- Growing up in Orange, Lloyd performed and taught music
- Several years after purchasing his first property, he began to build a portfolio
- He now combines two of his passions - teaching and property
As part of our ongoing series interviewing property pioneers, The Property Tribune recently spoke to the buyers agent, author and founder of Aus Property Professionals, Lloyd Edge.
While many of our interviewees have previously had real estate “in their blood”, Lloyd’s background is different.
Growing up in the regional New South Wales town of Orange, Lloyd studied music with his early career consisting of performing, conducting and teaching.
Back in 2003, while he was a teacher, he purchased his first unit to live in, wanting to “get off the treadmill of renting.”
However, a few years later he wanted a larger property.
After speaking to his mortgage broker he discovered he could borrow significantly more money. This kickstarted his interest as a property investor which he knew little about, even though Economics – not Music – had been his top subject in high school.
This discovery coincided with his dream to build a financially secure future for not just himself, but for a future family.
“I was teaching many students from wealthy families and was thinking ‘How do these guys do that?’”, said Lloyd.
“I was struggling on a music teacher’s income living in a one-bedroom unit.”
The unit became his first investment property, with the next few being investments in blue-chip Sydney suburbs before venturing to properties outside of Sydney.
As his portfolio grew, his passive income eventually overtook his teacher’s salary – affording him the lifestyle choices he had previously dreamed of.
While the stereotype of financial independence may involve quitting work and living on the beach, this wasn’t what Lloyd wanted to do.
“There are only so many holidays, living on the beach you can do.”
“So I wanted to combine my passions – still educate people, but not necessarily in music, and so I set up Aus Property Professionals so I could help people to replicate what I had done.”
Becoming a buyers agent
In his line of work, Lloyd is passionate about educating clients on the ins and outs of property including how to assess individual dwellings and markets, and what strategies to use.
Lloyd himself has personally completed land developments, extensive renovations and installed granny flats on properties he has purchased.
He has made the mistake of purchasing the wrong property – something he wants his clients to avoid.
“I want to help people make the right decisions moving forward for themselves and their families.”
Although the transition from music teaching and conducting to buyers agent may sound like a big leap, he believes many of the skills are highly transferable.
“As a teacher, you need to have good communication skills. Something I try to do well in my business – communicate to my clients and staff effectively.”
Lloyd says this includes explaining often technical terms to clients, such as rental yields, vacancy rates, and how external factors – such as a local infrastructure project – could impact a property’s return.
Organisational skills from his teaching days have been beneficial. Along with day-to-day duties, these have been useful especially when Lloyd wrote his first book – the 70,000 word ‘Positively Geared’ – which involved many late nights, in a household with an infant.
Challenges
When asked about the greatest challenges Lloyd faces in his work, he cites the ongoing shortages in labour and supply.
However, another major challenge is an aspect he finds the most fun – finding the right property at the right price.
“Quite often, especially in a hot market, this is challenging.”
To overcome this, he continues to develop his real estate contacts with agents and developers alike, which has facilitated many pre-listed and off-market transactions.
In cases where they can’t find the right property they use an old school method – door knocking.
“We will just go door-knocking in the client’s preferred area and ask the owner if they want to sell their property as we have a buyer available.”
Along with avoiding the hassle of staging a property for inspections, this can also free the seller from some agent fees.
Top advice for buyers agent: build a portfolio
When asked about advice for those wishing to become buyers agents, Lloyd’s number one advice is to buy some properties and build a portfolio, along with finding mentors across the industry.
“I didn’t become a buyers agent one day because I decided I liked property – I grew a portfolio and by the time I started my buyer’s agency I was an experienced investor and developer. I had about 10 to 12 properties in my portfolio by the time I became a buyers agent.”
“People will trust you more if you have achieved what they are trying to achieve themselves.”
