CapitalQ Community Member in the Spotlight – Ray Ellis and Xceed Real Estate

Growing up in the environs of working class 1980s Balga and Westminister is likely not what many would consider their first-choice for a high-flying life of business and financial success. However, those that have attended a recent CapitalQ Workshop will know that your success is not a product of your circumstances. It is instead a product of your choices, your actions and your willingness to take personal responsibility for everything that comes your way. And our long time CapitalQ Community Member, Raymond Ellis of Xceed Real Estate, is living proof.

Ray is a true ‘property person’ as his story will attest. Having straddled all sides of the property equation, starting out as a passive investor, venturing into developments of ever expanding scale and now heading up one of Perth’s most successful property management businesses, there is little this man hasn’t experienced, and doesn’t know, about the spoils a life in property can bring.

The first thing most will ask, is where did you get started?

Ray recounts “When I finished school I managed to take my first step into the world of business via Edith Cowan University where I studied Commerce. It was at this time that I started to gain an appreciation of the potential of property. So whilst I was committed to my studies, I knew I needed to get some sort of financial backing behind me for what I wanted to do next. This meant working as many hours as humanly possible at my two, part time jobs.”

“Good results in the units I enjoyed and a stellar result during the Graduate Accountant recruitment season saw a prized job offer at the Big Four accounting firm, PWC.”

As enamoured as he was with the opportunity, Ray always knew it would merely be a stepping stone. More opportunities were to come. So, while he worked hard at PWC achieving all he could for his Clients, he chose to maintain both of his part time jobs (unheard of in that environment), and to continue to work diligently towards beginning his other career, his career in property.

Upon obtaining his Chartered Accountancy while at PwC, he continued to further his knowledge by enrolling at Curtin University, where he went on to complete a postgraduate Diploma in Property.

During this time Ray continued his life of learning outside of the lecture theatre and he discovered what he considered to be two all but certain truths –

  • Property is one of the most accessible ways for an everyday Australian to achieve their financial and lifestyle goals, and
  • After a decade of modest growth as of the late 90s and early 2000s, the WA property market was now primed for movement.

See Part 2 in days for more of Ray’s story.