In 2007, James Goren thought he had the perfect life: happy family, big house, expensive toys and a good job. But it wasn't until he came close to losing it all that he discovered just how tenuous this pretty picture was. The potential implosion of everything Goren held dear was the catalyst he needed to set about building a new fife for himself and his family. Its been tough, but he's now got a different kind of perfect life: one where he's in control of his future. Goren and his wife visited New Zealand on holiday in the late 1990s and fell in love with it. In 2002, they decided to move here from Israel, and immediately could see the advantages of their new home. They loved the laid-back attitude, the shorter working days and the beautiful beaches. Goren began working for a large US-owned business as a process engineering manager, moved from Wellington to Auckland, and the couple started a family. They discovered a passion for jet-skiing and bought a house, then traded up to a bigger one: "Life was perfect; you couldn't ask for any more." Then in 2008, a close family friend had a business problem: he needed $50,000 to help cashflow his company, only for two months, then he would repay it. Goren was able to help out, using equity from his home. Two months went by, then three. Then the friend needed another $50,000 to finish a . big project and prevent his company going under (with all the money being lost). Eventually, Goren lent the man $200,000, of which only a small amount has ever been recovered. "He took me by the 'salami method': one slice at a time. He ended up taking $10 million from innocent Kiwi people," Goren says. "He was deported from New Zealand. But for two or three years I was busy with this dark side - chasing money, feeling I had been conned, working with lawyers - it was very stressful. It stopped my life. You get into a black hole and it's very hard to get out."
FROM BAD TO WORSE
Once Goren had waded through the mess, he was hit with another shock: he was among 40 people slated for redundancy from his company. If being conned was being slowly sliced, thinking you're going to lose your job was "an extreme shock - like being chucked into iced water in Antarctica". Stressed and depressed, Goren managed to retain his job by rallying supportive suppliers and arguing his case. But contemplating what would have happened if he'd lost his job was sobering and the experience triggered something inside him: "It makes you think really hard. The penny dropped. Something had to be done."
GETTING EDUCATED
Initially he felt property was too risky, but his engineer's brain loved building and construction so he decided to do some more research. He shopped around, before choosing Ron Hoy Fong as a mentor, while at the same time reading books by successful entrepreneurs like Richard Branson. Goren spent plenty of time learning all the potential strategies and angles he could take, deciding that he was going to focus on premium properties in good locations that would attract excellent professional tenants. "It was not easy for me to start. I refinanced my house to the roof, which required an extreme mindset change when I had just lost hundreds of thousands. I used that for deposits and renovations," he says. "I spent time understanding how equity works and how to improve the value - I decided that would be my specialty. Most investors buy with their fingers crossed, but I back-engineered it: start from where you want to be and work backwards to make it happen. It's a numbers game." One unusual step he took was to pay valuers to come with him to visit prospective properties and work through scenarios. What would the house be worth if he moved that wall and created another bedroom? What if he moved the kitchen? His aim was to create $200,000 equity on every house in five weeks. The first property he bought was a one-bedroom unit in Mission Bay that had recently been renovated. His plan to rearrange the internal layout and create a second bedroom wasn't popular with the company that had just installed the new kitchen - they refused to come back and demolish it. Goren says that's typical of the short-sightedness he often sees in the market. Instead of thinking about the bigger picture, people either can't or won't look past what's right in front of them. "I've been very successful at destroying brand new things," he laughs. "I know what I'm going to achieve in five years' time. I like my places to be like five-star hotels and get a premium price. When the market's low, I'll have first priority. I can always drop my price if I have to. It's a competition and I want to be at the top."
RENOVATION KING
So far Goren has purchased nine properties in central Auckland and the North Shore and says the numbers on each of them are nearly identical thanks to his reverse equity engineering strategy. By managing his renovations and properties with the same methodical, organised approach he used on production lines, Goren is able to achieve excellent results in short timeframes. His success didn't go unnoticed by his fellow investors, so when he was maxed-out after buying five properties, Goren took up some of his friends' requests to manage their renovations. That was only a few years ago and Goren's company, The Renovation Team, has since completed 65 houses. The cashflow allowed Goren to buy the next four properties, while also giving him a safety net in case the axe fell once again at his company. And fall it did. Late last year the company did another round of redundancies, laying off 50 people. Goren was in the firing line again, but this time he felt completely different about it. With a plan in place to support himself and his family, he thanked his employers of 15 years and gracefully took his leave. His properties service themselves and his renovation business has stepped up to provide cashflow. "I'm super busy with my renovations, we have five full sites on the go at the moment and another six or seven waiting in the queue for the next four months," Goren says. "I definitely want to focus on quality, not quantity, so I don't want to take on too much. I'm in the happiness business. I want to make our customers happy and give them good properties to live in. This is a full service, turnkey solution. I look after absolutely everything. From the moment we get the keys it's five weeks, and the customer can go to Fiji for a nice vacation. They don't need to do anything - just come back and walk into a shiny house with a bottle of champagne waiting for them."
His long-term plan is to get into construction, helping to deliver projects on time and on budget - particularly for first-home buyers. Along with two investor friends, Goren would like to build entry-level first homes that provide a high standard of living in a compact smart design. Now full-time on his renovations and with other plans in the pipeline, Goren has his future completely in his own hands. He's no longer vulnerable to an employer and he's not going to be stung by a conman again - he knows exactly where all his money's invested.
"People really need to understand what's driving them," he says. "Wealthy? What does that mean? What's driving the person? I had extreme motivation from big losses and the feeling of how it could have been to be [made] redundant. I knew I must do something for my family and myself. I've been working to give myself the ability not to have to worry -just to have a comfortable future."
LEFT Manukau Road, Epsom living room and kitchen before Goren's high-end renovation transformed the space.