Tim Calder was just 18 when he bought his first student flat in Dunedin.
Now, the University of Otago graduate has 10 flats in his property portfolio and keeps track of them from Germany, where he works for an investment bank.
Although it might seem a logistical headache, given that Mr Calder lives on the other side of the world, it led him to develop better methods of communication, both for his tenants and his Prime Campus team.
It has also seen him become involved with three other master of entrepreneurship graduates, utilising their skills to provide virtual flat viewing technology.
Brought up on a farm in the Bay of Plenty, Mr Calder (31) headed south in 2002 for tertiary studies, drawn to the University of Otago by its rugby and student culture.
He combined study with various part-time jobs, including a duty-free salesman at the airport, duty manager at the ''Gardies'' and a bouncer at various pubs and night clubs.
After buying his first property, he signed up a group of friends to flat with him the following year.
The rate included power, internet, telephone, furnishings and food, as he wanted to afford to create a nice home out of a ''cold old student flat''.
That strategy worked so well that the flat qualified the following year as a suitable homestay for international students from the Otago Language Centre.
His rugby coach and local businessman, Peter Taylor, introduced him to large-scale student property developers John Farry and Tony Clear.
Mr Calder ran their new student accommodation complex, Willowbank Quarter, in the former Wilson's Whisky distillery which, at that time, was head-leased to the University Flats Office for international exchange students.
He worked for Mr Farry and Mr Clear for six and a-half years, eventually taking on all their student flats in Dunedin and a fledgling self-storage company called EzyStor.
It was the ''ultimate opportunity'' for a young aspiring property investor to be mentored by two experienced investors and he learnt ''a huge amount''.
Mr Calder, who co-founded web-based start-up networking group The Distiller, completed his studies, which included a commerce degree, master of entrepreneurship and a master of business administration in July 2011.
He then flew to Europe to do his OE and follow his girlfriend, Louisa von Behren, who had been accepted at King's College, London, for master's degree studies.
Since then, he has worked for investment bank Aviate Global in both London and now Hamburg, his fiancee's home city, where he is a global equity analyst.
Communication over his flats largely entailed keeping administration digital as it was not feasible, in many cases, to post the likes of tenancy agreements and other documents and building plans back and forth from Europe to New Zealand.
About a year ago, Mr Calder was speaking to Dr Jodyanne Kirkwood, one of his former university lecturers.
She mentioned she had some talented technologists on her master of entrepreneurship course who were starting new businesses.
Enter Keir Russell who, with his business partners, provides building information modelling and marketing images for real estate, property management and asset management, and Martin Haanen, from QNTFI, a business which provides a mapping service using a hand-held 3-D laser scanner.
Mr Calder's brother, Ben, who runs digital check-in company Wherewolf - and who coincidentally has a master's degree in entrepreneurship - also became involved.
With their combined skills, they came up with a solution to enhancing the online viewing experience, improving security, which included reducing the ''intrusion'' of strangers through a flat, and reducing administration costs.
Once online, prospective tenants could virtually ''walk'' through each of Mr Calder's flats, using QNTFI's floor plans as a guide, and get a 360deg view of each room, using Mr Russell's technology, as well as seeing traditional high-resolution photos.
The paperwork was then completed online, the goal being to automate and streamline as much of the resource-intensive process as possible, saving labour, physical office space, and materials, while letting the tenant ''drive the process'', Mr Calder said.
He believed the technology could ''dramatically'' help international students select and digitally sign up a flat before they arrived in the country.
''Being able to confidently organise long-term accommodation before actually arriving in Dunedin might actually help attract more international students to the university to study.
''The thought of arriving without any guarantee of finding a nice place to live for the year would quite likely put off many potential international students from travelling across the world to study here,'' he said.
Although there had been ''tough times'' building his portfolio, Mr Calder had been fortunate to have had a great team around him, and also the mentoring he received in the early years.
He was very aware of the potential risks and pitfalls of owning property so consistently upgrading them was ''essential'' to maintain high standards, he said.
His long-term goal was to either acquire or merge with other portfolios of high standard prime campus student flats in other university cities.
Once it was large enough, he hoped to provide other services included in the rent, such as more affordable power and food delivery options.
