11 May 2022
Words Christine Retschlag Informer 102

From Plasterer & Plumber To Property Owners

Here at ResortBrokers, we love hearing about how the lives of the people in our network have changed for the better with a move into, or within, the accommodation industry. These are the stories of those who decided to make a positive move.

Tradie Rob Salce, 45, who lives on the Gold Coast and works as a plasterer, and his brother Dave, a plumber, who lives in Melbourne, decided to invest in motels to future-proof their retirements.

Around four years ago Rob and Dave Salce decided to build residential units at Mermaid Beach, which whet their appetites for the property industry.

“We’ve always liked property and bought and renovated houses before separately and we decided to do this project together,” Rob says.

“We were looking at passive investments and a different line of income. I was the soccer coach of the son of ResortBrokers’ Gold Coast broker Steve Campbell and we started talking about motels and income and we decided to move in that direction.

“Dave and I went and purchased the freehold and leasehold on the Yamba Sun Motel in 2020 and in the same year we purchased the leasehold on the Chinchilla Motor Inn.

“We were getting on a roll and were heading down to Parkes in New South Wales to purchase another lease but it sold so we ended up putting our attention on the Bushman’s Motor Inn freehold and leasehold in Parkes.”

The brothers sold the Chinchilla Motor Inn at the end of last year, and Rob admits the industry has been a “big change” from working as tradies 

“We are trying to get out of our trades and move forward with other projects. I needed a change from being on the tools all day,” he says.

Rob says the hardest part of the past two years has been the global pandemic, particularly when Omicron arrived last year.

“The second wave was what hurt. Everything was looking great until that next wave and we pretty much had to close the motels again. We just had to scrape through those three months. 

Thankfully, for these entrepreneurs, things are looking up.

“We’ve started moving forward and things are going well now. We had near 95 per cent occupancy for Yamba for December/January. Parkes is moving along all right with 80 per cent over Christmas,” he says.

For those seeking to follow in the footsteps of these two tradies, Rob says it’s working with motel managers which is both the shock and surprise of their ventures.

“I thought once you’ve got managers a motel would run itself but it’s not that simple. Equally, getting to know our new managers has been a pleasant surprise,” he says.

“My advice would be to just have your eyes open and do your homework on the region. It is a rewarding industry if you’ve got a good place in a good area.

“We look at new infrastructure coming on in a region and that’s why we picked Parkes. We picked Yamba because of the beach. Our next move would be more coastal again as the capital growth is really good. 

“We absolutely wish we’d moved into property sooner than two years ago. Our Mermaid Beach units are all rented out for the residential market and we’re glad we held on to them.”