How to build a bigger portfolio

Property investor, buyer's agent and director at Right Property Group, Victor Kumar, says moving an investment portfolio from just one or two properties to 20 or 30 requires a lot of work. 

“You need to be able to manage your affairs and you can’t just keep it all up in your head,” he told Smart Property Investment on The Smart Property Investment Show podcast. 

“I use Google Sheets to track each and every property. I get my statements fortnightly and I transcribe them into the spreadsheets – so that at any point in time I know exactly where my cash flow is sitting.

“I know which property is vacant, which one is coming up to be vacant, which one will need work, in which month. So each week I am planning to say, 'Okay, this week I need to organise some quotes for a hot water system, for example, or a new kitchen'.”  

Mr Kumar also uses Google Sheets to make financing easy for his mortgage broker.

“So I just flick him across the Google spreadsheet, and I use Dropbox to put all of my statements and anything else that I need for finance. And I just share that link.

“So rather than me trying to find all the information, I let the broker find it. He works for his commission, but I make it easy for him to do it.”  

Then on a regular basis Mr Kumar consults with his accountant about his financials. The idea is to present them in the best way possible, taking lending into account.

“And sometimes, that actually means paying tax,” he says.

“I know that is a bad three letter word, but if you make yourself attractive to the bank then they will lend you money and therefore you can further your portfolio.”

Listen to Victor Kumar's full story on The Smart Property Investment Show: 
Episode 14: How I turned $4,500 into a multimillion-dollar portfolio 
Episode 19: ‘How I built a multimillion-dollar portfolio even though I bought the wrong properties’

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