In our special Movers and Shakers series The Property Investor is proud to showcase successful Australian women property specialists. The individual women selected are outstanding property professionals who have either mentored others, changed the industry for the better through their indvidual effort or innovated and introduced a new property-related product offering that has brought real value to customers lives or businesses.
Susan Farquhar
Calla Property Insights is the brain-child of Susan Farquhar who is now listed as Australia’s leading Investment property experts, included in the top 10 in the Country. Contributing a chapter in ‘Insiders Know-How: Property Investment Australia’ attracting comments like “ insightful chapters written by some of Australia’s sharpest property investors”; won the award for ‘Excellence in Innovation’ at the Inner West Sydney Chamber of Commerce Awards; listed in the Top 75 Property Investment Blogs, ranking 18th in Australia and 60th in the world; ranked 11th in the Property Investment Mentors and Service section in the Top 55 Investing Authority Blogs in Australia; and is nominated for the 2019 Telstra Business Women’s Awards and 2019 NSW Woman of the Year. Her profile and commentary soon to be published in ’50 Unsung Heroes of Australian Business’ next year. Susan graciously epitomises strength and resilience showing the determination it takes to be a successful business woman.
At just 27, Susan owned and managed three companies, had five properties and felt financially secure. Then a devastating death in the family along with a relationship break-up and becoming a single mother with a very young baby all around the same time, completely destabilised her life as she knew it -fortunately she had property to sell thinking funds from the sales will get her through and back to some sort of “normal” – Boy was she wrong!
Like so many people who look to invest and get in to the market, Susan purchased property close to where she lived in the Blue Mountains thinking she had all the local knowledge – Investors mistake number one! Susan purchased the wrong property, in the wrong place at the wrong time, not just once but 5 times!
After liquidating her assets leaving her with that terrible sinking feeling of ‘where to now?’ and ‘how did I get it so wrong?’, she recalls a lot of soul searching and of course self-analysis. Susan just could not let it go and needed to understand why and what she could have done differently, knowing there must be some better way of understanding and predicting the property market.
Susan’s next big investment was to further her Education including an MBA in Finance, Financial Planning and Mortgage Broking. During this time her focus was on re-building her portfolio and finding the “Magic Formula” for Property Investment. This journey led her to an unknown world of success. Calla Property was created. In the background Susan knew she had figured it out and developed, tried, tested and refined an award winning, world class research methodology developing an algorithm derived from the 130 key points of criteria now known as Calla Property Insights, It has proven to consistently identify the right property, in the right place at the right time. This platform has certainly been the “Magic Formula” for Susan and her clients.
Calla Property Insights correctly identifies exceptional investment opportunities. In short, specific aspects of the 130 test points are initially collated into 3 parts, the first being the Macro research (The Right Time), the micro research (The Right Property in the Right Place) and the necessary due diligence of builders and developers to give peace of mind. It pinpoints not only the suburbs around Australia that are set to perform well regarding capital growth but also the specific properties identified that will have close to positive yield from the outset and retain their value over time.
Backed by Susan’s experience, knowledge and education, she is so confident with the Calla Property Insight’s performance that she has expanded her team. They now also offer the Calla service free of charge to clients and can do so because of the business structure Susan has created. From hello to lets go It is a full concierge service, each client has a dedicated Account Manager who is tasked with ensuring the client experience is transparent and smooth knowing what stage the project is at and communicating with all external stakeholders including the clients very own Wealth Creation Team – the network of professionals they already have or we recommend including Mortgage Broker, Property Solicitor, Accountant, Building Inspector and Property Manager.
The “CALLA” brand has real meaning with each letter representing her family. Susan remains true to her commitment and philosophy of “Building your Dreams” not just for her clients but family, friends and staff alike. It is evident that Susan genuinely wants to educate others, share opportunities and the knowledge she wishes someone had shown her earlier.
In the last week she has helped Troy and Maddie, newly married and aged just 24 years old, invest in their first property with a deposit of $50K; Tim and Nat, another young couple aged 28, who used a Family Pledge from Nat’s Mum to invest in a house in a high performance suburb in the northern growth corridor of Brisbane; Leo and Christine are a couple in their 40s who have invested in 2 properties – both inside and outside of their SMSF fund and Sam who is a 47 year old single mother rebuilding her wealth after divorce, with a deposit of just $40K. Most of her clients from her first year of business, four years ago, have invested in 3 properties and are well on their way to becoming financially secure in retirement.
To this day, preparing clients for any potential destabilisation in their lives is a significant driving force for Susan. She is proud of the fact that she has never had a property contract fall over due to short valuation and has never seen a client’s financial situation go backwards after investing in property she has recommended. Today, Susan is in a unique position to understand how her clients feel about money and debt and is more than qualified to help them make better finance choices.
