Perks wanted to try his hand at investing in property and renovating, eventually selling them for a profit.
"Me and a mate thought to ourselves, what have we got to lose? It just went from there."
The friends stumbled across Whanganui, where Perks said everything just clicked.
"We got that gut feeling. I absolutely love it here. I'm from a small town of 3000 back home, so a 50,000 people town is big to me. Whanganui has a great feel about it."
They purchased their first property and had it done up within eight weeks.
They sold the property, by which time Perks had decided to buy his friend out of the business and set up shop as a company based in Whanganui with his partner.
Perks Property Developments was born, alongside 'Cash4Property', where Perks offers cash payments to homeowners directly without the use of an agent, often within a time frame as low as 24 hours.
While Perks says he purchases property from agents around 85 per cent of the time, there have been occasions where he's been involved in quick sales, often from people needing money in a rush.
"Everyone's got a situation and everyone's different. I brought a house from a couple who needed to get to Australia, and they needed to get there tomorrow. We were able to help them out which was pretty cool."
Most of the work on the homes is done by local tradespeople and he claims to have invested over half a million dollars into the Whanganui construction industry.
Perks and his partner will complete most of the design, demolition and eventual cleanup, but otherwise rely on local businesses to do up the homes.
Perks says in the past two years the company would've spent over $500,000 on local Whanganui tradespeople
"At the end of the day, we're spending a lot of money in the local economy. We're not lying, we make a bit of money. But everybody benefits."
Perks said he had built everything himself, without any help from his parents or an outside investor.
"I sort of just worked hard and raised all the money. But my parents love it, they're really supportive."
As an Australian, the couple have always had their eyes set on returning home.
"Eventually we want to go back home, get some jobs and keep investing in Whanganui. I'm not a believer in taking profits from country to country. That's not fair on the economy."
Until that point, Perks is staying put, despite concerns Covid-19 might wreak havoc on the housing market.
"It's only made me more determined. I want to create enough to achieve what I want to achieve."
