Playing with Perspective Interview

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Podcast Transcript

Darren Saul:
Welcome, everyone. Darren Saul, your host of Playing with Perspective, with Rasti. How are you, Rasti?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
I'm very well. Thank you, Darren. Thank you so much for having me here.

Darren Saul:
My pleasure Rasti. Thanks for coming on the show. And for everybody out there today, we're going to be chatting about how to get your hard-earned money working even harder for you.
So Rasti is an Architect turn Fund Manager. Now serving as a client-centric independent buyer's agent, he built his own successful portfolio in just under seven years, which gave him financial freedom, allowing him to pursue his passion for helping others achieve the same thing. He is now assisting people in generating passive income by investing in properties systematically and robustly. So welcome to the show, Rasti.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Thank you so much.

Darren Saul:
Thank you, man. So Rasti, I'd love to hear your story in a bit more detail. Tell us how you went from architect to funds manager to buyer's agent.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
I always wanted to be an architect because of my passion for properties. It's one of the most tangible: a combination of science and art. There was a change in the family circumstances. My father passed away, and being the only son, I had to take control of the finances that made me move to its industry, where I learned programming independently.

It was easy for me to jump on the IT bandwagon then. And IT was the industry that took me to places from India to Singapore and then to Australia. So I came here in 2006 to Australia loving every bit of it, but my passion for making money, investing money, and I'm getting it to work harder for us.

I realized that investing is one of the ways that we can actually make it worthwhile. All the savings we had and a passion for education and learning it the right way to go for industries change. So I quit my full-time job in it, went to do my MBA, went to even US for my studies, did my CFA, started doing the Industry Analysis and started working as an equities analyst and later on as a portfolio manager. I worked with banks, and in my last role, I was managing a decent amount of money. Still, on the sidelines, I actually merged my passions of property and investing as property investments for myself that served me very well. It was a tough journey for my family and me, figuring out how I should be going and doing it.

There are so many challenges out there, so many unknowns, so I tried to educate myself first. Then I realize that this was worthwhile because I built my portfolio, like buying properties one after the other.

Like when I went to UPW, has an unleash your power within a Tony Robbins flagship program. In September 2019, I realized that I really want to serve people like I've achieved my financial freedom. I am really passionate about helping others to achieve theirs. That actually brought me to start this company, Get RARE Properties, which is basically an independent buyer's agency helping people with portfolio one property at a time.

Darren Saul:
Fantastic. Obviously, your passion is passive income property and helping other people achieve financial freedom.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
That's exactly right. You summarised very well.

Darren Saul:
And tell me a bit about, you know, working as a buyer's agent, obviously, you know, the buyer's agents are becoming so common. Like it's become a brand new industry in the last few years, and there are more and more buyers agents all the time. And I seem to be speaking to them. I've interviewed a few of them. Why is buyers agencies such a massive industry at the moment?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Look on the contrary of what I'm finding Darren, like we are pretty low on bias agency as an industry in Australia. Suppose you go overseas like the UK or Europe, or America. Every transaction has equal representation of professionals on both sides of the trade, as in a selling agent and a buyer's agent. However, in Australia, it's biased or the selling agent or the toward the seller because 95% of deals. According to one of the statistics, are done with a selling agent representing the seller.

Darren Saul:
Gotcha.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
The main job is to sell the property and also get the maximum price possible from the buyer. On the other hand, I like we have very little representation of the buyer, so it's less than 5% of the trades that actually happens with buyer's agents. So, it's a huge catch-up to be made. Like other statistics, there are about 90,000 selling agents, Australia wide, but we are about 2000 buyer's agents.

Darren Saul:
I heard that in America. I don't know if this is true in America. You can't buy a property without a buyer's agent. Is that right? You have to be represented by a buyer's agent?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
That is my understanding, as well. And so the way, what I know as a fact is that. The whole industry's challenge, the buyer's agent that faces here in Australia, is that who will pay that money, you know, for someone a family member or young professional, they have to pay the deposit. They have to pay the stamp duty. They have to pay all the conveyancing and the administrative fees. And then on top of it, if they have to be a buyer's agent fees, it just sounds too much. It's too much for our typical Australian here. In America, the way they have done it is like they are actually capturing. The equal portion for the buyer's agent in the transaction itself.

So yes, it is still coming out of a buyer's pocket at the end of the day. But because that is a trend that is a tradition, it is already factored in thinking, whether we should add that cost or not. So it's just the mindset thing, nothing more.

Darren Saul:
Gotcha. And theoretically, buyer's agents will say that they will save you money on certain things or get you better deals. So you have that little bit of margin to pay them as well.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Oh, look, big time, actually. Like if I look at my last few deals that are what we have done, we make more savings than the fees that which are so it's very easy for, for anyone to justify or at least for us to justify that why one should use us because we are not only saving on their time, their stress, but also the money.

So yeah, it just a question of where they would go and find that money in the pocket for the buyer agent's fees, because that has to come from their own money rather than the money, which can be borrowed from the bank. As a wise investor, it certainly makes sense to go and have a professional do the job of home, hunting or investment hunting because it's such a specialised role.

People don't realize though they can do it independently, there's a lot of value that we, as buyers, agents, bring value to them. And sometimes, it's not about just making a saving. It's also making sure that the deal is right for them because there's so many costly mistakes, so many costly mistakes that it's so difficult and costly to undo them.So just making sure that we are doing the right thing getting the right deal. The other thing is that Darren, what I've seen is like when people are looking for their own property, they spend about three-four or five months to find the property. So they spend a lot of time, energy to find the right property. And by the time they realize that this is what they can afford as a budget-wise, which area they will be looking at. And if they can zoom in on a particular property, they probably, by that time, are already exhausted.

Darren Saul:
Exhausted just listening to it. Absolutely.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
And what happens then, their emotional outburst happened. And they're like typically either of the couple as members were there some days, this is it, like pay whatever and get out of this exercise of buying it and let's start enjoying that.

Darren Saul:
Exactly. And you can get emotionally connected to it, and then you get frustrated because you've been looking for so long and you want it. And that's when the real estate agents can, you know, exploit that as well. And it's a whole cycle.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Look, they're paid for that. You're not sending agents representing the seller, and they're doing the right job by extracting the best value out of it.

Darren Saul:
That's right.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
And that's the point of differentiation we bring in that we take the emotion out of it and look at the deal very rationally.

Darren Saul:
Yeah. And also, you guys know maybe, you know, a lot of people wouldn't know that, you know, that window facing that direction might not be the best way. You know, all the doors facing the other direction or there's noise coming from one side, I might not have considered those things, but you guys have done this so many times that you can advise everybody, you know, maybe you want to double-check if that's going to be okay for you.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Exactly. Right. And on that, statistics came that 56% of the transactions happen when they have spent less than 60 minutes in the property.

Darren Saul:
Wow! Oh, my God.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
You know what a typical Saturday for them is looking like on Thursday or Friday. They work out the schedule for their visits on Saturday. Even when we were looking initially, we used to get confused at what feature was in which property because we are moving around from one inspection to the other, not finding the parking spot. And it's like running in and coming out very quickly and then make a decision.

Darren Saul:
Right. It's a very time-consuming process.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Time and also emotionally challenging, it's not easy. It's not easy for someone who is doing it for the first the second time. That's right.

Darren Saul:
Wow. And so what, what do you mean when you say you're an independent buyers agent? What do you mean independent?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
We take pride in saying that we're independent and independent in the true sense. It means that when we are working with a client as a buyer, we are just representing their best interest.

Darren Saul:
Right.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
But what it means is that we understand what they want, what their preferences are. Then come up with the research and analysis and find the properties or shortlisting the properties, which suit them best.

Darren Saul:
Gotcha.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So, because they are quite a few buyers' agents who represent or work with the developers so, what it means is they have a kind of access to the new products, home and land packages or off the plan properties. Though they help the buyer buy the properties, their stock is limited to the store they get from the developer. And sometimes they get remunerated by the developer as well.

Darren Saul:
Right.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So in that sense, I particularly feel that we're not doing the rights service by mixing two things. If you are working for a developer, call yourself a seller's agent and work to sell the property.

Darren Saul:
That's true.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
But for us, we are independent. We are just looking after the interests of the buyer because we get paid by them. We get reimbursed by them, and we deserve the kind of value that we bring is worth more than what we get paid for.

Darren Saul:
You're 100% on the buyer's side.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Yes, exactly.

Darren Saul:
No ulterior motives. No other general, you know behind the scenes, et cetera, et cetera.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
That's right, exactly right.

Darren Saul:
Okay. Very good. And so tell us a bit more about your approach to, you know, working as a buyer's agent. How is there a strategy to it? Tell us more about how that works and how you work.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
We specialise in investment properties, and we buy properties all over Australia for anyone in Australia. So my other clients are Australia wide. There's a lot of big aspects that we need to consider what the client is looking for. And when we are talking about investment properties, typically, it means that they're building wealth. They want to build wealth, right?

And Darren, my take is that anyone can buy a property. Even the buyer can themselves buy a property, but a property or two properties at a stretch will not make much of a difference in changing their lifestyle. It can improve the lifestyle because it can help them cut down on their tax liability or maybe on some income. But that might be a bonus at the end of the year. They are getting paid from their employer or the business.

Darren Saul:
Gotcha.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
However, our approach is to come up with a strategy of how they can systematically build a portfolio of properties. Typically, around five or six properties can generate enough passive income to choose to change their lifestyle. Not just improve that lifestyle, but change the lifestyle.

This is a big, big undertaking in the sense that it's working out where the individual or the family is, trying to understand where they want to be. Then try to develop the kind of roadmap that they should carry for the next few years to get there. And that takes into account their current circumstances in a sense that; what is the borrowing capacity? What is their saving rate, what is the current savings in terms of cash or equity?

The biggest thing that lots of people undermine in the beginning is that risk appetite.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Because just like any investment, properties also has an element of risk.

Darren Saul:
Yep.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
How did we go about embracing them, understanding them, mitigating them in our favour is part of the holistic approach of the strategy that we work together with them.

Darren Saul:
Yeah, fantastic. So you're a buyer's agent/financial planner in a way.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:

I would love to call myself that Darren, but I'm not a financial planner because I don't have the licensing for that. I do prompt, though. So, I'm not a financial planner. Whenever we talk about properties, I suggest that they should go and consult the financial planner.

Darren Saul:
Gotcha.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
I want to research advisory in my banking days. So I was advising the financial planners on how they should be structuring the asset allocation.

Darren Saul:
Right.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So I'm bringing those elements that how an individual should be thinking about building wealth. So my engagement with the client is not only to buy a property but also how we buy it. Along with the consideration of how they should be building wealth in the long run, it comes in handy because that way it gives an obvious indication that okay, for this kind of circumstances, this risk appetite, this kind of holdings, for this kind of aspirations this is the next best step.

Darren Saul:
Gotcha. And then, you know, all right, because I know what my strategy is long-term, I might be less likely to get emotionally charged and influenced to buy a property if it goes beyond what I initially thought. I thought that's not a good idea. Now it's just ticked over, and the risk will be too high. So let's move on to the next property.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Exactly right. And also, what it does is strategy serves as a GPS.

Darren Saul:
Yep.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So, the thing is that we are talking about the future, and we don't know what the future holds. We can potentially do a roadmap when we get this much equity or this much savings. So it's very fluid as well. It's not time-bound but rather circumstances bound. The way I say it's a metaphor of trying to build a building or having a structure.

Darren Saul:
Yep.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So unless, and until we know how tall you want to have a building and how soon you want to build a building, we need to focus on the strategy in terms of the sort of blueprint it should have. Well, how deep the foundation should be as compared to having an afterthought. Okay. Let's put one floor today. And then sleepover in a few years when we come back, realize that, okay, if we have enough money now to put on the floor, maybe people can do that. But after one or two, people get stuck because the building blocks that we had in the Lego block structure might not allow us to put them on top of it.

And the statistics support it like 72% of property investors in Australia has only one investment property.

Darren Saul:
Wow.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Other 18% have two properties. So effectively it's 90% of property investors in Australia have only one or two properties. However, on the other end, according to the Australian Bureau of statistics, we need five or six properties to have a significant change or, or for all, the betterment. And it's only less than 1% of property investors who have six or more properties. So where are we? Often having many studies of those 90% versus 1%, I want to get people from this bucket and put it on the other. It's all about the portfolio, and the difference is, having the right strategy, having that true roadmap, which is personalized for them.

Darren Saul:
Perfect.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
It's like a financial plan. We talked about financial planning now that is very subjective. That's very personalized. It's going to the doctor, and you do not have a personalized medication. So, I want to say financial planning because I can't do this. I can't talk about it. But it's more about having the modelling. Because of my skill sets, not only as an architect, to read the market or read the property attributes, but also as a research scholar, it was all about economics and properties when managing money. It's not about brick and mortar. It's about supply and demand and the sentiments.

Darren Saul:
Yep. It's a market. It's a good deal. Or is it not a good deal? It's not about the actual structure itself.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Exactly right. So we study all of that to conclude that it is a good property. With my understanding of the valuation, we can do the comparable valuation and have a very systematic approach of this is the best price as a walk-away price. That if it is under this price, we will take it if it's over with move on to the next one, because there are 15,000 suburbs in Australia.

Darren Saul:
That's right.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
And you know, there are so many properties on sale. It's just a matter of finding the right property for the right circumstances for the individual and the right part of the journey. So what works for you might not work for the other one and vice versa.

Darren Saul:
That's right. Yeah. I love it. That sounds like a very holistic approach. It makes a lot of sense. So the market nowadays, I mean, maybe give us some insight into the market because it seems to have bounced back a lot. How do you navigate, you know, the situation at the moment? Is it busy? Is it not so busy? Are certain States more buoyant than others?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
This market, first off, there's no one market in Australia.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
People talk, in very loose terms that how the market is doing. And to me, there are multiple markets within Australia. So even if you speak about new South Wales versus Victoria, it's not like that. In New South Wales alone, you have to look at regional, what's the cities. We are talking about different budgets. We are talking about different types. So every area or every pocket has its cycles of property growth.

We take advantage of what we haven't talked about when I talk about the holistic approach. Because when we talk about portfolio, we are talking about multiple properties. And then how did we go about finding the properties in different market cycles? So that the result is still very smooth rather than going up and down. And that hurts with the risk mitigation. Now, coming back to your question on how do we, what do we find in the market? It's just like every time it's all over the place.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
In general, it is undoubtedly on the brighter side, on the higher side for lots of macroeconomic reasons than otherwise.

You know, so for example, low-interest rates, it has been super-low interest rates, not only on the short term yield curve, but also on the long-term yield curve. It means that there's a lot of competition among banks to get or supply you with the mortgage. So what it means to the industry, it goes lower for the household.

Darren Saul:
Right.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
The second thing is that many people have started realizing that with COVID, like earlier, people were so confused. What's going on with the market. Media articles saying that the market will collapse, and the unemployment rate will go so high, and the market will crash kind of thing.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
But what it has done is like, it has put people on the sidelines for a long while, as in 2020 was probably one of the most opportune time, but it's only for the brave or people with deep pockets. Well, most of the people never got in the market to buy. But on the other hand, like people who are probably too much stretched on their leverage and when they're that kind of media articles, they were probably scared to an extent though, to start selling putting them up properly in the market.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
However, what it also did was stopped or kind of slowed down the building approvals. So, it takes about a couple of years to get that right because it's all about supply and demand. Supply-side ramped up.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So that is lacking. And now, since 2020 is over, we realize as a sentiment, why is that? Now the COVID vaccine is here, and the government did a fantastic job in controlling the market's downfall by giving lots of stimulus for first home buyers, even cutting down on the stamp duty, and talking about it. We should go back and do things with the job seeker and job keeper, kind of a stimulus, then agreeing on bringing forward the federal tax cut rates that got a lot of money in the individual family's savings.

Of course, people who got affected by the jobs who work specifically around tourism or hospitality. They got affected. But typically for others, there was a report recently that 93% of people who lost their job last year have already got back in the position.

Darren Saul:
Wow. That's a big number.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Because, Australia has done a fantastic job keeping a very resilient economy. Now what it is doing. Last year, people were not going out. We never travelled out as an example. So we saved that money. We never went out for movies. We were watching on Netflix.

Darren Saul:
That's right.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
You know, we never went to the office. So there was no travelling expense. There was no eating out expense. And all of a sudden, we realize that we have saved more than what we were.
I'm coming to that people have saved enough more than what they were typically doing, and now they realize that getting probably market is in a pretty good position in general. Again, I come back to the disclaimer that there are different pockets that you should not touch and the properties that you don't even think twice, to buy even at a premium because the projections are powerful.

Darren Saul:
Yeah. Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So, it's about demand and supply. In summary, the supply has come down and because now lots of people have cash in their pocket. The government is allowing them banks are opening up their doors. Again, there's a lot of demand coming up. Because of this misbalance of supply and demand, the market, in general, is going up and up. With the help of quite a few economists already talking about 10, 15, 20% growth in the next couple of years, people can see that I can pay the mortgage and have my own home instead of paying the rent to someone.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Indeed, it's like one of the great times because many factors are aligned to growth. However, again, coming back to the disclaimer, not every property is, is the same.

The challenge is when a market becomes hot, people end up paying a lot more, what they should be paying for the property. That's not a good start. Because in the property market, we make money when we buy the property because we can choose to be under the market and then get the property and then ride the wave.

Darren Saul:
That's right. Yep. I love it. I love it. Rasti. That's very comprehensive. I mean, incredible understanding of the market economics, the government, you know, I'll have to listen to that a few times for me to understand everything.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Thank you

Darren Saul:
That's insightful, though. I enjoyed that. And so I'd love to hear a story or maybe how you've helped a client, maybe give us an example of a case study of how you might've helped a client recently. And they've just extended because they've got a property that's going to grow for years to come, and they've. They've got such a great deal. Do you want to tell us maybe a story?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
I would love to. I'll probably won't use the actual name to refer to her as Jenny's client. Would that be okay?

Darren Saul:
Yes, of course.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Awesome. So Jenny was a bit confused since she has been reading about the markets. She was trying to get an understanding of how she can get in the market. For last, maybe 15, 16 months, read a lot of books and then realize that on the field as like going on the open homes, it's an entirely different process because then she is bombarded by the queries.

And the pushiness of the selling agents, because the once you step in the open home, you get in their database, and then you get bombarded. And she was like, yeah, I can't take it anymore. So can you please help me? I want to build wealth. And she has been through my story, and she was like, I want to build a portfolio so that I don't have to rely on my nine to five job.

Darren Saul:
Nice.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So, we sat down in August or September last year, and she came on board. So talking about the strategy, how we should be thinking about it. What are the parameters we should be looking at holistically? So we spend about a couple of months going to multiple strategy sessions because that's the cornerstone of what we do and how we do it.

And our take, Darren, is that the client or the buyer should appreciate the element of risk and the expectation of growth to own the decision.

Darren Saul:
Yes.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So we are coming as a professional, helping her. Our job is to educate the client so that they are equipped enough to take the right decision.

Darren Saul:
That's fantastic. Yep.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So, it helps us build trust, giving her the correct information and working together. So it's a lot of handholding. In October, so long story short, we could find a property for her under the market with a decent equity of about 8%.

And we bought that property. Then she was ready again in January. So we purchased another property. That was the kind of capacity that she had to buy two properties.

Darren Saul:
Amazing.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
But because we had purchased very well on both the occasions. We had significant equity built up already in those two properties that we are going back to the banker as in the mortgage broker, which is kind of a team player that we need to rely on.

So it's more holistic from that approach as well. I am having that association with the qualified. Team around it that we are going to the broker, and now he's helping us tap into the equity to get into the third property.

Darren Saul:
Oh, my God.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
That's all within the eight months or so. I'm confident that Jenny can get the third property in her aim is to build a bit like a six-story building on the third.

Darren Saul:
Good for her. That's fantastic. And how does she feel? She feels more relaxed and confident now that she's in your hands?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Exactly right. Jenny is an educated economist by herself, and she can understand. She can see where I'm coming from in my research. As, when I'm suggesting any property or any research region, we provide a very comprehensive report on the area and its property.

So I should feel, which I believe is that right in the sense that she knows the market through one property has been interstate. But reading the report, going through all the details, she feels very confident. Though she has never been to that state, but we are very comfortable buying in that area.

She's very confident, and that's why we can do it again. And that is the bottom line of my business as well. If I can help someone so that the first property or the second property by themselves can support the third one's purchase, what it means is that they are stepped closer to them, building their wealth that they want. And as a business, we feel confident that we can serve the person not just by buying the property but by building a portfolio.

Darren Saul:
It's so much more, much more of a macro view than just helping them buy one property. I love that.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Exactly right. But having said that, we don't stop at the macro. We still go deep down for the valuation.

Darren Saul:
Sure.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
And the critical thing is having the relationship with the real estate agents, the selling agents, and that differentiates us from quite a few out there. Because we build the relationship as I said before, that market's pretty hard and it just, people can't believe that we can still find bargains in this market. And the key is about relationship. Like when we have some motivated seller, all they want is a quick deal on their terms. So sometimes it's not just about the pricing, but about the speed and the terms that they would like to have, which is not always the kind of a point of contention that what price we are paying. Sometimes, I'm happy to pay a bigger deposit because they need that deposit.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
In one month payment now or later, it's not a big deal. But 5% extra bargain is a far bigger deal for the buyer.

Darren Saul:
Yeah, it's so easy to fall into the trap of assuming what the other side might want or might not, you know, consent to, but if we ask the right questions, it's incredible what we can organize and create that fits us both well.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Exactly right. And the thing is that even selling agents sometimes need us because we represent qualified buyers sometimes when it is a bit tricky for them. So for a deal or handshake to happen, we need to have a buyer and a seller on the standard terms so that deal can happen.

Darren Saul:
Yep.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
And that's where the relationship, like lots of people currently just putting them head that sometimes that we are in a competitive format, because as a buyer's agent, we would like to buy the property at a much cheaper rate. On the other hand, the selling agent wanted to sell it at a far higher rate. How can we possibly work together?

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
The critical thing is, is we need to work together because they are representing a seller. We represent the buyer, and there's no sale without the buyer, and there's no purchase without the seller. So it's a win-win situation.
Darren Saul:
Yep. I love that. It's about balance, and they know the seller knows when they come to a buyer's agent. You've already pre-qualified that buyer, and they're ready to buy. They don't just waste your time.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Exactly.

Darren Saul:
And that's huge for a seller.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
And that is a thing that we bring to the table. For example, when they have an open home, recently, I've been hearing the news that on our open house, 45 groups are coming over. And the selling agent has no clue who sees this, who is finance ready and who's not because all they can give their name on the way in the property.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
And the following Monday or Tuesday, they have to call each one of them to understand whether they are interested or that.

Darren Saul:
That's right. And they might not return phone calls. They've disappeared, et cetera, et cetera.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Right. Exactly. And you never know when somebody says half-heartedly we like the property, do they mean it? But on the other hand, when we work with Jenny's likes, when we know what her working space is and what sort of bargains we are looking for, the properties fit in the whole portfolio that defines our walk-away price. For example, if this property is $630k and for us to justify our value, if we say that we're giving you want to buy it at $585k, we are walking away at $590k. If, if you can, get it to $585k or $589k. Yep. That's good. If not, I'm looking at the next door property. Yeah. So there's no rush whatsoever for us.

Darren Saul:
Yeah, it's brilliant. I love it. It's a very well thought out executed strategy. It's not an emotional whim.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
That's exactly right.

Darren Saul:
Love it. Fantastic Rasti. Tell us more and tell the audience more about where we can find you and how we can find you if you want to access your services.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Sure. So I've got a website by the name of www.getrare.com.au. Get Rare is more of an acronym for Get Rich And Retire Early.

Darren Saul:
I love that.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So Get RARE, in other ways, is also getting rare properties meaning getting the unique properties.

Darren Saul:
Nice.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
So on this is a site, we got blogs as well that we keep writing about the strategy in general.

I do run regular workshops as well. So the next one is on the eighth of April. It's on Thursday at 7:00 PM Sydney time. More than welcome to check how the strategy works out. I'm sharing the do's and don'ts and how to think about building wealth. The name of the workshop is 'Achieving Financial Freedom By Property Investing.' And I'm talking about: why one should be thinking about financial freedom? How to do it? What consideration should we be making? So, yes, it's a lot of topics, a lot of content. So it's very fast-paced. But I try to slow down as much. It's a limited time. So that allows me to showcase what we are doing, how we are doing, and then follow up on one-on-one calls.

Darren Saul:
Right. Perfect. Perfect. And when you can find out the details for that event, is that on the website as well?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Yeah, and the audience is more than welcome to register and check the workshop out.

Darren Saul:
Rasti, thanks again. That was a great discussion. I've learned a hell of a lot. You've summed up the whole world of property in 45 minutes. I'm very impressed.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Thank you. You have been very kind and generous. Thank you so much.

Darren Saul:
My pleasure. I really, I enjoyed that. Is there anything that you would like to leave the audience before we finish up?

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
Probably just like property investing is all about two things. One is the financial leverage that we can borrow. Maybe five times, ten times of the money that we have that can do wonders.

Darren Saul:
Yeah.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
And the second thing is the knowledge leverage, like getting the right advice. Like we go to all sorts of professionals, like a plumber, electrician and to a doctor. We don't try to learn the trade by ourselves, but somehow we tend to take property investing or purchasing a property as an everyday thing. So financial leverage and knowledge leverage are the two most significant leverages that I've learned in my career, working as a fund manager, talking to high net worth individuals, like people have the systems, the money that works for them.

I probably leave with that message that tries to work out where you want to be, how you want to be and how soon you want to be. And try to work your way up there.

Darren Saul:
I love it. Beautiful Rasti. Well, thank you again for doing this—a great pleasure to have you on the show. And I have your event very successful on Thursday. So everybody, check out the website as well: Get RARE.

Vaibhav “Rasti” Rastogi:
It has been a pleasure. Thank you so much.

Darren Saul:
Fantastic. So everybody has a fantastic weekend, and we'll see you very, very soon for another episode. Bye for now.

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