1. OCTOBER2015 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n 4140 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n OCTOBER2015
PLAYINGTHE
PROPERTY
GAMEThe footy finals are on the horizon, so what better time to talk to the stars
of the field about their property investing endeavours? API finds out who’s
kicking goals on and off the pitch. ANGELA YOUNG
COREY PARKER
CODE: NRL
TEAMS: BRISBANE BRONCOS,
QUEENSLAND AND KANGAROOS
IF YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST AT ALL IN
rugby league (and even if you don’t)
you’ll probably recognise this player.
Corey Parker’s a Queensland hero after
recently helping his team secure State of
Origin victory (bagging the Wally Lewis
Man of the Series medal in the process),
and his league team the Broncos are
looking likely contenders for this
season’s trophy.
In his normal, everyday life, however,
this 33-year-old’s not that dissimilar to
you and me. He’s a dad of three with
another on the way, and he likes a
little dabble in property development
with his wife Margaux.
But way back before Corey
started growing his brood, as a
footballer starting out, he had
one eye on the future, making
his first property purchase at
the age of just 19.
“I signed my first substantial
[football] deal, so the first thing
I wanted to do was get my
hands on a house,” he says.
The property was in
the Brisbane suburb of
Underwood, and he paid
$249,000 for it.
“I sold it two years later
for $350,000,” he says, “and I
thought ‘hang on a sec, how
good’s this?’”
While his parents aren’t
investors themselves, their
guidance and influence made a
deep impression on Corey.
“I’ve seen them work long
hours and have to provide for
myself and my sister and we’ve
never gone without anything,”
he says. “The hardest thing, when
you’re so young, and even more
now, is to get that deposit to buy your
house, so I thought it was a step in the
right direction.”
Having tasted property success, he had
a thirst for more.
“The next place I bought was a brand
new home,” he recalls. “It was $450,000,
W
e’re not code snobs here at
API – soccer, AFL, rugby
league, we love the lot. And
with the finals imminent, we
thought we’d catch up with some players
past and present who’ve had their fair
share of property investing experience.
Though it hasn’t always been the case,
sports organisations are helping their
young stars formulate a plan for when
the final whistle’s blown. These days,
many focus their sights on property
investment for security after their larger-
than-average salaries have disappeared,
with some players even entering the field
(the property field) as professionals for
their second burst at a career.
We’ll get to NRL hero Corey Parker
(and our other goal-kicking investors) in
a bit, but first a peek behind the scenes.
Ian Foote’s the executive chairman
of Stride Sports Management. He often
finds himself mentoring youngsters.
“These kids have predominantly come
straight out of school, and they might go
from earning nothing to… more than
$100,000 in their first year,” he explains.
“So we’ll ensure each one of them sets
up a cash management account and we
then effectively give them an allowance.
Eventually, obviously, we want them to
take over their own management, but
at a point in time where they’ve built
up a cash pool and have the financial
smarts to take responsibility for their
financial affairs.”
Most of them, according to Foote,
want their first owner-occupied house,
so the agency works with them, making
use of buyers’ advocates.
“Some might say ‘I don’t want to buy,
I just want to go straight into investing’,
which as we know is happening more
and more among kids these days.”
Most, however, want to buy.
“Once they’ve got into that, we
encourage them to pay down their
mortgage. Then we encourage them to
build up an investment pool they can
use, perhaps using equity in their house
as part of their deposit.
“They might have taken the next
leap in their playing career… suddenly
earning $300,000 or $400,000 a
year – and that’s obviously freeing
up a lot more cash to service debt on
investment properties.”
Foote says all those relatively young,
naïve high-earners in one place can
make football clubs a magnet for sharks.
“The clubs are very good at filtering
these people out but they still slip
through the cracks occasionally,”
he says. “There are a few stories over the
years of people that have lost quite a bit
of money.”
For his own portfolio, Foote has a
preference for commercial property – “it
provides really good income… you can
pretty well determine the growth on the
basis of the income and what the interest
rate situation is”.
For the boys on his books, preferences
vary, he says. Of the 120 or so footballers
Stride manages, Foote says about 30
are investors. While some pick up
trades after football, perhaps working
for family, another preference is the
hotel industry.
“A number of the players who earn big
money have chosen to invest in pubs,”
he says.
Captain of St Kilda AFL team Nick
Riewoldt has done just that in Brighton.
“He bought [the hotel] when it wasn’t
exactly rundown but fairly tired, and
spent a lot of money renovating it.
“They’re not in the game for a long
time, these young men. It’s not like
English footballers, earning hundreds of
thousands of pounds a week.
“It’s good money but it’s only for a
finite period, so you want to insulate
them as best you can when their sporting
career finishes, so they’re not stuck
servicing huge debts.”
JOSHKELLY
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2. OCTOBER2015 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n 4342 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n OCTOBER2015
He likes to keep his nose in, he
says, just to pass the time: “I’m always
looking – can I make a dollar here on
this investment or this block of land?
“Although I don’t have any immediate
plans to grow the portfolio right now,
I’m always going to have one eye on it.
“At the end of the day, everything’s
for sale, all the time, I always think that.
Everything’s got a price.”
So, Mount Cotton isn’t forever?
“We’ve got quite a nice property where
we are, and if someone wanted to buy
that off us for the right money, well I’d
certainly be thinking about it,” he says.
Looking back over his investment
journey thus far, Corey’s got no regrets.
“Hindsight’s a wonderful thing!”
he says, adding that he’d probably
choose his first-ever purchase as his
best investment.
“If we all kept our very first home,
that’s the way to make some money,” he
admits. “I made some money on it, but
if I still had it now it would probably be
worth triple what it was when I sold it.
But it’s not a regret.”
Much as he’s enjoyed his dabbles in
property (and that journey’s certainly
not over), the buzz just doesn’t compare
to playing the sport he loves.
“They’re chalk and cheese!” he laughs.
“It’s nice to be able to say ‘Okay, I’ve just
made X amount’, but generally that just
goes into whatever you’re doing next.
There’s no better buzz for me than what
I do. That moment you run out on the
footy field and you’ve got 30,000 or
80,000 people who’ve paid their hard-
earned money to come and watch you
play the game they love to watch – to see
the smiles on their faces and satisfaction
after a win is pretty special.”and I did some work to it and sold it and
made money on that. From there I built
and sold a couple of homes.”
Small developments are something
Corey clearly enjoys, along with his
wife. Margaux, he explains, is across the
interiors and styling of the properties:
“We’re very similar in terms of what we
like... it’s not a case of I leave it to her, I
just sort of get cut out of it!”
With some good friends, the couple
bought an 810-square-metre block,
subdivided it, built a home and lived in
it. They then sold that house and bought
another 810 block, built another home,
and sold it.
“I guess the end goal was to get onto
some land, which is where we’re at now,”
Corey tells me, describing the current
family home at Mount Cotton.
“We love the two acres there and
there’s plenty of space – we’ve got
everything we want,” he says.
It’s been a chance for the five to take
a breather, having moved quite a lot
during the developing process: “My son’s
four and he’d lived in five houses during
that time.” He assures me, however, that
they all enjoyed the process, learning
plenty along the way.
“The first one we built, we probably
overspent,” he admits. “We were building
to our needs.
“We sold at a tough time in the
market. We didn’t lose money, but we
didn’t get what we thought we were
going to get.
“I learnt a lot of things – what people
like, what people don’t like, what’s
appealing, what’s not appealing.
“The second one, we built purely for
the market. It was $200,000 cheaper,
we sold within two weeks and we
made more profit, so there were a few
lessons there.
“The first house was modern
contemporary, so I suppose there’s
only a niche market for that,” he says.
“The second one we built was very
Hampton-style Queenslander, which I
guess reaches out to a lot more people.
So, right there from the get go, you’re
interesting more people.
“In the first house there were
fireplaces, square set ceilings, little
things that add up, but when someone
walks into the house, for what you spent
on it, you don’t get the return on it. You
need to work out, what do people want?
Do they want this, do they want that?
Whether you have 40mm stone bench
tops or 20mm.”
Due diligence is an important lesson
for Corey, too.
“The research side of things is
important,” he says. Having chosen
Camp Hill for his new-build properties,
he says: “I really like that area… I’d
seen growth from when I was first back
there in 2004, in terms of development
and house prices, etc., so I have kept
an eye on that. I’m from the south side
[of Brisbane], so I’m more inclined to
that area.”
“Ilearntalot
ofthings–what
peoplelike,what
peopledon’tlike,
what’sappealing,
what’snot
appealing.”COREYPARKER
COURTESYOFBRONCOSMEDIA
Corey takes a penalty for the Broncos
Corey goes in hard, on the pitch and with his properties
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COVER STORY n PlayingthePropertyGame PlayingthePropertyGame n COVER STORY

3. OCTOBER2015 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n 4544 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n OCTOBER2015
IT’S NOT JUST DINO DJULBIC’S
penchant for winning headers and
general on-field prowess that endears
him – this guy has an infectious laugh to
rival Jonathan Thurston’s, and a passion
for property that you can’t help but be
drawn to.
The Bosnia-Herzegovina-born
32-year-old came to Australia with
his family in 1998, having previously
escaped the war in his home country and
fleeing to Germany at the age of nine.
After playing with the South
Melbourne team, he signed for Perth
Glory in 2007 at the tender age of 24. By
then, however, he was already a seasoned
investor, having purchased his first
property at 18.
“It’s actually a funny story,” he says.
“All my friends were older than me, and
they were getting into the property thing
and… you just kind of follow.
“I was the only one that didn’t have a
property, so I thought, ‘well, might as
well just do it’.”
Like his friends, Dino bought as an
investment, just around the corner from
where he was living with his parents.
“My dad thought I was crazy,” he says.
“It wasn’t easy, because I had to sell my
pride and joy – my car.”
The property was a four-bedroom,
two-bath house in Perth, which begs the
question, didn’t Mr and Mrs Djulbic try
to persuade him to move in?
He laughs uproariously. “They were
living in a three-bed, one-bathroom, and
they said ‘why don’t we live in that one
and rent out this one?!’”
Dino still owns his first place, along
with several others, as his policy is very
much a buy-and-hold one. Two of his
properties are undergoing subdivisions,
one for a triplex block, and the portfolio
is expected to be worth just shy of
$5 million when those are finished.
“At the beginning, as I wasn’t as
financially secure, I was looking for
bigger rent,” he explains, “but I was just
trying to get into the market. Later on,
when I was older and financially more
secure, I was looking to buy properties
closer to the city, in the proximity of nice
schools and shopping centres.”
The strategy evolved through no small
amount of education.
“I do love to research,” he says. “I read
your magazine, all these things – you
speak to other people and you hear
other stories… you try and put two and
two together.”
Dino made one purchase over
the phone from Melbourne without
even inspecting the Perth property in
question – with no regrets: “Not at all.
It’s a house that has potential to build at
the back as well. I’ve got good tenants – I
always have tenants in there so I’ve never
really had any issues.”
Managing his properties himself,
Dino gets to keep a close eye on his local
investments, something he prefers.
“I really enjoy it and that’s the only
reason why I’m doing it myself,” he says.
“It’s not because of financial reasons, it’s
just because I do enjoy it and I do want to
be involved. Maybe after football I would
like to be involved with properties.”
He admits it can prove difficult to fit
in around matches and training, and
isn’t averse to employing a property
manager (PM).
Indeed, a property he bought
on Queensland’s Gold Coast – a
questionable decision, he says, but
another that he doesn’t regret (“I was
playing there for a year and I loved
the place so much, I just had to own a
property there”) – has to be managed
by a PM, though that experience has
only served to back up his preference
for staying local. “Sometimes it’s been
difficult with the Gold Coast property…
I’m not there to know if that’s how it is or
what it is. There were ongoing problems
at one stage, and I wasn’t really happy
about that, but I guess that’s part of it.”
With its ups and downs, Dino still feels
strongly that property investing is a great
way for sports stars to go.
“We do earn better money than the
average Joe, but we do tend to spend it
a lot quicker than an average person as
well,” he points out. “So, if you’ve got
something to put the money into, like a
property, it makes you spend less.
“We’ve got a lot of time on our hands.
Sometimes you do get bored, that’s what
happens. You can only train so much.
“You go and spend money on a
car, and then you buy another car or
something like that. For me it wasn’t so
important to do those things, it was more
to try to secure my future.”
And that future looks pretty well
secured for Dino and his family – wife
Bonnie and 20-month-old son Esad.
“Once I’ve finished my career, I do
want all the properties to be paid off.
I’ve built up enough now to be set after
my footballing career, that I don’t have
to work,” he says. His rental income, he
hopes, will sustain he and his family.
Unless, of course, no one else wants to
rent his properties, he jokes.
“Then I’m buggered!”
“WhenI
wasolderand
financiallymore
secure,Iwas
lookingtobuy
propertiescloser
tothecity.”DINODJULBIC
DINO DJULBIC
CODE: SOCCER
TEAM: PERTH GLORY
COURTESYOFDARRENSPEEDVISIONINSPIREDPHOTOGRAPHY(VIP)
Dino’s known for using his head
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4. OCTOBER2015 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n 4746 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n OCTOBER2015
portfolio currently stands at three properties, and he recently
reached a milestone – completely paying off the family home
in Balwyn.
“That gives me the ability to be a bit more aggressive
investing in other properties,” he says.
“I always buy new to maximise the benefits of depreciation
but also to pick the better quality apartments with the best
aspect, etc.,” he says of his strategy.
“Getting in early to off-the-plan apartment projects is
critical to the success of your investment, so that’s what I
like to do – buy early and buy something with dramatic or
unique characteristics that would hold the asset in really
good stead to get good capital growth.
“Yields are fundamental to the ability to hold the asset, but
capital growth is really what you’re after over the long-term.”
Comparing the game of footy and the world of property,
Andrew’s convinced his first career set him up nicely for
his second.
“The attributes and lessons that the blowtorch of playing
league football teaches you, really prepares you for what I do.
“You’ve got to make the most of every opportunity. You
can’t get upset when you lose a job or a sale falls over,
you’ve got to look forward, you’ve got to be positive, always,
and you’ve got to be absolutely relentless and fiercely
competitive, and they’re just things that naturally come from
playing football.”
Andrew has an extensive history in active development
and says it’s something he really enjoys. He also prefers
investing in his home state, citing Warren Buffet’s philosophy
that you only get to make certain good decisions.
“I just think I’m sort of an expert in my local area, and I
know what’s good and how to make money at it,” he says.
“I’m constantly impressed at the confidence of some of
these international peeps who walk into my exhibitions...
Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia… they walk in and literally
step into a different country and they’re way confident. It’s
just something I’m more cautious about, that’s all.”
When it comes to comparing the buzz of property
investing and playing professional footy, however, Andrew
believes there’s just no contest.
“Playing football you can’t beat,” he says. “There’s nothing
better in life than walking off the MCG fully spent after
playing four quarters of footy on a Saturday and winning…
that’s one of the all-time highs in life, so that’s virtually
impossible to replicate.”
AFTER A SOMEWHAT JITTERY START
to his career, Andrew Leoncelli found
his footy legs with Melbourne at the age
of 20, going on to play eight seasons,
comprising 146 games and nine finals.
With a background in studying law, he’s
certainly no jock, and on his retirement
in 2003, Andrew was confident in a
future career based around property
and investing.
“I’d invested in property through my
time in footy, members of my family
had done development work before,
and quite a few of my good friends had
started to go into property,” he explains.
“I was buying properties when I was
playing football, off the plan. So, I started
to build a little portfolio of property and
then I thought, well I’ll learn a bit more
about doing my own projects.
“During my time playing football I
worked as a fixed interest broker. I liked
that industry but was quite bored by
it, I have to say, so I wanted something
a bit more tangible, something that
balanced my creative side but also had
the financial component.
“Delivering something physical and
tangible was always something that
appealed to me. Doing developments
captures all the best elements of what
I love doing, so the natural extension
for me when I finished footy was to
pursue that.”
These days Andrew has found great
success after starting a new arm of
CBRE – Residential Projects.
“I started that from scratch, literally
by myself, nearly six years ago, and now
I’ve got a team of about 35 staff and we’re
a serious competitor in the industry,”
he says.
On a personal level, Andrew’s own
ANDREW LEONCELLI
CODE: AFL
TEAM: MELBOURNE FC
“Gettinginearlyto
off-the-planapartment
projectsiscriticalto
thesuccessofyour
investment.”ANDREWLEONCELLI
Andrew thanks the fans after a Melbourne FC game.
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Co-Founder
Pioneer Investment Group
Managing Director
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5. OCTOBER2015 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n 4948 n APIMAGAZINE.COM.AU n OCTOBER2015
the GFC”) – Mark’s got his eye on southeast Queensland for
the future.
“I think that’s a very good spot at present.”
With his personal experience as well as his current day
job, Mark’s happy to offer advice to young footy stars (and
anybody else) on the benefits of property investing.
“I do a bit of work with the club as an ambassador,
and with some of the younger guys out there sort of in a
mentoring role,” he says.
“My advice to them is be smart with your money straight
away – get yourself a house, get on that property ladder, and
then try and build as much as you can while you’re earning
good money.
“Really have a dig at it early, so that 10 years down the
track you can own three, four, seven properties, if you’re
smart about what you do. It really does set you up for later
on in life.”
Any tips?
“Research, research, research. You’ve got all these internet
sites, RP Data, you can order reports, you’ve got all these
self help books…” he enthuses. Plus, of course, the ultimate
resource?
“And API – you should subscribe to it, absolutely!” he says.
Wise words indeed. API
PLAYING FORWARD WITH THE
Manly Sea Eagles for four years was
undoubtedly the highlight of any of Mark
Bryant’s careers – “nothing compares to
the buzz of running out to 90,000 people”
– but he’s certainly enjoying his foray into
Sydney’s professional real estate, too.
Now aged 34, Mark is happily
married with two young children and a
burgeoning career as a sales agent.
“I studied to get my real estate licence
while I was playing for the Manly Sea
Eagles,” he explains, adding that when
he retired from the game, he made sure
to keep in touch with his connections,
including his now-boss Nik Vuko.
“I just knew that everything comes to
an end,” he says. “I was probably 25, 26
when I started that study.
“Rugby league (well, professional
sport in general) can be taken away from
you at any stage – injury, loss of form,
a number of things – so I wanted to be
smart enough to have something when
I did finish that I could step straight
into.” Mark purchased his first place in
Canberra at the age of 21. He lived in it
while playing for the Canberra Raiders,
and then rented it out while he went
overseas with his sport. He and his wife
even considered buying a property over
in England, “because the real estate was
so cheap”, but sadly Mark’s wife was
diagnosed with cancer, and the treatment
meant a lot of plans were put on hold.
The treatment was successful, and
the family now lives in a rental on the
Northern Beaches.
Mark’s a little disappointed they
didn’t manage to buy in the area when
the timing was right, though he does
admit that it’s actually better for them
to rent right now, while they build up
the portfolio elsewhere. It’s still true,
however, any investment regrets he has
concern missed opportunities.
“I would say not buying more property
[is the mistake],” he says. “Being too
scared to take that plunge, and probably
too proud to ask for help. Certainly I’m
on my way back to it… but I should have
a couple more properties in my portfolio
by now.
“You live, you learn, and all my family’s
here living and breathing today, so I’m
not really worried about missing out on a
few investments.”
With the future in mind, Mark’s got
plenty of plans to expand his portfolio.
“I’m always looking more towards
the cash flow positive properties,” he
explains, “because they’re already putting
something in your pocket. If you buy
the right properties, you can go in under
market value and already have some
equity in the property when you buy it. It
just takes a little bit more effort looking
for them.”
He’s planning to add a new purchase to
the portfolio by the end of the year, and
numbers wise, Mark’s got it figured
out: “I’m planning over the next
10 years to buy one per year, and just
keep that going.” It’s a buy and hold
strategy, though he’s not averse to letting
some go “if the market determines that
it’s time to sell”.
“If I could own 20 properties, and
they were cash flow positive at that
stage, that’s not a bad little portfolio to
retire on.”
Having already bought in Brisbane –
a move he’s not convinced was a good
one at the time (“it’s starting to move
along now, but prices went down with
Oldschoolrules
Useyoursmartphoneor
tabletandyourfavourite
QR scannerapptocatch
our chatwithformerAFL
footystarandCarltoncoach
Denis Pagan.
scan.me/j8r2wdy
MARK BRYANT
CODE: NRL
TEAM: MANLY SEA EAGLES
COURTESYOFACTIONPHOTOS
“Reallyhaveadigat
itearly,sothat10years
downthetrackyoucan
ownthree,four,seven
properties.”MARKBRYANT
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2015_AD342
2015_AD342 API Ad October Edition.indd 1 14/08/2015 11:34 am
COVER STORY n PlayingthePropertyGame PlayingthePropertyGame n COVER STORY
Oldschoolrules
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coachDenis Pagan.
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