---
title: "He Earns $80K a Year and Bought 17 Properties in 12 Months. I Broke Down Exactly How."
description: "Ben Mafrici earns $80K/year at Hugo Boss and bought 17 properties in 12 months, bringing his total to 38. The strategy: multiple income streams, high-yield properties, and aggressive refinancing."
author: Yan Zhu
date: 2022-01-13
category: Finance & Tax
url: https://premiumrea.com.au/blog/80k-salary-17-properties-one-year-refinance-strategy
tags: ["property portfolio", "refinancing", "multiple properties", "investment strategy", "cash flow", "leverage", "wealth building"]
---

# He Earns $80K a Year and Bought 17 Properties in 12 Months. I Broke Down Exactly How.

*By Yan Zhu, Co-Founder & Chief Data Officer at PremiumRea — 2022-01-13*

> A Hugo Boss sales assistant earning $80,000 a year just bought 17 properties in a single year. His total portfolio sits at 38 houses. Before you call it impossible, let me walk through the mechanics — because the strategy is simpler than you think.

A story broke recently that's been making the rounds in every property forum and social media group in Australia. A Melbourne guy named Ben Mafrici — a sales assistant at Hugo Boss earning about $80,000 a year — bought 17 properties in a single twelve-month period. His total portfolio now sits at 38 properties [1].

He's still working full-time.

The immediate reaction from most people is disbelief. How does someone on $80K a year get the lending capacity for 38 properties? Where does the deposit money come from? Is this some kind of elaborate marketing stunt?

It's not. The strategy is real, and the mechanics are well-established. What Ben did isn't magic — it's the disciplined application of three principles that most property investors know about in theory but never execute in practice.

Let me break down each one, because if you understand the mechanics, you can start applying them to your own situation. You probably won't buy 17 properties in a year. But buying two or three using these principles? Entirely achievable.

## Step one: maximise your income (even if it means multiple jobs)

Ben's base salary at Hugo Boss is approximately $80,000. That alone gets him borrowing capacity for maybe one or two properties. So he did something that most people won't: he worked multiple jobs simultaneously.

Three income streams. His retail job, plus two side hustles. The combined income gave him a lending profile that looked very different from a single $80K salary.

This is the part that doesn't get enough attention. Everyone wants the sexy portfolio strategy. Nobody wants to talk about the grinding prerequisite: earning more money [2]. 

But here's the more important nuance. Ben didn't rely on savings from his income to fund deposits. That's the traditional approach — save $60,000, buy a property, save another $60,000, buy another one. At that pace, you're buying one property every three to four years.

Instead, he used his income primarily to service the debt (make the repayments) and to increase his borrowing capacity with lenders. The deposit money came from somewhere else entirely — and that's where the strategy gets interesting.

At Optima, we see this pattern with our own clients. The investors who build portfolios fastest aren't always the highest earners. They're the ones who understand that income is for serviceability and equity is for deposits. Two completely different functions. Confusing them is why most people get stuck after their first property [3].

## Step two: buy properties that generate equity quickly

This is the engine of the whole strategy. Ben's early properties — purchased over a decade ago when he was earning even less — were selected specifically for their ability to generate capital growth and high rental returns.

His first property was bought for $335,000 when his weekly wage was just $600. He saved for two years to accumulate the deposit. That first purchase was the hardest — and the most important. Every subsequent acquisition was funded not by savings but by the equity generated from the previous purchases [4].

Here's how equity-driven portfolio expansion works:

1. Buy Property A for $600,000. Put down $120,000 (20% deposit).
2. Property A appreciates to $700,000 over 18 months.
3. Refinance Property A. The bank now sees $700,000 value against a $480,000 loan. That's 68.5% LVR. You can draw equity up to 80% LVR = $560,000. You currently owe $480,000. Available equity: $80,000.
4. Use that $80,000 as the deposit for Property B.
5. Repeat.

The critical variable is step 2 — the property needs to appreciate. Not every property does. Not every suburb delivers. If you buy in a suburb with unlimited new supply (think outer growth corridors with constant new land releases), appreciation is suppressed by competition from new stock. If you buy in a supply-constrained established suburb with strong demand, appreciation is far more likely.

This is why we obsessively target suburbs like Cranbourne, Hampton Park, and Narre Warren. The properties we buy in these areas consistently deliver rapid equity growth. Our Boronia case study is the extreme example: purchased at $660,000, bank valuation of $890,000 just four weeks later. That's $230,000 in instant equity — enough to fund deposits for three more properties [5].

But even without that kind of outlier result, the typical pattern in our portfolio is $30,000-$80,000 in equity growth within the first twelve months. That's $30,000-$80,000 that didn't come from savings. It came from buying the right property in the right location.

## Step three: make sure rent covers the mortgage (or better)

The third piece of Ben's strategy is the one that holds everything together: high rental yields that cover the holding costs.

If your rental income doesn't cover your mortgage repayments, every additional property you buy increases your personal cash outflow. At some point, your income can't absorb any more negative cash flow, and the bank refuses to lend you more. Your portfolio growth stops.

But if rent covers the mortgage — or ideally exceeds it — each additional property is either neutral or additive to your cash flow. The bank sees a portfolio that's self-sustaining, not a portfolio that's bleeding cash. That's why Ben could scale to 38 properties on an $80K salary [6].

The maths is simple. If you buy a property for $600,000 with an 80% LVR loan ($480,000 at 6.5% interest), your annual interest cost is approximately $31,200. That's $600 per week.

If the property rents at $500 per week, you're $100 per week short. Multiply that by 38 properties and you'd be haemorrhaging over $200,000 per year. Impossible to sustain.

But if the property rents at $650 per week — which is achievable in the right suburbs with the right improvements — you're $50 per week positive. Multiply that by 38 and you've got $1,900 per week in surplus cash flow. That's a self-funding portfolio.

At Optima, our renovation approach is specifically designed to push rental yields past the break-even point. A property that rents at $500 per week in its current condition can often be pushed to $800-$950 per week through strategic renovation — new flooring, paint, room reconfiguration, or more significant conversion work. Our Hampton Park case study hit $850 per week on a $590,000 purchase. That's a gross yield above 7%, meaning the rent comfortably covers the mortgage with surplus cash left over [7].

Ben's portfolio works because his properties are cash-flow positive in aggregate. Remove that element, and the entire strategy collapses under its own debt servicing costs.

## Why Melbourne is the next growth frontier (and Ben agrees)

Here's the detail that caught my attention in Ben's story: his recent acquisitions are focused on Melbourne. Specifically, suburbs 25-30 minutes from the CBD with strong affordability metrics.

Ben built much of his early portfolio in Queensland during its growth cycle. Smart timing. Brisbane and the Gold Coast delivered exceptional returns between 2020 and 2024. But growth cycles rotate between cities, and Ben appears to be positioning for Melbourne's turn [8].

I've been saying this for the better part of a year now. Melbourne's southeastern corridor — the suburbs our team operates in — is undervalued relative to comparable offerings in Sydney, Brisbane, and Perth. The median house price in Hampton Park or Cranbourne is $550,000-$650,000. The equivalent in Brisbane's middle ring is $650,000-$750,000. Perth's comparable suburbs have repriced similarly.

Melbourne offers higher median incomes, a more diversified economy, and Australia's strongest population growth alongside Victoria. The interstate migration trend has reversed — Victoria is now gaining population from other states, which is a leading indicator for property prices [9].

Our team bought close to 100 properties in Melbourne's southeast during 2019 alone. The returns have been consistent: 5.5%-7.5% gross yields post-renovation, capital growth of 4-10% in the first twelve months, and a property management infrastructure (our PM ratio is 1:50, not the industry standard 1:170) that ensures the rental income actually arrives on time, every time [10].

Ben's instinct to pivot to Melbourne aligns with every data point I track. The city is at the bottom of its cycle, affordability is strong relative to other capitals, and the population tailwinds are building.

## Can you actually replicate this? (Honest answer)

Let me be direct: most people won't buy 17 properties in a year. Ben is an outlier — someone who's been building expertise and equity over twelve years, works multiple jobs, and has an unusually high tolerance for financial complexity.

But the principles behind his strategy are accessible to anyone:

**Maximise your borrowing capacity.** This might mean a second income stream, asking for a raise, or restructuring existing debts to free up serviceability.

**Buy properties that grow in value quickly.** This means land-dominant properties (at least 80% of value in the land) in supply-constrained suburbs with strong demand. Avoid apartments, avoid new estates with unlimited supply, avoid prestige suburbs where yields are terrible.

**Ensure rent covers the mortgage.** This might mean buying at a lower price point where yields are stronger, or it might mean renovating to push rents higher. Our approach combines both — buying at $550,000-$750,000 in high-demand suburbs and then renovating to achieve $800-$950 per week in rent.

**Refinance to access equity, not savings.** Once a property has appreciated, refinance to pull out equity and use it as the deposit for the next purchase. This is the mechanism that accelerates portfolio growth from one property every three years to multiple properties per year [11].

Ben started with a $335,000 purchase on a $600/week wage. Twelve years later, he owns 38 properties. The trajectory isn't linear — it's exponential. Each property generates equity that funds the next, and the rental income sustains the debt servicing.

That's the blueprint. The execution requires discipline, the right properties, and a team that can manage the complexity as the portfolio scales. But the principles are remarkably straightforward.

If you want to see what properties we've been buying — the actual suburbs, prices, rental yields, and renovation costs — check our portfolio. Every number is real. Every case study is documented. That's the difference between theory and practice.

## References

1. [Australian Financial Review, 'How a Hugo Boss Salesman Bought 17 Properties in a Year on $80K Salary', Property Section, October 2019.](#)
2. [ABS, Employee Earnings and Hours, Cat. No. 6306.0, May 2019: Median Full-Time Earnings by Occupation.](#)
3. [APRA, Authorised Deposit-Taking Institutions Quarterly Property Exposures, Serviceability Assessment Standards, September 2019.](#)
4. [Ben Mafrici interview, 'From $335K First Property to 38 Houses', Property Investment Podcast, October 2019.](#)
5. [PremiumRea client case study, Boronia: $660K purchase, 730 sqm, bank valuation $890K in 4 weeks — $230K equity gain (34%).](#)
6. [Reserve Bank of Australia, Financial Stability Review, 'Household Debt and Property Investment Portfolios', October 2019.](#)
7. [PremiumRea client case study, Hampton Park: $590K purchase, $850/wk rent post-renovation, 7%+ gross yield, CBA valuation $670K.](#)
8. [CoreLogic, Quarterly Capital City Growth Comparison, Q3 2019: Melbourne vs Brisbane vs Perth Median House Price Trajectories.](#)
9. [ABS, Interstate Migration Estimates, Cat. No. 3412.0: Victoria Net Interstate Migration Trend Reversal, 2019.](#)
10. [PremiumRea portfolio data: ~100 purchases in Melbourne southeast 2019, 5.5%-7.5% yields, PM ratio 1:50.](#)
11. [Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia, 'Refinancing for Equity Access: A Guide to Portfolio Expansion', Industry Report 2019.](#)

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Source: https://premiumrea.com.au/blog/80k-salary-17-properties-one-year-refinance-strategy
Publisher: PremiumRea (Optima Real Estate) — Melbourne buyers agent