Pravalika & Mahender Annem - Access Wealth Success Story

Speaker: Pravalika & Mahender Annem, IT professionals, Victoria

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: Hi everyone. My name is Mahender Annem Hi, my name is Pravalika Annem We are a family of 4. I have two kids. One is 6, another one is 2. They both, Mahira, elder one started school and the little one just started kinder. Coming to our background, we both are IT professionals working full time. We are Melbourne based, and we got our first property back in 2017. So that's all about us.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: Overall, our financial situation is good. We bought our investment property after COVID and after that we were not sure whether to invest further in property or any other, investments, which helps us in gaining the financial freedom. And, also, again, we want to save on the tax, like negative gearing, etc. which again we don't have much of information. about, and, the lastly, what the other thing, what we wanted to do was plan for our retirement. I know it's too early, but I think, uh, it's never too late to start for retirement from now when you both are working full time.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: So, we were uncertain about the location. Basically, we wanted to invest somewhere, but we didn't know the correct location. We were looking at too many things online, a bit overwhelmed with all the information provided on different social media platforms. So we did inquire a bit, from here and there, and we got multiple answers, which we were unsure, like where exactly to invest, like what suburb is best and what returns would we get. So, basically, we are investors, right? We would be expecting for returns. So, basically, as my husband said earlier, we got a property, investment property, in Truganina, and we were expecting, like a big shopping centre coming up there, but, later on, the developer pulled that back and they, there is no shopping centre coming. So we've got that property, thinking that, hey, there would be a shopping centre and there would be a good growth after 10 years, this would be the, you know figures that we would be looking at. But at that stage, we were not like, after that the developer pulled off, we are not sure like if we are getting the actual returns that we were expecting or not. So, yeah, a bit curious about what options are available for us and where would we best be investing, and what kind of returns we would be getting. So, yeah.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: So, basically, as my wife said previously, we bought the property and then after that, after the developer pulled out the shopping centre, we were in a dilemma, not to make the same mistakes again. So, we were just thinking whether property investing is correct for us or not because we had a, kind of a bad experience with our first investment. So we just wanted to get help from professionals this time, making sure we invest in the right place or in the right suburb where we got young population, infrastructure coming up, government projects going on, close to freeways and more owner occupied, I can get a little bit of this data from, realestate.com.au, but I guess we have to get in touch with the professionals in order to get more deep dive into the data and make the right decisions. And the other thing which we were not sure was about our loan structure. We have borrowed out our maximum capacity what we have for our, current home loan and also the investment loan. So again, I don't have much knowledge about how the equity works, whether we are able to get any, further funding for our new property. So all these things, made us to, go to professionals and then get their feedback.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: So, when we first joined the introduction session with Access Wealth, they explained us the whole process, how it would work and everything, and what they would offer and what exactly will happen. So, it was just like a guideline or a roadmap for us from where we would start off and where we would be looking at, we were be able to see the real numbers. That's what they promised us in the initial session, but also there was a fee included in it. So we, we were a bit sceptic at the first, like, you know, how everything would work for us in our situation with our numbers and everything like that. So we did a bit of our research, we did look up for the Google reviews and it was not bad, it was good reviews for Access Wealth, and then we did, do a bit research with other competitors. They did have more fees and it was also not refundable. Whereas Access Wealth promised us a refund, if we don't like any property, they would be refunding that money. So we thought, yeah, a couple of thousands if you're investing and you're getting a good property that would fetch you more in the future, down the lane, 10, 20 years, if you're in a good place, we thought it's a good investment. It's not a bad thing to do. So that motivated us and we thought, OK, let's go get, let's give it a try. And that's where we started off with Access Wealth, yeah. And also I would like to add another point to what Pravalika said. So what made us to sign up with Access Wealth was they did actually ask us questions, why we want to do, what's our plan, why, what you're thinking to get out of it in the long term. I know in the short term, things change, but we were more in the long term framework. As we said earlier, we want financial freedom, we want to, retire, early, and then we want to go on holidays with family when the kids are young, time with family and kids' education and things. So it was more like personal, kind of thing that we had like it was not like, you know, it was OK, we only do this kind of, can help you in this areas, like we can only help you with retirement or just like planning a holiday or something, but whereas Access Wealth really listened to us and they noted down all the points that we want to really look at, like no funding for school, like fees or children education, and things like that. So that really, you know, motivated us in getting into Access Wealth. Yeah, and, lastly, this service fee is for lifelong, so they don't charge you another service fee or any admin fee for the second property you go with them, whereas other competitors, they were more of a, property basis. So if you buy one property, they'll charge you this person and then if you want to buy another property, they'll charge you that. Whereas Access Wealth assured that whatever we are paying, it's just one-off and there won't be any additional, kind of admin fee or ongoing fees coming out of our pockets as the, everything is included in the contract, which also gave us confidence. I think we are with the right people and hence we decided to progress further with Access Wealth.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: So once we met John, so in our first session itself, we, we were asked about ourselves and what we are looking to and what we are looking to achieve from this, from this plan, action plan. So we told whatever we are looking for, and explained, as how it would work and also put the numbers together for us. So, what's our income like and what is according to what mortgages we have and how much loan would we be getting. to invest further. So we got that figure first and then we started looking into, you know, this is a property amount that you can look into, like, you know, it's 6,000 or 7,000 up to mark that you can go for your next property. And then they, they go and search for a property in that range. So, actual numbers actually helped us and also like, you know, showing us the cash flow, you know, this is the amount that you would be seeing after five years or 10 years or down the line, 20 years. And also showing us the retirement plans and you will be debt-free soon. So, how much money comes into, you know, as I mentioned, 5 years or 10 years. So that thing helped us a lot seeing those numbers. So, if you invest this much at this point, after 5 years, this is what you would be looking at, getting, and this is the retirement amount and this is a cash flow, and this is a month because pretty much you. They take the amount from the rental, whatever we get rent and that goes towards the loan and after that, whatever you're saving up would be your cash flow. So, yeah, the numbers were looking good. So that's how we.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: So, definitely, we started off on a positive note. So we had our meeting with John Staggs, from Access Wealth team, which we would like to thank him very much for the time he invested, in us, or in our portfolio. So, the first meeting was around 2 hours. So this tells you how much, time they have invested in you or to build your case study, to go through your numbers and all your expenses. So we went through that and then, after that, we had a 4-hour property, finding meeting where they'll discuss about the different properties you have in your, range. And they also talk about the inclusions and, and also the real estate people managing the property. So it's all taken care of. It's like a turnkey package, so you don't need to go and visit a property or the builder, you choose the builder or the inclusions, etc. Everything is covered in that. From our experience, what we had was, John gave us one property, and he explained through all the details, but unfortunately we didn't like the property. So again, the thing which I wanted to highlight with Access Wealth is even if you don't like a property, you just tell them up front and then the discussion is ended for the property at that point. And the next step what they have done is again they go back to the papers and then they go through all the areas of the suburbs where it is right to invest including considering all the data which we talked earlier about and also making sure that the new house is within your budget. So we had another meeting with John after, roughly 2 weeks, I think, and this time, yeah, we like the property very much and yeah, straight away we said, yeah, we are good to go with this and we paid a deposit on the same day. I think another thing to add here is like the background research work they do is what we like. So they bring up a presentation which shows you all the amenities surrounded in that suburb, like what's the population, what's like the in population rate there and what, what schools are there, what shopping centres are there. I know we can go and research by ourselves, but having everything for that property, and then you have another property with the, with the same information, which gives you like, you know, you can look at the pros and cons of each and every property, and then select what suits best for you. So I think that's more important. So they spend like 3-4 hours with the client and also they do a lot of like homework to get that presentation out. So it's really good.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: So since we started our journey with Access Wealth, we bought our first investment property, last year, and currently we are on track in acquiring our second investment property through them. This all wouldn't have happened without the help from Access Wealth and their partners. I would also like to highlight another example with the finance, uh, here. So, I have another broker who has been looking after me for the last 10 years, and when I reached out to him saying that I want to invest in a second property, he went through all my numbers and he said, uh, this is the amount you can borrow. So unfortunately with that amount, there was nothing I could buy in Victoria. So, again, John, when he was going through the numbers, they have referred us to Capital Finance and Shannon from Capital Finance, he went through the loan structure and, my investment, loan, and then he came up with a structure where I was able to borrow more from, different lenders, which helped us in acquiring our second investment property. So I would say, yeah, there is more financial clarity for us and less stress about any finance which I don't need to worry about and I'm just going through with the same, finance vendor for all the properties, so, which makes us easier to manage everything and it's all being taken care of. So at the end of the day, what you just need to do is go through the documents and then sign. That's all you need to, do from your side, whereas the rest is all taken care by John, sorry, by Access Wealth and their partners.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: We are definitely more confident and once joining Access Wealth because once sourcing our second property, investment property through Access Wealth, we know like how we invested the money and how it is sitting and what we would be expecting down the lane. And also, the completion dates and everything like that. So we do have the numbers stacking up there. So, we understand how it all works and feeling more confident and controlled. I can say, and one thing I can say here is like, if we haven't gone with Access Wealth, what would we have done with our money is like, just like a common person, what would you do is if you have extra money, you would just put, put the money in the present loan that you have. So, in your initial, in this principal home loan, so that would be just not paying off like not even 10, 20% down the line, after 10 years too. So instead, John said, you know, he showed us those numbers. So if you pay this for 10 years, this is what you would be clearing up in your principal home loan. But whereas if you invest this amount in this investment property, this is what you would be looking at down the lane 10 years or 20 years. So that made, that actually made sense to us and thought, OK, maybe this is the right way to invest. And so that's where we got more confidence. Yeah, it was really a good experience overall.

Pravalika & Mahender Annem: So our advice for someone who's sitting on the fence, whether they want to go with Access Wealth or not, we would 100% recommend Access Wealth. But based on our experience and, and also as stated previously, their 100% refundable deposit is something truly a good feature to think about, whereas other competitors, they were like, no, there's no refundable deposit once you paid, we invest time in you, whereas with Access Wealth it's not the case. And other thing I would also like to highlight is, the time they invest. So, for example, as we said, we both are working Monday to Friday full time, whereas our, property strategist, John, he took actually time out of the weekend and especially for 4 hours or 2 hours over the weekend with 2 kids. So it was quite, um remarkable help from him to put those meetings, on a weekend and go through the property. So we felt like we were given more importance, not just signing a document where, even though it was a weekend, he spent 4 hours going through each detail line by line, which actually made us very happy and we thought, we made a good decision by going with Access Wealth. Do you want to add something? Yeah, basically, I think it's more like a personal connection. It's not like they have a script and they got run through the same process with every client. It's the work according to you and your family situation. Like as we mentioned, we have young kids, we are busy working. So, so taking time for you through the weekends or also finding a property that actually suits you. So for me, like, I think we did mention. Initially, like we rejected first property that John showed us. The reason was the kitchen was upstairs, but I was like, I was like wanting the kitchen downstairs. So things are small things, but you are like consistent and you want that, in your property. So there is like, OK, I absolutely respect your decision. It's OK. It's your house, your property, you're going to invest. So yes, they just went back to the drawing board and they fetch us another property. for us to compare and go ahead. So, yeah, things like that. So that personal connection or the, you know, the feature of a refund or not being pushed every time, you know, you're in a meeting, like, you know, you have to buy this, you have to get into this kind of, it's not like a sales pitch. That's what we felt. Overall with Access Wealth, so a good experience. So finally, we just want to say a huge thank you to Access Wealth and their partners and their team members for helping us in our investment journey. I, we really hope, looking forward to working with Access Wealth in the coming few years. Thank you.