For dual-income professionals who want work to be a choice. The plan to make your job optional, and the team that stays on it with you until you get there.
Build my Exit PlanHandle Properties is a data-led buyers agency for professionals who want their job to become optional. Most buyers agents stop at settlement. We start with your Exit Plan: your job-optional number, how many properties it takes, in what order, and where super and commercial fit. Then we buy each property with you, anywhere in Australia the data says the numbers work. We buy 5 to 10% under bank value, and we don't get paid on any property until it settles.
Build my Exit Plan Your first version is built live on a free call, on your numbers.
71.5% of Australia's 2.25 million property investors own just one investment property, and fewer than 10% own three or more (ATO taxation statistics, 2020-21). It is rarely the deposit that stops them. Banks assess buffered repayments across every loan you hold, so each purchase eats into the borrowing capacity for the next one. Without a plan past the first property, most people stall there.
The Exit Plan is that plan, and the team that runs it with you.
On our working figure of about $25,000 a year per unencumbered property (around $600,000), replacing $100,000 of take-home means about four properties held debt-free. That usually means buying around six and selling two to clear the debt. Your plan works out the order, the timing and the vehicle for each one: your own name, a trust, your SMSF or commercial.
Illustrative only. Your number depends on your income, borrowing, the market and lending conditions.
We can't promise you a date, and nobody honest can. What we can do is make sure no time is wasted between purchases.
Most investors buy near home. We call it postcode bias: it feels safe because it is familiar, not because the numbers work. A median Sydney house is valued at $1,466,060 with a 3.0% gross yield, according to Cotality's Home Value Index as at 30 September 2026. For most budgets, the strongest numbers are elsewhere.
Every suburb we buy in passes a 29-check screen, and our model scores 3,393 Australian suburbs on demand, growth, yield and community. As at 20 October 2026, its top-rated suburbs between $400,000 and $850,000 cluster in these regions:
| Region | Top-rated suburbs | Median price | Gross yield | Vacancy | 12-month growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Townsville, QLD | 16 | $662,500 | 4.6% | 1.0% | 16.8% |
| Central Queensland | 14 | $650,000 | 4.8% | 1.3% | 15.0% |
| Mackay, Isaac and Whitsunday, QLD | 11 | $700,000 | 5.1% | 1.3% | 16.2% |
| Cairns, QLD | 10 | $760,000 | 4.9% | 1.2% | 18.0% |
| Toowoomba, QLD | 10 | $755,000 | 4.0% | 1.0% | 19.2% |
| Wide Bay, QLD | 8 | $691,500 | 4.7% | 1.1% | 19.2% |
| Bunbury, WA | 6 | $745,000 | 4.8% | 0.9% | 26.4% |
| Launceston and North East, TAS | 6 | $695,000 | 4.6% | 0.8% | 16.0% |
Source: Handle Properties suburb model, medians of the top-rated 10% of suburbs priced $400,000 to $850,000 in each region, data as at 20 October 2026. Past growth is not a guide to future growth; every property still has to clear our screen on its own.
Recent client purchases include Townsville, Logan, Bundaberg, Rockingham, Armadale (WA), Launceston, Mildura, Bendigo, Ballarat and South Grafton. These are proof points, not a boundary. The list changes as the data changes.
Handle is built for households that own between none and two properties, can comfortably put around $2,500 to $3,000 a month towards property, and want work to become optional. It is not the right fit if you want to renovate or develop, would rather learn and do it yourself, or are buying a home to live in. If your numbers don't support a plan yet, we'll say so and tell you what has to change.
| Handle | Typical buyers agent | Doing it yourself | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | A plan to job optional, then each purchase | One property | Whatever you can research |
| Where they stop | When work is optional | At settlement | When time or borrowing runs out |
| Where they buy | Anywhere the data says | Usually their own city | Usually near home |
| How they are paid | $3k membership, then a fixed fee per property at settlement | Fixed fee or a percentage of price | Your time |
| Finance | In-house broker, lender order set for purchases two and three | Your own broker | Your own broker |
Live in a capital? See the page for Sydney professionals.
It depends on the income you want to replace and your borrowing. As a working figure, an unencumbered property of around $600,000 produces about $25,000 a year, so replacing $100,000 of take-home means about four properties held debt-free, usually by buying around six and selling two. Handle builds your exact number and order in your Exit Plan. Figures are illustrative.
Borrowing usually runs out because banks assess buffered repayments across every loan you hold. Handle plans around it: we buy for 5 to 6% gross yield so properties carry more of themselves, set the lender order up front so later purchases stay possible, and use lenders that count bonus and RSU income. When banks say stop, the plan steps up to SMSF and commercial property.
Yes. Most Handle clients live in Sydney or Melbourne and buy in another state or a regional market. Every shortlisted property gets a video walkthrough, independent building and pest inspection and full checks before you see it. We coordinate the broker, conveyancer and property manager, and you approve by message. Expect about 3 hours of your time per property.
Three steps. Exit Plan Lite is free and built live on your first call. The full Exit Plan is a $3,000 one-off membership. Each property is $13,000 plus GST, paid at settlement, or 1.5% plus GST for commercial. We buy 5 to 10% under bank value and our average is $27,000 under, which on a typical purchase is about double the fee.
Your plan shouldn't depend on either. Handle buys to a 5 to 6% gross yield and stress-tests every purchase at 2% above current rates before you commit. National values fell for six straight months to September 2026 while regional markets held up better. A softer market can mean more room to negotiate, but only if your buffers are solid, which is why the Buffer Rule exists.
Before you hand in your notice, AJ and Nik run the Resign-Ready Check with you: income from the portfolio, remaining debt, buffers, and a stress test. All planned borrowing is done while you are still employed, because lending gets much harder after you leave. The answer is either "go" or "not yet, here's the gap".
Dual-income professional households that own between none and two properties, can put around $2,500 to $3,000 a month towards property, and want work to become optional. Many clients work in tech, medicine, law and finance and live in Sydney or Melbourne. Handle is not built for developers, renovators, or people who want to learn and do it themselves.
Build my Exit Plan Your first version is built live on a free call, on your numbers.
Written by Ahijith (AJ) Chandra, co-founder of Handle Properties. Updated October 2026. Handle Properties is a licensed buyers agency. We are not financial, credit, tax or superannuation advisers; structure, SMSF and tax advice comes from our licensed partners. The job-optional number, property counts and milestones are illustrative projections on stated assumptions, not a promise of future results. "Bank value" means a valuation ordered through Handle's broker at purchase.
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