House rules: What fuels Eddie’s property passion

ASK Eddie Dilleen what he thought of the May 12 Federal Budget and the answer is, shall we say, negatively geared.

He believes it had little to offer first-home seekers.

“If anything, it’s making it harder for young people to get into the market,” he said.

Dilleen feels the changes to CGT and negative gearing could push investors to raise rents, leaving tenants scratching to save a deposit on a place of their own.

As he did, in the not-so-distant past.

In his mid-30s, Dilleen is now a mega-landlord and one of Australia’s most successful property investors.

He owns more than 200 properties worth at least $150 million.

At our interview, he wasn’t sure exactly how many. “205, 206 … something like that.”

Not bad for a bloke from very humble beginnings, raised in a housing commission property by a single mother on a modest pension.

That was in Mt Druitt, 45km west of the Sydney CBD. An area with a reputation.

“It was extremely rough,” he told AC.

“We wouldn’t be allowed to go out in the front yard because there would be drug needles all over it.

“I didn’t want that to be my future. I realised that people who don’t live in nasty areas, owned property.”

Dilleen’s upbringing was like that of Anthony Albanese, who also lived with his single pensioner mum in council housing in Sydney’s inner west.

Albo went into politics, became leader of the Labor Party and, eventually, prime minister.

Dilleen went to work at McDonalds from age 14, saved $200 a week and within a few years had enough for a 10 per cent deposit on an NSW central coast unit.

“I got turned down by 12 to 13 banks,” he said ruefully. But he persisted and still owns that first property.

“It was in a place I knew about, because we used to go camping there. It was the only holiday my family could afford.”

More purchases followed, initially in Queensland and South Australia, often sight unseen. He aimed to buy “metro” or within an hour of a city centre.

“A lot of people go buy a house in the middle of nowhere, with small populations and high vacancies,” he said.

“I’d rather buy a villa, a unit, a town house.

“You can still buy affordable properties like that in Melbourne, for $450,000 to $500,000.”

In 2016, he founded Dilleen Property, acting as a buyer’s agent, teaching his methods and writing inspirational books like 30 Properties Before 30 and How To Buy 10 Properties Fast.

And practising what he preached: snapping up undervalued houses and units with high rental yield, often in unpopular suburbs.

An old real estate adage said never buy a house you can’t personally visit.

It’s a chance to check for structural flaws, assess the neighbourhood, see what local traffic and parking is like.

Dilleen feels that’s not strictly necessary, so long as you have good people to do it for you.

“When people buy stocks and shares, it’s not like you’re going to walk into that company and go behind the counter to see how everything’s operating,” he argued.

“If you’re looking at property from a wealth creation perspective you’ve got to take the emotion out of it and keep it simple, as much as you can.”

To that end, he’s assembled a team of trusted advisers: building inspectors, property managers, mortgage brokers, accountants.

“You definitely have to have the right professionals around you,” he said.

Those include conveyancers: “An absolutely crucial part of the team”.

“I’ve used conveyancers and solicitors for every single purchase. I would never recommend people try to do it themselves: that would be crazy.”

Dilleen said it’s never too early to engage a conveyancer, ideally from the moment you start shopping for a home.

“The more time they have to know that you’re in the market, the more they’re going to be able to save you time, energy, effort and money,” he said.

Perhaps surprisingly for an investor, he feels many conveyancers are selling themselves short.

“They should be charging more for the amount of time, energy and effort they put in,” he said.

“They’re the kind of referee that keeps everything going along, putting out fires.

“It seems like a very difficult industry to be in, so yeah, if anything, they’re underpriced.”

Like conveyancers, Eddie’s business as a licensed real estate buyer’s agent will be subject to AML/CTF regulation from July 1.

“More compliance, more hurdles, it’ll slow down operations, make things harder, but we still have to do it,” he said.