Ruby McLellan is not like most eight-year-olds. Instead of spending her pocket money on toys and candy, she chose to enter the property market and earn the title of ‘Australia’s Youngest Home Owner’.
Ruby and her siblings Angus, 14, and Lucy, 13, bought their first four-bedroom home in Clyde, Victoria, two years ago for $671,000. It is now worth $960,000.
The siblings scraped together $6,000 of their hard-earned pocket money for a deposit by helping their parents with chores and packaging their father’s investment guidance.
Their parents covered the rest and the kids are on their way to buying their next investment property using the equity in the mortgage on the current house. All their names are on the title.
Ruby told FEMAIL that being a landlord is ‘pretty cool’ and admitted she hasn’t told any of her school friends yet.
Ruby McLellan (pictured) and her siblings Angus, 14, and Lucy, 13, bought their first four-bedroom property in 2021 for $671,000. Since then it has grown in value by $289,000
Ruby, eight, told FEMAIL that being a landlord is “pretty cool” and she hasn’t told any of her school friends yet
The property, which stretches over 200 sq m, is positively leveraged – meaning the rent is higher than the mortgage payments. This means that it does not cost the family ‘anything’ to keep it.
Their father Cam, 50, chief executive of property investment company OpenCorp, taught his children the basics of investing and why debt can be a ‘good thing’.
The rationale behind the idea is to get their children into property is to give them a head start.
‘Ten years from now, when our kids might start looking to buy their own home, the deposits will be $200,000. There’s no way kids today are going to be able to afford a home without the help of mom and dad,” Cam said.
“We have four children and may have to pay $800,000, so the obvious thing to do is use a small deposit now, buy a property, let it double in value and then sell it.”
The family will keep the property until Lucy and Angus are in their early 20s, which will mean they have waited out a ‘full growth property cycle’ and hope it reaches $1 million.
When they are sold, the children get an equal share of the profit after tax.
“Historically, property doubles in value every seven to 10 years,” Cam said.
‘I’ve been investing for 30 years and now is a good time to invest based on falling inflation and predicting interest rate cuts.’
Cam, 50, (pictured with wife Felicity and their four children) taught his children the basics of investing and why debt can be a ‘good thing’. “I walked them through the process in simple terms, using lots of illustrations to help them understand how it all works,” he said
Before buying the property, Cam said he guided the children through the process using ‘lots of illustrations’ to help them understand, but as Ruby was only six at the time, he admitted she didn’t understand how all works.
He had to keep telling her that she can’t go and live on the property or bring her friends there.
“We have a vacation home, so I had to try to explain the difference between a vacation rental and a full-time rental,” Cam said.
“Now that they’ve seen some growth in property values, we figured it would be worthwhile to buy another one to pique their interest even more.”
The family will keep the property until Lucy and Angus are in their early 20s, which will mean they have waited out a ‘full growth property cycle’ and hope it reaches $1 million. When they are sold, the children will receive an equal share of the profit after tax
Cam and his wife Felicity bought their first property together in their early 20s with the goal of becoming ‘financially free’.
As a result, the couple has not had to work as much over the past 15 years. For Cam, a typical week involves working ‘four hours every couple of days’.
Every year he takes three months off, including all school holidays, to maximize time with his four children.
He also explained why he chooses newly built properties over existing ones when he wants to invest.
“For the first few years, Felicity and I bought existing builds, but with new builds, you can get the perfect property in any area, plus hone the right design, and the depreciation is the biggest initially,” explained Cam.
“And tenants prefer new construction to existing — there are so many advantages.”
When it comes to choosing a home, Cam uses a three-step guide – finding the right market, area and property.
“Successful investing is a formula—that’s all it comes down to,” Cam said.
‘When I first started it felt like driving blindfolded – there was no internet, no information and no one to talk to.’
After buying his first property, he put everything he learned into the book ‘My Four Year Old, the Property Investor’, which became a bestseller.
Cam’s advice to other young Australians is to get into the market as soon as possible, even if you are renting. He also recommends finding a mentor who has had success in real estate.