child, which is called The Australian and New Zealand Property Markets. 

Just about everybody has played MonopolyTM and I still love it! The simple reality is that even though it’s meant to be an entertaining board game, its foundations are very firmly set in reality. 

Look beyond the dice and fake money and you will see it’s about the accumulation of assets and the monopolising of growth areas. It’s adding value to real estate by accruing houses and hotels; it’s mortgages, banks and real estate brokers; it’s pitfalls and negotiation; it’s a little bit of luck and a lot of good personal management. 

Simply put, it’s everything you see in the real market.

Since my childhood I’ve graduated from trading in Mayfair and Park Lane but the principles are still exactly the same. I help people buy assets that magnify their profits and put money into their pockets. Real money, that is. There’s no fake paper cash in the real world. 

STARTING AT THE BOTTOM

I’ve worked in the real estate industry for nearly 30 years.

I started young and at the very bottom. I knew as soon as I finished high school that I wanted a career in real estate. My first job was handing out pamphlets and letterbox-dropping homes for a sales agent friend of mine, which allowed me to tell people I was in marketing at a real estate agency. 

Meanwhile, I studied real estate at college each night and eventually found my passion – property investment. 

I was young and naive when I bought my first property. I was so happy in the honest belief that all I had to do was buy property and watch its value increase. 

I had seen numerous friends make money through the process and I’d noticed the pride it gave them to know their asset was a winner. I knew I could do the same, so I raised the funds I needed to invest. 

NAIVETY + REAL ESTATE = DISASTER

I had found a property I thought was ideal and was encouraged to buy it by my workmates, my licensee and my franchise. 

With their emotional support, I purchased it with great gusto. It was in the area I worked and that gave me confidence I was onto a winner. At the time of acquisition, I was known as the “Unit Market Area Expert”. Well, that’s what it said on my business card anyway.

I chose the property because it looked over a park and was the most I could get for my money at the time in the area where I lived and worked. I thought it was the right place to buy, but of course, I was totally wrong.

I BOUGHT WRONG AND PAID THE PRICE

We all pay for education in one way or another. The lesson that I had bought the wrong property in the wrong market cost me $30,000 in hard savings. 

Looking back, it was my naivety which resulted in me buying a dud. 

I obtained the property well after the growth cycle had hit its ceiling and I failed to negotiate well. My own emotions caught me up – I simply fell in love with the property and just had to have it. 

I didn’t look at the true income and expenses at the time of buying the property, I didn’t conduct research and I had no idea about the cash flow or growth potential. 

The decision to hand over my life savings of $30,000 as a deposit was entirely emotional. I soon discovered I was out of my depth and that I certainly wasn’t the “unit area expert”. 

The property didn’t go up in value and it began to take cash from my back pocket as it was negatively geared in a heavy way. I could no longer save money because all my available funds were being diverted into the property. 

KNOW WHEN TO CUT YOUR LOSSES

Effectively, my deposit was stuck, and my money was not compounding. With no signs of growth, my only options were to cut and run from the investment or wait for the market cycle to start again. 

I assessed the situation and soon understood it would be years before the market regained strength. I decided to sell the property and ended up giving the market my life savings. The property was sold at a loss, leaving me sadly both disgruntled and devastated. 

Anyone who has lost opportunity or money, begins to ask, “How does this happen and why me?” I began soul-searching and looking at my peers within the real estate sector. 

FAIL FAST THEN GET BACK UP

I soon realised a fundamental problem – real estate agents, my trusted peers and mentors, don’t necessarily own real estate. 

Most of the agents I was associated with had no idea about investing. They didn’t own property and, if they did, it was usually the family home rather than an investment. 

They were not knowledgeable about property investments, deals or opportunities. 

Most of the salespersons were in the door one week and out the next, yet they were offering suggestions on what and where to buy. I was completely flabbergasted by a statistic I still find alarming – eight out of 10 agents in any office around the country don’t own investment real estate but will happily sell or manage it.

I decided that’s where I had gone wrong, so I asked the universe to deliver some people who knew the art of making money. That’s when I met some business associates who had the idea of starting one of Australia’s first investment specialty real estate firms. They had experience in owning real estate and building profit as well as funds. I had time on my hands and the willingness to learn and create. 

BECOME OBSESSED WITH LEARNING YOUR CRAFT

Buying an investment property is a business decision, so it’s important you treat real estate with respect. To maximise your profits, it’s wise to understand the fundamentals that will help you reach your goal. 

At some stage, every buyer is likely to suffer what is known as buyer’s remorse. Questions pop into every investor’s head when they ponder a property purchase. Have I bought well? Did I choose the best location? Will the property perform? 

Psychologists would call this “uncertainty,” but I think of it as a form of “illiteracy”. 

If more people took the time to understand the answers to these questions and actually schooled themselves in the art of buying property, wealth creation wouldn’t just be for a small percentile of Australians. It would be there for all to participate in sharing the profits it can produce. 

WHAT 30 YEARS CAN TEACH YOU

There’s no doubt that I’ve come a long way since my first ‘dud’ buy. The great thing is, you don’t have to make the same mistakes that I did to learn the craft of making millions from real estate – instead the knowledge is already here and waiting for you to implement. 

Personally, I’ve helped my clientele make over $785,000,000. Combine that with the work of my colleagues at Positive Real Estate and we’re confident to say that we’re in a position to support you to get started. 

The best part is, getting started doesn’t have to cost anything. 

We offer free property investing webinars designed to keep you up-to-date with the best strategies to succeeding in the market. Our knowledgeable coaches live and breathe real estate, so they’ll be able to answer any questions you may have around the economy and its impact on building a solid property portfolio.

While these events are held frequently, we keep numbers per session limited to offer a more intimate experience. 

Register now for the free property investor webinar

By Sam Saggers