How many teenage homeowners do you know off the top of your head? Not many, right? Stories like that pop up now and then, but homeowners that young are unicorns.
So, what does that say about eight-year-old Aussie homeowner Ruby McLellan?
Ruby is now one of the world’s youngest homeowners—with a strong start in building home equity. A couple of years ago, she and her siblings Angus, 14, and Lucy, 13, bought a four-bedroom home in Clyde, Victoria for $671,000.
That home is now valued at $960,000.
How did they do it?
Ruby and her siblings clubbed together $6,000 of their hard-earned money for a deposit by helping out their parents with chores and, according to the IG caption, “packing their father’s how-to guide to investing.”
Also per the caption, “their mother and father sorted the rest,” which is vague enough to invite a fair amount of speculation in the comments.
At the time the story hit Instagram, the three siblings are now on track to buy their next investment property using (of course) the equity gained with their current house.
All three of their names are on the title.
Ruby’s father responds to critics
FEMAIL interviewed Ruby, who told them it’s “pretty cool” being a landlord at eight years old. She admitted she hadn’t yet told any of her school friends.
A few days later, another FEMAIL article featured Ruby’s father, Cam McLellan, responding to commenters who reacted negatively:
“It’s easy for someone who doesn’t have property or hasn’t made sacrifices, to be angry about it and easy to target a young kid who has a leg-up…
“Young adults’ lifestyles are very flamboyant these days. I worked three jobs, I didn’t go out, I sold my car…Eating in cafes and shopping has drained people’s money. Even owning a car, they like to change it every five years. I had the same car for ten years.
“You don’t want to aggressively rub that in to the young generation but they need to sacrifice and delay gratification. There’s no easy silver bullet but while my kids will get enough to get started, they are not silver spoons. They have a leg up, but so can anyone in Australia.”
As far as why he wants all four children on the title now, McLellan said,
“I want to save them from having to save for deposits down the track. I want to help them be smart property investors.
“When I was starting out I was earning $40,000 and (a house) deposit was $7,000. Now it’s much harder to get a deposit if you’re earning $60,000 and the deposits are $120,000.
“In ten years time it will be worse and my kids aren’t going to be able to save that deposit – four kids, so rather than four times a $200,000 deposit, (my wife) Felicity and I are giving them a leg up now to get a house later on.”
Read the full article for more.
