My name is Chris, I'm a tiling contractor and my story starts at the end of 2009. The economic situation has affected me quite badly because people were not paying me. My wife and I couldn't make our payments, so we lost our house and had to live at her sister's place in a converted single garage for 6 months.

I was always told 'get a trade and work hard and you will be set for life'. So I did that and long story short - 30 years of hard work later, we have lost two family homes, been bankrupt twice and have put my wife and two children through hell. I had open heart surgery caused by the stress of our situation in the same week I buried my darling mother from cancer. I have always been trying to achieve a better life for my family.

Thanks to Mark Rolton and Massland I am finally on my way to achieving that. I attended the three day Property Optionsworkshop and learnt everything I could. I had no money behind me at all but because I am a Joint Venture partner of Massland, there is none of my own money or risk in any deal. Massland pays all the development approval costs and takes on all the risk. I find the deals and receive my profit share. My wife Teina is very supportive because there is no risk to us.

I love looking for deals and negotiating with owners. I pinch myself every time I go out to my van after an option is signed. I can't believe it's real. Two ears - one mouth - and a cup of coffee and they call it work. I can hardly believe it! It's fantastic. I'm use to spending all day tiling!

The craziest part is that before I attended the course with Mark I couldn't even turn a computer on. Now I can look for properties on RPData or look on council websites to find what I need. Best of all I can get out there and talk to owners and ask if they would like to option their property knowing they are getting more than the market value. It's great!

I have 3 deals under Option at the moment. Two of them are townhouse sites I unearthed and the third is a Splitter I discovered. The profit from the three deals will be more money than I have earned in the last 4 years! I just had to get up and do the chicken dance, I'm so excited!

My goal is to keep a townhouse from each deal I do and to own my own house and car with no debt and be able to stop tiling altogether. My goal for the future would be to do Options and developing full time and to travel with my wife and family. My wife and I are blessed with a lovely little granddaughter who is seven months old. I am so grateful to Mark and the Massland team because I know our granddaughter will never have to go through the hardship I have put my children and my darling wife through.

I am off and running with the Golden Goose (Massland) tucked firmly under my arm and I keep tripping over these Golden Eggs (Deals)! Isn't it fantastic!

Step 1: Getting Started

I attended the Property Options 3 Day weekend with Mark Rolton and learnt the content. I signed up to RPData taking advantage of the bulk discount Massland can offer and started to teach myself how to use a computer. It wasn't easy but I thought to myself - I learnt the skills of tiling for my trade, now I need to learn RPData because it is my new tool in making money.

Step 2: Find the Deal

Instead of looking at the council development website, I felt more comfortable going into the council and speaking in person. I headed in to ask questions about where they would allow people to build townhouses and left with maps and knowledge to get me started. I used RPData to target these areas and starting ringing owners to ask if they would like to option their properties. I found a site that was 2,428m2 which meant it could fit 12 townhouses. I rang the owner and he was happy to meet to discuss Optioning his property.

Step 3: Choosing the Right Strategy - Short Options

The strategy I chose is a Property Option which Mark taught us at our Property Options weekend. It gives me control of the property, even though I am not the owner and I have no debt and no risk. We can add value to the property with a Development Approval and on sell it to a Developer who will build the project. It this case, a developer wanted to take the site without a DA and so we sold it as a Short Option. I banked my money, $15,000 and kept moving forward looking for another deal - not bad for finding the site and having a meeting with the owner.

Step 4: Know the Numbers

At the three day workshop Mark taught us how to do a feasibility, to know if our deal is profitable or not. They are quite simple - find the information from agents or comparables, punch in the numbers and the spreadsheet calculates your profit for you. It's a great feeling to see the profit down the bottom of the sheet!

1. Option Price: $620,000
2. On Sell to Developer: $695,000
3. Profit to Joint Venture Partners: $75,000

I love looking for deals and talking to owners and am still amazed that this can make me money! So much more profitable than tiling!