 Actually I'm sharing more information about property because I actually don't want people to pay more for this information. So I just want people to believe that it's not a matter of where you come from. I'm not from a wealthy family, but I started into property investing not because of what I have, but because of my mindset. Good evening and welcome back to the First Time Homebuyer Show. I'm your host, Estie Klaassen. Every Wednesday we are chatting to amazing guest property investors, entrepreneurs, those who took the leap of faith and made that move to invest in property. This evening I'm chatting to Tapello Macau, but before I get into that you know private property brings you amazing content every weekday this week. We have Zaman Tunguakumalo with the Private Property podcast that's Monday to Friday live at 7 p.m. And of course Mbali with the Farming podcast that's every Tuesday and Thursday night at 8 p.m. And Chad Vavira still traveling Cape Town from French Hook to Clifton to Camps Bay is every Monday and Friday night at 8 p.m. On your screens that's on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. And of course I'm on your screens every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. And this evening I'm chatting to Tapello Macau, a flight engineer, property investor, entrepreneur, changing the world by creating opportunities for those who are less fortunate. That is his main goal through property and tonight we find out how he did that. Good evening Tapello, how are you? I'm well thanks Estie, how are you? I cannot complain you know with everything that is happening in our country at the moment I urge a lot of viewers at home to keep checking in with friends and family and I would like to check in with you this evening Tapello how are you? Myself I'm fine and the family is good obviously what's happening in our country currently it's saddening but yeah we're doing well and I'm also sharp. You're also sharp, I love that and I think you know within in a time like this when everything around us is so heavy we need to also try and remain strong in our own mental you know health we need to take care of that and you Tapello are a flight engineer by profession and you know just last week we spoke to another 24-year-old from Cape Town and I love to see these young individuals doing these things in the property market. Tell us how let's start with how you got into flight engineering. Okay I got interested when the other company named CAA they came to our school that's when I was doing my metric in 2014 they came to school and I never knew anything about flying engineer or being a pilot or a cabin crew but when they came to our school that's when I got interested and then I'm basically passed my metric and then that's when I followed them and then yeah that's when I started my career path with them. Nice and engineering is a very safe profession. It's just like law and being a doctor and you know we've had people on the show who come from all of those professions and it's so surprising to me that a lot of people are in these safe professions still want to do more especially when it comes to property what inspired you to go into property while you have this flight engineering background what more do you want? You know I feel like I felt like I always wanted to be my own boss you can be a doctor you can be a flight engineer but at the end of the day you are an employee not an employer so I always wanted to be my own boss and I always wanted to have something as my side hustle that will give me generational wealth in future so yes I got interested into property because I really wanted to be my own boss in future. Do you want your side hustle to become your main hustle? Yes yes of course I want that to happen and it will happen. 100% 100% we always talk about manifesting on the show and that's exactly what you're doing how do you plan on getting to that point because your side hustle is the property right you've got two properties currently and how do you plan on making that your main hustle? I'll say it's getting more information of course and me being with my mentor on side he's the one who's guiding me through this because at first I never knew that in property you can actually be wealthy or rich they say so I'm planning to do this by obviously acquiring more assets that gonna give me generational wealth and I think it's so important because especially for young adults like ourselves to start thinking about generational wealth and financial freedom which I'll get to just a little bit later but let's take it all the way back to Tapello's upbringing right what did you ever think that you know let's look back at when you are I don't know in primary school that you would be where you are today at the age of 24 I'm gonna keep saying that. Yeah you know what I never knew that I'd be here where I am today but from the family background that I'm from I'm basically not from a wealthy family so my parents were honest with me especially when I turned the age of 18 they taught me to be independent not to depend on them because I left my home at an early age so yeah I had to be independent so with choices that I make in life that will actually determine my future and you continue to make those choices even now at this age because you know you had like you said you had an upbringing where you were raised to do things for yourself and I feel like so let's say you're a flight engineer and I feel like being taught these things to make these decisions for yourself can be a little bit difficult at times right how did you as Tapello always motivate yourself in moments of like stress or moments of difficulty when you couldn't do it for yourself you know I feel like um what really determines that it's people who surround you because obviously you can't surround yourself with people who would always um depress whatever you want to do or people who don't believe in whatever that you want to do so people who are surrounding me my sisters they've always been there for me and then obviously my mentor that I got now is also there for me so yeah that's what keeps motivating me who would you say because you talk about your sisters that really support you would you say is your role model that also pushes you to keep going forward and doing these things yes yes yes my sisters are my role models uh because um they are into poultry farming so they are business minded in a way so I didn't choose their path because I always I was always interested into property so but they are always there for me uh you know what it's not easy when you start but yeah your sisters are getting the land back yeah they are trying they're trying that's what they're doing I like that they're going into farming you're going into property you know and I think that when you're doing similar hustles to family members you're always going to have that support and then I wanted to talk a little bit about like lessons learned when growing up because one of the lessons obviously is that you have to fend for yourself you know as a young man now in the world that we're currently living in you know that you need to just provide for yourself and obviously people around you as well and I think this takes I take I want to take it back to being a black man in South Africa and we always talk about black tax on the show and how heavy that is and you're still so young so you've got a lot to carry what were some of the lessons that you learned through upbringing the lessons that I learned obviously is the one that we spoke about being independent and then the other lessons is trust the process for example I'm into property actually before property I was in at school so me becoming a flight engineer I had to trust the process I had to work hard they told us the requirements for you to become an engineer or a flight engineer you need to give us these certain requirements so I had to work hard for me to reach those goals in a way so yeah the lessons that I've learned is just trust the process sometimes that gets a bit difficult right to you in this position or you in this field or profession and it's easy to say or to advise someone trust the process but once you believe it yourself I think it's even easier because I've had days where I've been in a certain situation and to tell myself to trust the process gets a little bit difficult and tiring also you know to always tell yourself no you can't do it but sometimes you just get to a point where you actually can't but I want to talk a little bit about how property became a part of your lifestyle I know you said your sisters played a very big role and a part in that right how did you make property become part of your lifestyle it's because of it first started in mind so I had to actually change my mindset how I think because I grew up from Kasi which is um Kasi name is Soshanguwe so in Soshanguwe mostly we it's known as um there's too much cancer is in there so it's not like much people who are successful in my area so I had to change my mindset not because of the background where I come from but because of where I want to go so it became part of my lifestyle because I always want to be wanted to be my own boss as I said before and then yes this is something that I had to do and then read a lot and then surround myself with people who have achieved more than me and yeah I think it's also about and we spoke about this last week breaking those generational curses you know you grow up in a community whether it's a town shop and there's gangsterism drugs alcoholism all of these things are surrounding you how can you be different and the fact that you took that step and that you are different is already a start and how property became a part of your lifestyle you spoke about a mentor earlier how important do you think it is to have a mentor as a property investor a young property investor I think it's very important to have a mentor because having a mentor you reduce the struggle or let me say you reduce the path of you becoming a millionaire in future so you can invest in property without a mentor but that will take you for a very long time and you might also learn the hard way so having a mentor is like having someone who have achieved what you want to achieve and then yeah basically it's someone who's going to hold your hand and show you of course you don't have to get the whole information before you can invest into property but you can get as little as you as much as you can and then have a mentor and then yeah and do you think because I know you're saying a mentor obviously helps you not make the same mistakes have you made any mistakes even while having a mentor you know what I have but it's not a mistake that would really affect me financially but it's mistakes of he used to give me a task before you invest into property go to that area engage with 15 estate agents so that it's tiring to call 15 people asking them about the area at first I didn't do that but eventually I saw the importance of engaging with lots and more of estate agent in that area so now you always do that you like 15 estate agents and then that's how you know that this area is the one that you can invest in yes so basically on those 15 estate agent you can just engage with all of them and continue them so you're just gonna get 15 of them and then on that 15 just choose three of them and then those who are gonna work with you obviously the best estate agents who have more experience in that area so that is what I'm actually doing engaging with estate agents if you are doing our rental property engage with letting agents like don't get two three quotations and leave it just get more than 10 and then choose three from 10 right that's a very smart way to think about it and that's probably and you know that's actually one of my other questions is one of your biggest lessons learned throughout this property process what would you say that is you can't do everything by your own so you need to especially if you are a property investor depending what's your strategy so you need to have your power team power team for example I'm gonna say into your property business you're gonna need your accountant you're gonna need someone who's gonna take of your property a caretaker someone who's gonna do the yard if you are renting it out to tenants you're gonna need like it's it's just a lot that you need to consider before you invest into property would you say you have a power team or good power team yes I do have a good power team so it's all about trust it's all about trust I'm engaging as I said before you need to call as many as you can and then on that 15 you need to choose the ones you are comfortable to work with and then you spoke about property strategy which is also one of my questions right so you've given us a little bit of your secret I like to call it your property secrets tell us a little bit more about your property strategy like how as a young property investor if I maybe cannot afford a mentor or I don't have a mentor that's willing to help me or I'm just too busy but I have time to watch and listen to Topelo tonight what is what would you say are your top three secrets when investing in property or making that decision on this big investment okay the top three secret I would say firstly you need to know what you want it starts in mind and then secondly you need to have your end go and again for someone who is not working it is possible to invest into property without any money because there are other strategies for example I'll talk about sourcing sourcing you are becoming a sourcing agent it's just you finding deals for a property investor so it's a matter of marketing you have to engage with property investors who have got money to buy so property investors they always buy below market value so you becoming a sourcing agent it's a matter of you finding a deal for them that is below market value um you've you took a bill that they they did some quotation and everything like yeah you can become a sourcing agent then you becoming a property investor in a way and being a sourcing agent to me is very foreign it's a new term I think in your bio you even said that that's one of the things that you do besides obviously being a flight engineer and I think it's so important for people at home that are watching that to to understand that there are different tunnels of finding a way to invest in property right and that is just one of them and I wanted to find out before you actually started your journey what were some of the questions you asked yourself? At first it started when I saw a company on Facebook and then they were saying they were doing seminars for property investing I went I attended and then the questions that I asked myself before I started to invest into property was the questions like since well I'm not from a wealthy family since well I don't have money um how can I start like like is it gonna work out how can you get like two or more more than two properties yeah like um how dangerous it is like yeah so it was one of those questions asking myself but yeah eventually um I had to change my mindset because it's very important to change your mindset and obviously taking risk not just risks but obviously calculated risk according to what your mentor is teaching you exactly yes and you actually brought up a you know there are people who watch the show there are people who engage with property investors who literally live paycheck to paycheck and we don't have that spare money to start investing in property and one of your biggest questions when you went to the seminar was how do you just start when you don't have enough how did you just start um basically I just found myself a mentor that was the most important thing to start with because I felt like I didn't know much about property so I thought if I can get someone who knows something about what I want to do it will make things easier so if someone is waking it's a bonus so one thing they need to know or to keep in mind is to take good care of their credit score because obviously you will be wanting to borrow money from the bank so that's what rich people normally do they don't use their own money they use other people's money yes you know um you talk about taking care of your credit score and about so like I said we live from paycheck to paycheck and what's so important especially when it comes to investing in anything is saving what was your saving strategy I mean after you've gotten your mentor who's given you all this advice you as you still work with your money you handle your money so how did you end up handling your money and ensuring that you have this good credit score credit record um firstly I had to minus some of my liabilities and then to focus on me acquiring more assets so for example I had to done great a lot of things if I used to wear a t-shirt for 1.5 I had to reduce I had to buy something that can maybe cost 150 or 100 grand it's possible hey so if you've got goals eventually you will have to downgrade and then focus on your future yes so I had to downgrade from a lot of things it's a lifestyle shift you know and I think that's so important that a lot of us and it's so difficult in today in this day and age you know with social media and all of these things I don't want to downgrade from an Audi to a Toyota you know it's a difficult questions to ask but I think it's it's a human choice you have to make a choice you have to know what you want if you can actually buy more properties or we with your Audi with that installment then you can because me I think my goal now is to when I'm gonna buy that my favorite car it's a legend 50 so when I'm gonna buy that car obviously going to buy that with my equities from my properties I'm not gonna gonna use my own money to buy that earlier you spoke about what's so important with a lot of young people who are starting out in their property investment journey you said having a goal is important what is your goal my property goal is to acquire more assets so that I can live with their leverage that's what most wealth people do they acquire to get more debt but they don't just buy liabilities they buy assets from that so my goal as my main strategy is obviously a multi-let and a second strategy is the sourcing so on multi-lets I want to buy more properties and then turn them into multi-lets how why would why why was multi-let your choice why is that the main truth because there are other ways you could have done that why multi-let multi-let it worked according to how I wanted to achieve my goal because I thought of renting out a property as a one family it's not actually going to give you more cash flow in a way so me doing a multi-let isn't like renting per room so yeah that's what I chose that and you also chose in a specific area that is close to you right and an area you say that spy or a tambo airport yes and I think what's so important we talk about this often on the show is location and how did that location inspire you I've been in that area since 2017 when I started in aviation so I know that area quite well and I also know most people they want to rent out bachelors so this is what I thought okay since well I know this area and I know many people surrounding this area they normally rent out bachelors and then that's what I wanted to do that hence I went to into a multi-let you've also just proved today on the show that research is very important you know even if it like you said one of your strategies were to call so many estate agents but I think knowing the area is also extremely important and you've been there since 2017 so that's a good few years and now you know the area you know what the target market is you know what the people want give the people what they want give the people what they want in your bio you talk about how you want to I'm just gonna quote you you said your main objective is to help create opportunities for the less fortunate how are you currently doing that actually I'm sharing more information about property because I actually don't want people to pay more for this information so I just want people to believe that it's not a matter of where you come from I'm not from a wealthy family but I started into property investing not because of what I have but because of my mindset so what I'm helping I'm helping people to understand that it's not a matter of you being rich for you to invest into property you can start from what you have and from where you are and that's very important because there are a lot of people especially in communities where we grew up where a lot of people think that it's not possible and I love that you're doing that you're making a change inspiring people and showing them your loving proof that this is possible you spoke a lot about how you want to create opportunities for those who are less fortunate but what about those who are not fortunate at all who don't know where to start who have nothing to start from what advice would you give especially the young let's let's to the youth you know I like I like bringing it up taking it back to the youth what advice would you give them how do they in that position with absolutely nothing just start so basically at the moment I'm trying to open up my Facebook page where I would engage with people because in our Facebook page we've got groups of young people from my area different areas so I want to try to open up like something maybe with the heading of you can invest as young as you are it's not a matter of age so opening up that group on social media many young people are on social media so we're going to try with social media to engage with those young people who want to start into property for example as I explained about sourcing I'm going to try to explain sourcing what is sourcing how can you do it how can you find those deals how do you normally run numbers so we're going to try to engage with those young people who are interested into property investing free education free education and that's what we've been fighting for this now we have it free property education which is important and I like and I know a lot of young people on social media so you're making this thing accessible to those who do not have let's take it back to earlier where I said I would touch on financial freedom and what that means for you to me financial freedom it means obviously not living with your paycheck to paycheck all the time so what I want to do is that my business I want it to work without me so that whatever lifestyle I want to live I can get it from my assets and generational wealth and generation wealth obviously it's something to me it means obviously if I'm going to have more kids so even if I'm not around I know my kids they're going to continue with what I started before and that's exactly why you do it so that we can leave that legacy you know and continue what would you say throughout the few years that you've been in property how many years has it been now it's been two years wow yes it's amazing two years very short time you've got two properties multilet is your goal your strategy we've heard about you have you have a goal like I said what would you say was the most successful moment for you in these two years I'll say it's when I started renting out as a multilet getting those tenants in and then seeing the cash flow coming in and seeing that this is actually possible so if you started now and then you get it right from the first day then obviously you can get it the second time exactly once you've achieved that you can do it again so we've spoken about success and achievements what would you say do you have any regrets did you make any very big mistakes that you regret that you wish you could redo or that you didn't ever do it actually was when I started working I bought a car with an installment so that's the most regret I regret was it an Audi no no no it was a there's a small car a TSI so yes that's the most regret but yeah I wish I started over like I wish I knew this information before but I am glad with myself that I actually left this red race and then my mindset has changed at an early age so by the time I reached 25 I should be wealthy yes we will be wealthy so would you say would you suggest you know to young adults watching the show that buying a car is not the way to go like that shouldn't be your first thing that you put all your money into yes to me I don't think it's a good idea to first buy a car I think it's most importantly it's firstly determine what you want so if you are interested into property so invest into property buy hold use your capital gain or your equity to buy those liabilities which is your car I don't think it's a good idea to just buy a car before you buy a house so your property first and then a vehicle then a vehicle second nice so I think I like that you said that and you're not the first guest to say that a car becomes this thing of you know it weighs you down it's heavy because you know a 3000 rand installment can go into property it can be a different kind of investment which is what I think we need to do earlier you spoke about your goals in property and knowing what you want right and changing that mindset you spoke a lot about that in depth how would you say because a lot of us on the show when we have these conversations we talk about the main reason for investing in property is it a home is it an investment whatever the case may be right so in your case when you went into property you knew this is to give me a stream of income so you knew what your goal was and your reasons what is your journey looking like to purchase your first home purchasing the first home obviously a house can also be a liability so it's a matter of you buying a house and then rent it out or it's either your strategy is a matter of flipping you buy it below market then you refurbish then you resell at market price so it's a matter of you choosing the strategy that you want to acquire right and obviously doing the research and getting the mentor to help you what would you say final question is just to wrap things up is Tepelo's secret to success my secret to success honestly speaking is willing engage with people who are most successful and then trust the process like don't just be positive with your with your own goals be positive obviously there are challenges there and there but always remember your end goal why you want to start into property why are you doing this the moment you realize why you're doing this then that's where you move on and your vision and everything starts aligning and okay sorry that wasn't the last question I'd like you to leave us with a with a message right especially because your main goal is to help inspire and create opportunities for the less fortunate what would you say is the first big step that we need to take to make our property goals come true um first um ally invest in yourself first before you can invest into property change your mindset um read books don't read a lot of books but get a book that has worked before that that has changed other people's life the book that changed my life is the book by witness mdaga which is uh it's more than just money so when I started investing into property I went through that book then it changed my life so it's a matter of mindset invest in yourself first and then before you invest into property and I think that's very important and whatever we do as a people is to invest in yourself before you take those big steps you know whatever it may be investing in property whatever your goal is uh you said one of the biggest steps that we need to take before we even make these big investments is investing in ourselves how would you suggest that we actually start investing in ourselves what is your method to investing in thyself um I'll just make some um general um examples like for example um let's say you are working uh investing in yourself I mean obviously align your finance with what you want to do um read um get more information about what you want to do so if you want to invest into multilets get do your due diligence um find out what is multilet why am I doing this before you can start going to the bank saying um I'm looking for a bond for this much so it's a matter of doing a homework read a lot um engage with people who are like-minded people who are more successful than you yes because that getting that information helps you and also I feel like it's so easy to say you know like take advice read books but I think once you've gotten all this knowledge you also need to adjust it to your own life because we don't love a life like them we don't live a life like the rich people or the people we're taking this advice from so adjust it to your own life and to your own circumstances and things that are happening around you I think that's also very important uh a quick game the pillow just for you know just for vibes I want to I want to ask you if you if you had to I've asked this question before on our show if you had to write a book right you've invested you started your property investment journey very quickly two years and you've succeeded you know they want many mistakes that you've made and just last week we spoke to a young woman who said she doesn't believe that she's made mistakes she believes that they're all lessons learned yeah and nice and I think that's the way I need to you know we need to start looking at mistakes and stop beating ourselves up about it it's not a mistake learn from it just don't do it again try not to if you had to write a book about your life about your property property portfolio what would you say the title would be um I'd say it's not all about age so if you are 24 23 you can still start into property or even 18 years old I know one guy who's 18 years old who started investing into property so it's not a matter of age so I'll say it's not all about age have you been getting a lot like a lot of people saying oh you're so young how come you yeah I have I have a lot because um I remember I once engaged with one client um he was a seller so when I went to meet up with him I wanted to run numbers on his property he was like no I think you're gonna waste my time you're too young like how are you gonna do this then that's when we sat down I explained to him I showed him that I'm here I know what I'm doing yes that's but I do get a lot of people saying you're too young to do this this is normally for guys who are 35 44 45 you know that's crazy and I think that's a narrative we need to change yeah a lot of you know young adults we are investing in property uh Loving Proof is the show we've spoken to numerous people under the age of 30 who have started their journey whether it's buying their first home multi let's whatever the case maybe but they've just started and they are doing it um so yes that would be the title of your book right how would it end it will end by um maybe me having a property in Dubai oh we're going to Dubai yeah we might have a very big three stories of property in Dubai in Dubai nice why Dubai just I think maybe it's the most um nicest place yeah yeah maybe many guys want to go there yeah so that's the dream so that you can just go visit your property in Dubai I like that I honestly wish you all the best with your property journey and building your property portfolio um thank you for bringing the thing up about thank you for bringing that up about age it's very important and I think even within yes we're breaking generational curses at home or where we come from but even within this property thing we need to start breaking those narratives of changing those narratives because we are doing it we are as young adults in South Africa investing in properties thank you so much for being on the show tonight thank you for taking time out of your day and sharing your story with us your story is heard it's educated a lot of viewers it's educated me you know because I'm older than you and um that I like that you said it's not just about age it's not always about age you know and I think that people need to start taking us seriously even if we're below 30 we too can do this so thank you so much thank you for having me and Steve thank you to our viewers at home thank you so much for joining in as you know we are live every Wednesday night at 8 p.m be sure to catch us next week same time same place take care and keep warm