Mayukh Saha
Mayukh Saha
March 22, 2024 ·  3 min read

8-Year-Old is World’s Youngest Homeowner After Buying 4 Bedroom Home at 6

A girl who is eight years old bought her first home when she was six years old, making her one of the youngest homeowners in the world. Yes, you read that right. Ruby McLellan, from Australia, is the youngest homeowner in the country. She bought her first home with her two brothers, Angus, 14, and Lucy, 13. The three of them paid $671,000 for the four-bedroom house in Clyde, Victoria, two years ago. It is now worth $960,000.

Ruby McLelllan, the youngest homeowner
Image Credits: Daily Mail

The three brothers worked hard to get a $6,000 down payment by doing housework and helping their dad pack up his book on real estate investing. Now you understand why it all started so early. With the help of both sets of parents, they were able to buy a house. A story from the Daily Mail says that they are now planning to buy their next investment property using the equity in their current home’s mortgage. All three of them will be owners of the new property.

Keeping it a Secret From Friends

Cam, Ruby's father, with his wife and four children.
Image Credits: Daily Mail

Ruby told the news source that she thinks it’s “pretty cool” that she’s been able to do this at such a young age. However, she’s not telling her school friends about it yet. Cam, their dad, is the CEO of the real estate investment firm OpenCorp. He told them that he taught them the basics of investing so that they could use what they learned in the future.

In ten years time when our kids might start looking to buy their own homes, the deposits are going to be $200,000,” he added. “There’s no way kids of today are going to be able to afford a home without help from mom and dad.” He said: “We have four kids and might need to fork out $800,000, so the obvious thing to do is to use one small deposit now, buy a property, let it double in value, and then sell it.

The family said they plan to keep the house until Lucy and Angus are in their early 20s. That way, they’ll have waited one “full growth property cycle,” as Cam calls it, and they think it will be worth about $1 million by then, which will help all three of them when they want to buy their own homes. “In the past, property values have doubled every seven to ten years,” Cam said about the plan. “I’ve been investing for 30 years and now is a great time to invest based on inflation decreasing and the prediction of interest rate drops.

Rich Dad Advantage?

Ruby, with her father and mother.
Image Credits: Daily Mail

Cam and his wife Felicity bought their first home together when they were young adults. Their goal was to become “financially free,” and they now are. To keep his money coming in, the real estate owner only works a few hours a week. This gives him more time to spend with his wife and children.

In 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 in on the right design and depreciation is the greatest at the start,” Cam said. “And tenants prefer new builds over existing ones – there’s so many advantages.” Now you know what Cam said, use his advice and see how it works for you. On the other hand, I guess it only works if you have a rich dad to back the idea.

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