Melanie MacDonald

Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Melanie has been a property investor since the she was 21 years old, purchasing 9 properties in her first three years in the market. She came from a background where she knew nothing about investment or business but `didn't know what she didn't know' so just did it. In her 20s she was by necessity confined to various creative nothing down strategies, including options and vendor finance (both of which she thought for a number of years she had invented until a friend travelled to the USA and brought her back a book about them!). She combined her property investment hobby with a successful international corporate career in the pharmaceutical industry where she was the youngest person and the first female in her senior executive role. She made her first million dollars in real estate by the time she was 25, losing the money and gaining a lot of experience by the time she was 30, and making it and quite a few more back in business and real estate by her fortieth birthday. read more » These days Melanie uses the strategies she learned more than a decade ago in residential property to buy commercial property and businesses. Melanie's career highlights include: · took her company on to the BRW (Business Review Weekly) Fast 100 fastest growing companies in Australia list, on to the Queensland top 400 companies list (3 times), sold it to a publicly listed company, and was a finalist in Business Woman of the Year awards in two countries. · using a range of creative property investment strategies to build an eight figure commercial and residential property portfolio in two countries including buying a property option for $1 and making $3m profit from the transaction · generating an income of $2million/year from an internet based business · selling the full print run of her book ‘The Capitalist Hippy' and contributing chapters to two other best selling books ‘Property is a Girl's Best Friend' by Property Women and `Real property real people unreal profits' by the Reno Kings. · featuring on tv, radio, and magazines (including `A Current Affair', 4BC radio, and a two-issue seven page story in Australian Property Investor magazine), guest speaker at a range of events including the Police Commissioner's Breakfast, Property Women Conference, Reno Kings workshops, and judge of the Property Women of the Year Awards. Originally trained as an industrial chemist, Melanie chaired the Camellia Trust (housing for homeless young women) and works as a scuba divemaster in her spare time. She is passionate about making the most of life and is an advocate of finding your passion and going for it. Over the last couple of years she has spent some months driving her parents around Europe, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean and when she is at home has been mentoring a handful of new business people while she buys commercial property and works on her next venture.