TV property expert and investor Chris Gray

Written on the 28th of January 2009

Property investing is Chris Gray’s passion, and has given him his key to a relaxed lifestyle, a passive income, long-term wealth and security in his retirement – in his thirties! In his property-education seminars, Chris often jokes that he gave up being a full-time employee at the age of 31 mainly because he couldn’t fit a 9-5 job around his busy lifestyle! It took Chris nine years to build the financial freedom to achieve this and his portfolio continues to grow.

Chris has always regarded property as one of the most desirable investments available. Property is attractive because it’s solid bricks and mortar, relatively risk free and usually grows massively if you can hold it in the long term.

The single decision that began Chris’s journey

Chris got into property relatively early – at 22. At this age, none of his friends wanted to buy; they perceived it as being tied to a mortgage with no money left over for cars, holidays and luxuries. Chris’s sole motivation to buy was to gain some freedom away from home; it was only later that he realised that it would financially change his life forever.

When Chris bought his first property, he was faced with a difficult decision – was it better to buy a one-bedroom unit (that was more affordable on the surface but not that desirable) or a three-bedroom house (that he loved from the moment he saw it, but was priced out of his reach)?

With a $35,000 deposit and an annual income of $25,000, most people would have chosen the one-bedder unit. Chris, however, chose the house. Friends and family said he couldn’t afford it, but being an accountant, Chris fiddled around with the numbers to try and find a way to make it work.

Chris took on that bet with this first property and made the and equivalent of two years’ salary overnight and a passive income of $40-50,000 per year for the next 15 years. At 23 he bought his third property, then his fourth, fifth and sixth properties. Chris did this in the early 1990s, but the same strategy can be applied by investors today.

By age 31, Chris was able to leave his full-time job at Deloitte’s for semi-retirement, simply through the fruits of his growing property portfolio.

Chris Gray today

Property goes in cycles, and Chris counteracts the downtimes by investing for the long term. Today, he owns numerous properties in a portfolio valued at over $10 million.Creating an asset base like this allows you to put less emphasis on your career and work doing what you love.

Chris’s passions are property, education and television. He is CEO of Empire, a property-investment consultancy that builds property portfolios for time-poor investors – searching, negotiating and renovating on their behalf.

In 2007-08, Chris was the property expert on Channel Nine’s Myhome.com.au and My Home TV. He now offers his property buying and investing advice regularly on Sky Business News, Channel Nine, and other major media.

Chris has also authored two books: Go For Your Life: How to Turn Your Weekdays into Weekends through Property Investing and The Effortless Empire: The Time-Poor Professional’s Guide to Building Wealth from Property.

For a FREE copy of Chris’s latest book, The Effortless Empire, go to www.yourempire.com.au.