Like most people, Kwanchai Yingchareonthawornchai wants to be rich. Having watched his parents work hard for the family throughout his childhood, he committed himself to one day being rich and financially free.
Born into a middle-class family, Mr Kwanchai tried every means of investment while he worked as a sales coordinator. He found stocks unattractive. At about 25 years of age he began to study investment in property, and his life changed.
"Working as an employee will never make my dream [of getting rich] come true," says Mr Kwanchai, now 29. "After attending a seminar on property investment without using your own money, I decide to take my first step."
His first property investment was a condo unit in Chon Buri's Si Racha district, which he had driven through frequently while working as a sales executive for a steel company. He made a survey of rental residences after the huge expansion of industrial estates.
"Incredibly, all serviced apartments, even the old ones, were fully occupied with many waiting lists and advanced bookings for at least four months," he says. "Newly launched condos, despite being unbranded, were sold out."
Fortunately, there was a buyer who wanted to resell his unit at a new condo project. As the project's construction was due to be completed, Mr Kwanchai used a mortgage to get the unit transferred and make a down payment.
"It was amazing. I invested in a property without using a single baht of mine," he says. "This is one of the rules: investing with other people's money. What was more amazing was that the credit line available from the bank was higher than the price I had to pay the seller."
He bought the Si Racha condo, a 62-square-metre unit with two bedrooms, for 4.2 million baht after securing a credit line of 5.1 million.
Building-before. Before and after picture of a condo project with 70 units in Chiang Mai where Mr Kwanchai spent 20 million baht to buy from former developer. He invested another 20 million baht to renovate and sold all at 66 million baht.
The initial investment left him with 900,000 baht. Of this amount, he spent 500,000 on furniture for the unit and kept 400,000 as working capital. He rented the unit at a monthly rate of 55,000 baht while paying the bank 30,000 per month in instalments.
His second and third investment properties followed a few months later. All were in Si Racha, taking advantage of Mr Kwanchai's background in industry and connections with HR departments at many factories.
"Investing in locations you've known or been familiar with is key," he says. "It's not property that makes money for you, but what you know about it. It's financial IQ for the property."
He suggests property investment in demand-heavy locations. Si Racha is a good example of strong demand, with residential units snapped up by Japanese executives commuting to nearby industrial estates.
Kwanchai Yingchareonthawornchai
Other hotspots include Sukhumvit Soi 1, where demand for rentals is driven by relatives of patients at Bumrungrad Hospital, says Mr Kwanchai, who also goes by Coach Ping at training company Maximum Partners.
"Property investment is infinite, as it uses other people's money," he says.
Throughout three years of property investment, the self-made millionaire has managed more than 100 properties worth 388 million baht, mainly in Thailand -- Bangkok, Pattaya, Si Racha, Chiang Mai, Phuket -- but also a unit in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
He has also managed a 600-million-baht fund for 10 individual investors with a targeted return on investment of 12%. With a staff of 20, the fund has invested in various property categories such as condos, commercial buildings and land plots. Now it's jumping into a new arena: property development.
The first project will be a low-rise or eight-storey condo with 105 units worth 450 million baht on Si Phraya Road in Bangkok's Sam Yan area, where demand is strong from students at Triam Udom Suksa School and Chulalongkorn University.
Mr Kwanchai says second-hand or used properties are another attractive investment, generating even higher gains than new ones.
The rules for used properties consist of a price 20% below that of a new unit, in a high-occupancy project, financed using a mortgage with a 100% credit line or higher.
As a successful property investor and one of Thailand's leading investment coaches, the young tycoon has been invited to serve as one of seven specialist educators at the National Achiever Congress 2015.
Running Nov 21-22 at CentralPlaza Chaengwattana, the seminar will feature lead trainer Robert Kiyosaki, author of the international best-seller Rich Dad Poor Dad.
"I wanted to get rich so bad that I started reading key-to-success books when I was 14 years old," says Mr Kwanchai, who has trained more than 5,000 people. "The book Rich Dad Poor Dad inspired me and proved that investing is not about money and not just the rich can do it. Robert Kiyosaki is one of my idols."
The same unit after a facelift under a 20-million-baht renovation programme.
The shabby interior of one of the 70 units in the Chiang Mai condo when Mr Kwanchai purchased the building.