Adeel Rizvi, the 339th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is someone whose life revolves around relationships, numbers and property.

Back in 2011, Adeel moved from Pakistan to Australia with dreams of building a better life. Within two years, thanks to their hard work and diligent saving, Adeel and his wife were able to buy their own home. Two years after that, on a visit to the bank, Adeel was surprised to discover that not only had his property significantly increased in value, but if he did a thing called refinancing and borrowed against a thing known as equity, he could put down a deposit on an investment property without stumping up any cash. So he did.

Two years after that, Adeel paid another visit to the bank, but this time he got an unpleasant surprise – no, his property had not gone up in price (it had actually gone backwards) and, no, there was no equity for him to tap in to. Why? Because Adeel had bought an overpriced, off-the-plan property with no scarcity value.

Adeel had a feeling that property could help him turbocharge his wealth and transform his life – but, clearly, he had a lot of learning to do. So Adeel went on a journey of self-education, by attending seminars, listening to podcasts and reading books.

As Adeel’s knowledge grew, friends and colleagues started asking him for help to buy their own homes. So he decided, in 2019, to leave his corporate job and become a buyer’s agent. The following year, he founded his own business, Ariza Buyers Agency.

Adeel understands the power of leverage and compounding, so he tells investor clients that when they buy properties, they should find those rare locations that are likely to deliver 20-30% capital growth over the next two to three years. That way, they can borrow against the equity, buy their next property … and repeat the process.

So how do you find those locations? That’s where Adeel’s love of data comes in. He uses hard numbers and deep analysis to identify locations throughout Australia that are likely to outperform the market.

But as Adeel points out, finding a location is only half the battle. You also need on-the-ground knowledge to understand the good and bad streets within a particular suburb. So he works hard to build relationships with local real estate agents and property managers. That involves a lot of travelling and patience – because relationships can’t be rushed.

Adeel’s business now has three staff and is steadily growing. As for his personal property portfolio, he has investments in four states (and sold the dud property in 2020).

When you invest in relationships, numbers and property, you can achieve amazing results.