How a portfolio can survive a relationship breakdown

“Back in 2016, I had a portfolio, which was probably worth about $5 million. And I went through a separation. I wasn’t actually married, but been with my partner, long-time partner and mother of my two children, for sort of 10-12 years,” Mr Hall said.

Mr Hall explained he was lucky enough to create a win-win situation with his now ex-partner through their accountant.

“We came to an agreement just using [our accountant] Munzurul as a mediator that would be sort of fair and reasonable. And how that worked out to be was, we sold a little bit of property. 

“My partner didn’t have sort of the cash flow that I’m fortunate to have. So, in the end, I ended up keeping a relatively decent part of the portfolio,” Mr Hall explained.

He pointed out that he was able to give his partner a property without debt, while he could refinance to keep the majority of the portfolio intact.

“So, I’ve increased my debt a little bit. But I managed to keep a reasonable chunk of the portfolio. So, all in all, both happy. I haven’t had to start from scratch,” he explained.

Mr Hall noted that despite the separation, today the portfolio still contains nine properties with a loan-to-valuation ratio of around 70 per cent.

However, he pointed to the structure of his portfolio allowing him to set and forget about it while focusing on other aspects in life.

“But that’s OK. And this goes back to building a portfolio which is resilient to time or change. And that you didn’t do anything with it for a couple of years probably helped it, you know? Like, it wasn’t a shit portfolio beforehand. So, therefore, because you fell out of love with your property portfolio, it didn’t necessarily do you wrong as a result of it,” host Phil Tarrant summarised.