Testimony About Mike Harvey by Paul Saver

I am a school teacher with Education Queensland working at the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre. My wife and I have four grown up children. In a previous life I was a missionary working in various Pacific island countries. Prior to that we had bought and sold four residential properties. One was our home and the other three were investment properties. To help finance my volunteer efforts, we ended up cashing in all four properties for which I have no regrets. However the net financial result was we ended up with nothing at 50 something years of age.

My wife and I decided that after years of taking care of others, it was time to build some financial wealth for our retirement. Better late than never I thought. Under these circumstances I gave Mike Harvey a call and we agreed to sit down at Maccas in Goodna to talk about residential property investment. I already had informed Mike that we did not own any property, had about 1K in our bank account, a car worth about 5K, a wife and four teenagers to support from my single wage but that we were debt free. I was positive about giving residential property investment another go but was acutely aware of the ‘sharks’ out there that were driven purely by self-interest.

At the same time I was painfully aware of some of the mistakes I had made in purchasing properties in the past. As I sat waiting for Mike to arrive, sipping my flat white coffee, I had my BS detector on high alert. I remember saying to myself; “if this guy starts giving me the hard sell or insisting on what I should or shouldn’t do I’m outta here”. To my pleasant surprise, Mike completely shattered all my stereotypical concepts around most sales people. He knew that my wife and I were in no financial position to buy a property but had all the time in the world to explain a formula for buying property that works as well as helping me to make some lifestyle changes and set some goals. Most importantly he listened to understand our circumstances.

Over the next 12 months we had email contact and a few phone conversations. In my mind, based on our savings record, my wife and I were ready to buy our first property through Mike. At first he was a little doubtful because the numbers didn’t add up according to the properties that he had available. Sensing that I was determined, he sought out a 2 property that would suit my circumstances perfectly. It was a 4 bedroom home, single lock up garage, on a 287 sq m block, off the plan, in a development estate in Waterford, Qld. When Mike talked numbers he erred on the side of being conservative. For example, he estimated that the property would come with a 345K price tag with an estimated build time of 6-8 months. The tricky part was getting a loan given our financial status. That problem was quickly solved through a broker recommended by Mike.

The other results included a 330K price tag with a 3 month build time. To say I was happy was an understatement. At this point I knew that Mike had secured his commission and anticipated that he would leave us and just move onto other potential customers. However he was equally helpful in helping us arrange all the best and price competitive suppliers such as rental agent, insurance people, accountant, financial advisor, pest management people etc. Mike assured me that he was not receiving any ‘kick backs’ from these people but just insisted to these suppliers that they pass on any bonuses to his clients, including us of course. When I did my due diligence on the suppliers and compared them with others, I was confident these were amongst the best, not just in terms of knowing their stuff and price wise but also as quality people.

Getting your loan approved, purchasing the right property (which may include a building process) and completing all the settlement requirements is only the beginning. What happens over the next 10-15 years or for as long as you decide to keep the property is just as important. Having the right people around you is crucial, which is another huge way that Mike stands out amongst his business competitors.

To wrap up our story, just recently, about 18 months after the purchase of our Waterford property, we bought our second property in Marsden, Qld through Mike. Incidentally both properties were valued by the banks at exactly the sale price. This is another testament to the real estate expertise and most importantly the integrity of the person, Mike Harvey. My wife and I are now looking toward acquiring at least 5-8 more properties over the next ten years.

Yours Sincerely Paul Saver

March 25th 2016

Note – On Your Side Investments has not changed a word of this testimonial.