---
title: "I Doubled My Income in 3 Years — Then Put Every Dollar Into Property"
description: "How I used remote work and AWS certifications to double my salary in 3 years, then funnelled every extra dollar into Melbourne investment properties. Real numbers, real timeline."
author: Joey Don
date: 2025-06-19
category: Investment Strategy
url: https://premiumrea.com.au/blog/remote-work-income-doubling-property-investment
tags: ["income growth", "remote work", "property investment", "deposit strategy", "Melbourne", "career strategy", "wealth building"]
---

# I Doubled My Income in 3 Years — Then Put Every Dollar Into Property

*By Joey Don, Co-Founder & CEO at PremiumRea — 2025-06-19*

> Everyone wants a bigger deposit. Nobody wants to talk about the income side of the equation. Here's how remote work changed everything for me — and why it matters for property investors.

Three minutes. That's how long this will take to explain the single biggest unlock for building a property portfolio.

It's not a suburb pick. It's not a renovation trick. It's your income.

I'm going to tell you exactly how I went from a $95,000 salary to over $200,000 in about three and a half years — while working from home in tracksuit pants most days. And then I'll explain why every extra dollar went straight into property deposits rather than a nicer car or a bigger apartment.

Because the maths on leveraging higher income into property equity is so absurdly powerful that once you see it, you can't unsee it.

## The remote work multiplier (this is not a lifestyle article)

Before I started PremiumRea, I spent seven years in IT infrastructure. Started at a mid-tier consulting firm in Melbourne, worked my way up to General Manager of a 300-person company by age 29. I also completed an MBA from Imperial College London while holding down a full-time job [1].

That last part is the bit that matters. Because the only reason I could study an MBA, sit twelve AWS certification exams, and still hit my quarterly targets was that I worked from home.

Let me spell out what remote work actually gives you, because most people only think about skipping the commute.

**First: time recovery.** The average Melbourne commuter spends 66 minutes per day getting to and from work. That's 5.5 hours a week, or roughly 275 hours per year — nearly seven full working weeks [2]. I got all of that back. Not to scroll TikTok. To study.

**Second: energy preservation.** Anyone who's sat in traffic on the Monash for 45 minutes knows you don't arrive at your desk ready to learn a new programming language. You arrive angry and tired. Working from home meant I started my study blocks fresh.

**Third: credential stacking.** Between 2017 and 2019, I passed every AWS Solutions Architect, Developer, and DevOps certification available at the time — about twelve certs total. Each one made my resume more expensive. By the time I started fielding recruiter calls, the offers were coming in 40% to 60% above my existing salary.

I didn't get smarter. I got more time. And I converted that time into credentials that the market was willing to pay a premium for.

This isn't unique to IT. Accounting, finance, project management, data analytics — every white-collar field has certification pathways that directly translate to higher pay. The bottleneck for most people isn't ability. It's time. Remote work breaks the bottleneck.

## The income-to-equity pipeline

Here's where this connects to property.

In 2018, my household income was around $130,000. Standard two-income professional couple in Melbourne. After tax, mortgage on our own place, living expenses, and keeping the lights on, we were saving maybe $25,000 a year. At that rate, accumulating a 20% deposit on a $700,000 investment property — $140,000 plus stamp duty — would take roughly six years.

By 2021, my income alone had more than doubled. Our household income was above $320,000. The marginal tax rate meant we didn't keep all of it, obviously. But our savings rate jumped from $25,000 to over $80,000 a year.

Suddenly, a deposit that would have taken six years took two.

And here's the compounding bit that most people miss. If Melbourne property grows at 7% per annum — which is roughly what the 30-year median shows — then every year you delay purchasing costs you approximately $49,000 on a $700,000 property. So saving your deposit two years faster doesn't just save you two years of waiting. It captures two extra years of growth. That's roughly $100,000 in capital appreciation you would have missed [3].

The income acceleration didn't just speed up the deposit. It fundamentally changed the economics of our entire investment timeline.

> "Every year you sit on the sidelines costs you roughly 7% of the asset's value," I tell clients. "The deposit feels like the barrier. But income is the lever that moves the barrier."

## What we actually bought (and why boring wins)

Our first investment property was a three-bedroom brick house in Boronia. $745,000. 560 square metres of land. The house itself was dated — brown carpet, original kitchen, the works. Exactly the kind of property that gets scrolled past on realestate.com.au because it photographs terribly.

We spent $35,000 on a cosmetic renovation. New flooring, fresh paint throughout, updated kitchen handles and splashback, new tapware in the bathroom. Nothing structural. The property rented at $520 per week within eight days of listing [4].

Two years later, the independent valuation came back at $890,000. That's $145,000 in capital growth. The rent had climbed to $580 per week. We pulled equity out via a refinance and used it as the deposit for property number two.

Property number two was in Kilsyth. $680,000. 620 square metres. Same playbook — light renovation, rent it fast, hold. That one now rents at $510 per week with a granny flat application in progress.

The point is: none of this was possible on a $130,000 household income. The income jump from remote work and credential stacking is what compressed the timeline from "maybe one investment property in our 40s" to "two properties with a third in progress before 35."

At PremiumRea, we work with clients at every income level. But I always tell them: before we optimise which suburb to buy in, let's talk about whether you're optimising your earning capacity. Because the biggest deposit accelerator isn't a savings app. It's a pay rise [5].

## The four income levers that actually matter for investors

Based on my own experience and working with over 200 property buyers, here are the four income levers that move the needle.

**1. Remote or hybrid work.** Not for lifestyle. For time arbitrage. Use the commute hours for something that increases your market value. If your employer won't offer remote, find one that will. The salary difference between a fully office-based role and a fully remote one in the same field is often negligible — but the productivity difference is enormous.

**2. Certifications over degrees.** An MBA is great but takes two years and costs $40,000-$100,000. A professional certification in cloud computing, financial modelling, data analytics, or project management takes 3-6 months and costs $500-$3,000. The return on investment per hour of study is dramatically higher for certifications in the first decade of your career.

**3. Job hopping strategically.** The data is clear on this: employees who switch jobs every 2-3 years earn 20-30% more over a decade than those who stay put. Loyalty is not rewarded in Australian corporate culture. I know because I lived it — every job switch came with a 25-40% pay bump [6].

**4. Side income with an exit plan.** Consulting, freelancing, tutoring — whatever your skills allow. But treat it as a deposit accelerator, not a permanent fixture. The goal is to convert the extra income into property equity as fast as possible, then let the property's leverage do the work.

I meet people all the time who are spending five hours a week researching suburbs but zero hours working on their income. That's like optimising the engine of a car that has no fuel.

## A worked example: how income changes everything

Let me run the maths on two hypothetical investors. Same age, same city, same target suburb.

**Investor A: $100,000 salary, no changes.**
After tax: ~$78,000. Living expenses: $50,000. Savings: $28,000/year.
Time to save $170,000 deposit (20% of $750K + stamp duty): 6.1 years.
Property purchased in mid-2030.
Assuming 7% annual growth, property value at purchase: ~$1,125,000. Same property that cost $750K in 2024.

**Investor B: $100,000 salary, invests 10 hours/week into upskilling.**
Year 1: $100K. Year 2: $130K (new cert + job switch). Year 3: $160K.
Cumulative additional savings vs Investor A by year 3: ~$72,000.
Time to save $170,000 deposit: 3.2 years.
Property purchased in early 2027.
Property value at purchase: ~$920,000. Still pays $750K-equivalent because they entered three years earlier.

The capital growth difference alone — entering the market 3 years earlier — is worth approximately $200,000 over a 10-year hold. Investor B ends up nearly $270,000 ahead of Investor A from the same starting point [7].

That is the real power of income acceleration. Not the extra savings. The earlier entry into a leveraged, appreciating asset.

Our buyer's agent fee at PremiumRea sits around 2% of the purchase price. Clients sometimes balk at the cost. But when I show them that we typically negotiate 5-8% below market value on purchases — saving them $35,000 to $60,000 on a $750,000 property — and that entering the market even six months earlier captures another $26,000 in growth, the fee pays for itself several times over [8].

## Stop optimising the wrong variable

The property investment community in Australia is obsessed with finding the right property. And look, that matters — I literally run a buyer's agency, so I'd be an idiot to say it doesn't.

But the variable that determines whether you build a portfolio of one property or five isn't the suburb. It's your income trajectory. And income is the one variable that's entirely within your control.

You can't control interest rates. You can't control government policy. You can't control whether your suburb gets the train extension it was promised. But you can control how many hours per week you invest in your own earning capacity.

I went from IT consultant to GM to company founder. The income curve wasn't linear — it was exponential. And every inflection point was funded by time I recaptured through working from home.

So here's my challenge to anyone reading this who's been "saving for a deposit" for more than three years: stop trying to save your way there. Earn your way there. Stack a certification. Negotiate a remote arrangement. Switch jobs for the pay bump. Then come talk to us about which suburb to buy in.

The property will be there. The question is whether you'll have the firepower to buy it before the price moves another 7%.

## References

1. [PremiumRea team profile: Joey Don, Co-Founder & CEO. IT background, Imperial College London MBA, 200+ property transactions.](#)
2. [Australian Bureau of Statistics, 'Commuting Distance and Time, Greater Melbourne', Census 2021. Average one-way commute: 33 minutes.](https://www.abs.gov.au/census)
3. [CoreLogic Home Value Index, Melbourne. 30-year compound annual growth rate approximately 6.8-7.2% for established houses.](https://www.corelogic.com.au/our-data/corelogic-indices)
4. [PremiumRea case study: Boronia acquisition, $745K purchase, $35K renovation, rented $520/wk within 8 days.](#)
5. [PremiumRea client advisory: income optimisation as the primary deposit acceleration strategy.](#)
6. [ABS Average Weekly Earnings survey, May 2023. Median job-switcher salary premium 20-30% over 10-year period.](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/average-weekly-earnings-australia)
7. [PremiumRea financial modelling: income acceleration vs constant income scenario, 10-year property hold, 7% annual appreciation.](#)
8. [PremiumRea buyer's agent fee structure: approximately 2% of purchase price, typical negotiation savings 5-8% below market value.](#)

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Source: https://premiumrea.com.au/blog/remote-work-income-doubling-property-investment
Publisher: PremiumRea (Optima Real Estate) — Melbourne buyers agent