#50: Young Parents Sold Their Resi Portfolio to Buy One Commercial Building – Matt & Janine
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Episode Description
Steve sits down with Matt and Janine, a married couple with two young kids who started buying property in 2018 with no inheritance and no six-figure income. Matt picked up most of his knowledge from property podcasts on long shifts driving fuel tankers around Victoria. Janine did her own self-education until she was on the same wavelength.
Over the next few years they bought in Ballarat, Moreton Bay, Perth and south-east Queensland, refinancing every time the equity moved. The portfolio was worth millions on paper, but it was negatively geared, and they told Steve it was the poorest they'd ever felt.
In 2023, Janine was diagnosed with breast cancer at 38, with no family history. She talks openly about the diagnosis, months of chemotherapy and immunotherapy while still working full time, and how it changed the way she and Matt looked at investing and the life they wanted to live.
In this episode, Matt and Janine walk Steve through their move into commercial, the six-month vacancy that taught them to watch their own leases, setting up an SMSF, and the $2.55 million Canberra purchase. They also explain why they're selling down the residential portfolio to own fewer, bigger commercial assets.
Topics Discussed
- How they bought their first investment in Ballarat in 2018, straight after their wedding, and the podcasts Matt listened to on the road that got them started.
- Janine's "risk radar", and how self-education got her comfortable with taking calculated risks.
- Growing a residential portfolio across Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia by "redlining": revaluing, refinancing and pulling equity out for the next deposit.
- Why each extra negatively geared property pushed financial freedom further away.
- Their first commercial property, a Tweed Heads office on a main road leased to an Aussie Home Loans franchise at about a 5.8% yield.
- What happened when that tenant left in March 2026, the six months it sat vacant, and why they changed leasing agents to land a government tenant.
- Setting up an SMSF, taking control of their super, and buying a simple industrial warehouse in Perth for around $800,000.
- Janine's breast cancer diagnosis at 38 with no family history, found during an unrelated surgery, and why she wants younger women to know it isn't only an older woman's disease.
- How the diagnosis and treatment changed the way Janine looked at investing and lifestyle, and why they left Melbourne to rent on the Gold Coast.
- Selling the Perth property bought for about $405,000 for around $860,000, and using it to fund a roughly 30% deposit on a $2.55 million Canberra building with three shops, one tenant and 14 car spaces.
- Their next goal of about $10 million in commercial property that pays itself down, and Janine's advice for couples to get aligned on their values before they buy.
HOSTED BY:
Steve Palise
Ph: 0403 878 497
Email: steve@paliseproperty.com
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/steve-palise
Resources
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