Baker who arrived with $1800 builds $11 million property empire

A baker who moved to Australia as an international student has now amassed a huge 14-property portfolio worth $11 million in less than 10 years.

When Lakwinder ‘Lucky’ Singh moved at 21 to Australia with only $1,800, he “never could have imagined,” that would have led him to have $11 million in equity today.

Mr Singh moved to Australia in 2007 to study business administration, and hadn’t planned to make Australia his forever home. He also hadn’t planned to finish his studies in businessand go on to become a baker instead.

He switched to a trade as a baker and began working at Woolworths, working early hours in the morning.

“As a baker, it’s kind of interesting hours so I was always listening to podcasts about wealth creation while working,” Mr Singh said.

Lakwinder Singh working as a baker for Woolworths. Photo: Supplied

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“At the same time, there was a charity event where they were selling books for one dollar and one of the books I bought and read was 0 to 130 properties in 3.5 years by Steve McKnight, and I still have that book now,” he added.

Through books, seminars and podcasts, Mr Singh began educating himself about property investment and was determined to buy his first property.

It took him many years to get there, claiming “that first property was the hardest,” but in 2015 Mr Singh saved enough money for a 10 per cent deposit for land and to build a house in Sydney’s South West suburb Camden, costing around $490,000.

He lived in the home as an owner occupier so he could receive first homebuyer grants and then after two years he moved out to rent it out and became a rentvestor.

To buy his second property, he used equity from the first home, and took on a second job as a driver for a childcare centre to save an extra $20,000 to boost his borrowing power.

Lucky in 2012 before building his property portfolio. Photo: Supplied

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“I was working two full-time jobs simultaneously. It was exhausting,” he said.

“Cash flow was tight. When you’re buying properties aggressively, you’re gonna end up with high negative cash flow, so you have to be prepared for that,” he said.

From there, Mr Singh went on to buy two properties in Brisbane.

“If you’re not prepared to face the negative cash flow, it can all come crumbling down.”

In 2023, he purchased properties in Perth, both under $460,000 each.

Both of those properties are now worth more than $800,000.

“These Perth purchases reinforced how important timing, location and entry price can be,” he said.

“My early strategy was to enter the market with properties I could afford and hold for the long term,” he said

“When I started building aggressively, there was a bit of a cash flow crunch, so I learnt that it wasn’t manageable to have negatively cash flowing properties.

First property he purchased and built in the Camden area. Photo: Supplied

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“As I gained experience and the portfolio became larger, I realised that simply accumulating negatively geared properties could eventually restrict my cash flow and borrowing capacity,” he said.

He began adding granny flats and secondary dwellings to many of his properties and changed his tactic to make his portfolio as a whole positively geared.

“My focus shifted towards improving the performance of each asset. That could involve buying a quality new property in a strategic growth location, purchasing a properly designed dual-income property, or buying an established house with suitable land and adding a granny flat.

“The objective is to create sustainable rental income and reduce the amount of money the investor must contribute every month. Stronger cash flow makes a portfolio more resilient and less reliant on tax concessions.”

By purchasing properties under a trust, company structure or self managed super fund also allowed him to not be affected by budget changes.

Mr Singh now owns 14 properties and helps others do the same. Photos: Supplied

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“When you buy under these structures the negative gearing doesn’t really matter,” he said.

Most recently, he has purchased a property in Tasmania for $563,000 and a home in Meadow Heights in Victoria for $580,000.

He’s also started turning to building new properties, as new builds are also exempt from changes to negative gearing.

“If you want to help the government, help the economy, help the people, then why not just go with what they want us to do and build new houses, create more supply and more granny flats to your houses.”

Now Mr Singh has a wife and two kids, and his portfolio includes 14 properties and four granny flats. The total is about $11 million, with $6 million in debt, producing more than $450,000 a year in gross rental income across 18 rental streams.

With his wife and two kids. Photo: Supplied.

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No longer rentvesting, he has moved back into the very first home he built in Camden with his family and is the director of Value Buyers Agency.

“I consider the current debt level manageable for my circumstances, income and risk tolerance, but no amount of debt is completely risk-free.

“The important measures are equity, sustainable cash flow, financial buffers and the ability to service debt during difficult periods.

“Today, I don’t measure success by the number of properties. My objective is to build approximately $10 million in net equity and eventually convert that into simpler, lower-debt assets producing sustainable passive income.”