Special Feature

Sean Chua: From HDB to landed within four years by age 35

September 20, 2024 6:15 PM SGT

Sean Chua, PropNex Realty (SG) receiving the award from Jeremy Tan, Tiger Brokers Singapore (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)

"The day we stop investing ourselves will be the day we stop helping others to invest." — Sean Chua

It takes a daring attitude, careful financial planning, and a close eye on the market for real estate investors to be successful. For those born without a silver spoon, like Sean Chua, it is even more challenging to work their way up to the top.

Starting from humble beginnings, Chua risked it all to pull off an astonishing growth journey. After taking the plunge by selling his BTO flat and investing the proceeds into a handful of industrial, residential, and overseas properties, he has grown his investment portfolio 20 times over the past five years.

Today, he owns a staging company called Haus Makeover with his realtor wife, Eve, and is embarking on a new venture as a professional real estate investment manager.

Chua at EdgeProp Singapore's inaugural Realtors Roundtable. (Picture: EdgeProp SG)

From humble beginnings

Chua is accustomed to working hard to make ends meet. As a young boy, he grew up in a three-room HDB unit in Bukit Batok. His family moved houses a couple of times as their financial situation rose and fell over the years.

He recalls the excitement when his parents upgraded the family home to an executive apartment in Jurong East. But his father’s business took a hit when Chua was in secondary school, forcing the family to downsize to a smaller flat in Woodlands.

“It was tough during my schooling years when our family’s financial situation was so tight that we often lived in fear of not having food for our next meal. I even ran to school or camp during my National Service [NS] instead of taking the public transport to save every cent possible,” he shares.

Not wanting to over-burden his parents, Chua opted to enter university via a sponsorship programme by the Ministry of Education to become a teacher. It was fortuitous that he developed a strong passion for teaching at this phase in his life — a trait that has lasted to this day.

Taking the plunge

Chua cites his wife as the catalyst that kickstarted their real estate journey together. He met her in 2008 while he was serving NS. They applied, and were successful, in balloting for a Build-To-Order (BTO) flat the following year.

The couple received their keys to their newly built three-room flat at SkyTerrace @ Dawson in 2015, two years after Chua started working as a physical education teacher in a secondary school.

The Chua family in their new landed house. (Picture: Sean Chua)

“We hated the idea of debt. So, we saved more than 70% of our income every month to eventually pay off our HDB by 30,” says Chua. Reaching this goal sparked a sense of achievement, but it soon dissipated as they still had to work hard to cover their daily expenses despite being debt-free.

That prompted Chua to seriously plan for his financial future. He decided to take a leap of faith on a financial literacy course in 2019, which cost a month’s salary as a teacher back then.

“I knew that I needed to do something different to get different results. I was also struck by how much the course cost, so I was determined to apply what I learnt to make my money’s worth,” says Chua.

With his wife’s assurance, they sold their HDB flat. Upon seeing how decades’ worth of savings was made with just one property flip, Chua took the plunge to quit his stable teaching career, despite a recent promotion and a lump sum payout that was due the following year, to focus solely on growing his property portfolio.

Daring of a full-time investor

A mixture of knowledge, courage and good control of his emotions meant that his first three investment properties raked in strong returns, where he saw healthy rental yields of 6%. This enabled him to achieve financial freedom by age 31.

“I was debt-free by age 30 and financially freed by 31. Yet, I was nowhere close to being able to live my life! I couldn’t go for holidays without burning a hole in my pocket, driving a Macan was a dream and staying in a landed [house] seemed impossible,” says Chua.

Chua and his wife conducting their first webinar in 2022. (Picture: Sean Chua)

Between 2020 and 2022, he grew his investment portfolio with a handful of residential units from new launches like Stirling Residences and Normanton Park, as well as Colony in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Glass Waterlock in Birmingham in the UK.

Since 2019, Chua’s wife has also been an active real estate agent after leaving her job to pursue their interest in real estate.

“During the Covid pandemic, we lost several of our industrial tenants, and learning how to stage units to attract tenants became a necessity,” says Chua.

He helped his wife stage many of the properties for which she was handling the sale. They quickly found traction offering this type of services to other landlords and real estate agents. Sensing a business opportunity, Chua and his wife founded a new company, Haus Makeover, in 2021.

Establishing Haus Makeover

In 2023, Haus Makeover provided turnkey solutions for over 50 newly completed private residential units, enabling their owners to halve the time between tenants. The company has also helped its clients to stage and subsequently sell their units.

“Most new units take about six months to find the next new tenant, but we typically accomplish this within two to three months. Haus Makeover’s secret to success lies in tugging at the heartstrings of potential buyers and tenants, portraying the full potential of each space,” says Chua.

One of the property makeovers done by Haus Makeover. (Picture: Sean Chua)

He adds that the company has a robust 16-step process, working closely with landlords and investors to manage their residential investment units. “Our goal, if the client requires, is to significantly reduce the owner’s involvement in the overall leasing process — giving them the peace of mind that their assets are being managed cost-effectively and swiftly so they can focus on their work and family instead.”

The company’s fees start from $5,000 for consultation, before getting access to other real estate services such as the turnkey solution. Investors who have purchased a property through them may enjoy these services free of charge.

Helping others achieve their real estate goals

In a short span of five years as a full-time investor, Chua grew his personal portfolio by more than 2,000%, from a $360,000 HDB unit to over $7.5 million worth of properties today. His success has drawn aspiring investors and investors who would like to emulate his journey.

Haus Makeover private event for investors. (Picture: Sean Chua)

“It seemed like a natural extension of my investment business to explore other opportunities where I could help others to elevate and enhance their investment portfolio,” says Chua. This is why he obtained his real estate licence two years ago.

His foray into portfolio investment has seen him guide retail investors to consolidate and grow their investment assets. Most are in their 20s to 40s, and the majority are first time investors.

“The day we stop investing ourselves will be the day we stop helping others to invest. We walk the talk when it comes to asset profession and portfolio growth; the key is to start young and take advice from the right people,” says Chua.

Looking ahead, he hopes to help young investors and families start their investing journey as early as possible to enjoy a longer runway to meet their financial goals and aspirations.