The Property Unleashed Podcast

Stop Chasing The “Easy Money” Property Play

• Mark Fitzgerald • Episode 375

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Picking the “most profitable” property strategy sounds smart until you realise you don’t actually want to live that business day after day. 


I’m Mark Fitzgerald, and I’m digging into the real reason so many investors stall, quit, or stay stuck in the research loop: they choose a property investing strategy for money first, then wonder why their drive disappears when the work gets hard or repetitive. 


We talk through how to pressure-test your direction without wasting years. If you’re starting with little capital, you’ll often look at deal sourcing or rent-to-rent, and even then the path can split fast: HMOs demand strong systems and compliance, while serviced accommodation leans heavily on operations and guest experience. We also touch BRR, flipping, and assisted sales so you can think clearly about capital needs, time demands, and what you’ll genuinely enjoy executing. 


I also share why a higher purpose matters more than most people admit. Beyond income and passive cash flow, I’m focused on legacy and impact, including work across supported living, social housing, and temporary accommodation through Social Spaces Solutions UK. When your strategy matches your values and your lifestyle goals, consistency becomes simpler and results follow.


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Why Strategy Drives Your Results

Today, we're going to talk about why your property investing strategy is so important to you and the results that you may or may not be seeing. Let's cover that now.

Midyear Check In And Momentum

Hello and welcome to the Property Unleashed with me, your host, Mark Fitzgerald. So I hope you are all well and winning as we have reached nearly, or nearly reached, should I say, the halfway point of the year. Unbelievable, I have to say. The halfway point of the year. Honestly, I think this year is one of those where you blink and miss it. So, how has the year gone for you so far? I have to say that I think time has flown from my perspective here at the Property Unleashed HQ, because this year has meant a lot more to me than a lot of the other years with the strategies and the property businesses that I'm building and growing. And I wanted to touch on that today because the old saying goes, if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. And I've always thought, well, that's great, but there's always things that you have to do that you're not always 100% happy about and things like

Money First Leads To Burnout

that. And of course, that is true in life, that is true in property investing. But if you're trying to get out of that rat race or you're trying to build that legacy piece or retirement fund for yourself, you do still need to make sure that the property strategy that you are looking at using, that you are going to be doing, is pretty much 100% what you enjoy, what you are passionate about. Because I see this far too often, people are struggling to actually do anything in property, to actually see or get results. Or maybe even they've started, they're getting results, but it's just not fulfilling them. Now, a lot of the time, what you can end up doing is picking a strategy just because you think it's going to make you the most money, just because you think it's the easier option from a lot of the different strategies out there, and that is the wrong way to go about this, completely and utterly. And I can tell you from experience that I have done this. I have started property businesses, I have done certain property strategies that have not fulfilled me, that I haven't always enjoyed. And it's not always about the money. In the beginning, it is about the money. Of course it is. I want as much money as possible. Want to get out of my day job, want to do this, want to do that. But that soon wears thin. If you haven't got a passion about it, if you're not enjoying it, you will struggle, you will self-sabotage your own results, and you will wonder why you're doing this. And I have walked away from businesses. This was quite early on as well, but before I learnt all of this properly, that I'm trying to help you with. But I've walked away from property businesses that I've built that have been successful, that have been growing, that have been producing good income, just simply because they weren't a passion of mine. Okay, the money was there. Oh, yes, the money was there, but I was miserable. And I remember that feeling when I had my corporate day job, 16 years in the corporate world of making good money but feeling unfulfilled, and I didn't have a passion for what I was doing anymore. And in that particular business, and I've had a few businesses now, that was how I felt. Now I've always enjoyed my rent-to-rent business because it's been quite a diversified business in the sense that I've done the HMO strategies and I've done service accommodation, and both of those have their pros and cons, like anything else, but they can be quite good. It depends on how big you want to grow your business. I mean, if you're looking at being a big agent and having hundreds of properties, fair play, but go into it for the right reasons. Don't go in and build something like that because you want the money, if you haven't got a passion for it. Whereas me, I like to have a couple of handfuls of different types of properties to be able to bring my income through that, then allows me to go and grow other businesses, and of course, to have a bit of time freedom, which is massive.

Comparing Strategies And Finding Fit

So, what's the right strategy for you? Well, if you're first starting out and you've got no money, you're probably looking at strategies like deal sourcing, like rent to rent. You're probably not looking at BRR strategies unless you've got investors and you've got ways of getting funds, or of course, flipping properties. Assisted sales, they can be quite good as well. But again, you do need to have money in there. So that's why a lot of people are looking at like being deal sourcers or rent to rent as a startup, and that could be rent to rent with the HMO strategy, or rent to rent with, of course, serviced accommodation holiday lets. But have you got a passion for those types of properties?

Learning Options Through ETA Community

Because at the moment, in my inner circle, I'm really getting down to this, down to the brass taps with the individuals on there of what their passion is. Because once you've got a passion for what you're doing and you enjoy it, you get a bit of a spring in your step. Now, an ETA, which is our community where you can come and join, you get the opportunity in there to actually learn all of the different strategies. Now, the reason that pays dividends is because you don't have to spend thousands and thousands of pounds on training to realize that it's probably not your passion. You can actually work out exactly the pros and the cons because we don't just tell you all the upsides, we tell you the real ways of doing things, real life case studies, how things have gone wrong, what we've had to solve, what we've had to learn along the way as well. And that's why people in ETA are absolutely loving it. Now, ETA is a platform that's very, very affordable, it's only 97 pounds a month, actually. And you get access to loads of different trainings. So you can work your way through those trainings and then see which one really resonates with you. Is it rent to rent? Is it HMOs? Is it service to accommodation? Is it flipping properties? Is the BRR strategy potentially? Is it deal sourcing? Is it assisted sales? All of those we have in-depth training for, and we have live coaching sessions as well for you'll be able to ask questions and really dig deep into those. So, what I highly recommend is whether you look at ETA, which of course you can find at the propertyunleas.com website or at education toaction.com, have a little look at that. But if you've still undecided about the strategy that you want to do, then go and have a little look at this or another platform, whatever, out there, so that you can really get a detailed approach and idea on the strategy that you want to be doing. Because once you really get a passion for the strategy that you want to do, there'll be nothing to stop you. You should see amazing results. Chances are, if you're floundering a bit, if you're just not getting the results, if you're not believing in yourself right here, right now, that's because you're probably chasing a strategy that is more about the money than it is about actually making a difference or getting the results that you're truly trying to get. Because I do believe that once you know exactly what it is that you want, you take the steps each and every day, you are consistent and persistent in your approach. You cannot fail. You will get the results that you want.

Building With Purpose And Legacy

As I've spoken about in the podcast before, we work now with supported living, social housing, temporary accommodation, and C2 children's homes with a lot of investors. We do this ourselves as well. And of course, I have the new business, Social Spaces Solutions UK, that helps bridge that gap. Now, the thing is, last year, when I was sat down and I was looking at planning out what I wanted to be doing this year, I basically had fundamentally three things that were going to be my main focus. One of them is, of course, property investing, is my property businesses, and one of those, and then the other one is social spaces, which is making an impact and really getting out there and helping people that are less fortunate than ourselves through the social housing supported living sector. And the last focus was ETA, which is my online community, the podcast itself here, and of course, my inner circle mastermind, of which I have one in London and one in Sheffield, and we meet up every six weeks, and of course, we go through and have workshops and mastermind sessions. Those are my three main business focus for 2026. And as we're into getting to halfway through the year now, I have absolutely been able to take those sectors, take those parts of my businesses, and really make sure that they are performing there as well. So you need to make sure that you're doing the same, that you're picking something or a strategy, or you're you're building your property business from the ground up with a passion and with a real drive. And if you are doing that, then you will start to see amazing results. And it's a great thing to be able to say, you know, we're we're seeing great results in our community and with our inner circles as well, as people really do start to pinpoint what they're passionate about and how they're going to move themselves forward as well. So if you're struggling with this, then do check out education to action.com, check out the propertyunleash.com as well. You can find tools and resources. There's a lot of free stuff on there, deal analyzers, spreadsheets, guides to different things. Go and tap into it, start reading it, start enjoying it. I'll put a link in the show notes as well. So if you do get show notes, you can potentially click on those as well. Or feel free to reach out to us if you want to have a little chat about anything. You know, if you've got properties that are underperforming, let's uh let's have a little look and let's see whether or not we can get a provider involved, give you that passive income that you want. But sit down and really give it some thought. Whether you've started or not, how are you feeling about what it is that you've started? Is it driving you forward or are you just finding the day-to-day of it all draining? Because if it's draining, what's the point in doing it? Life's too short. And as I always say, give it a higher purpose. Don't just do things for the money. For me, it's all about legacy, but it's also all about making a bit of a difference. If I can make a small little dent, a small little difference in a few people's lives, then I've come here, I've come onto this great, great big earth, and I've managed to actually make a difference. Then that is so, so rewarding for me. I've also, even when I got into property, I wanted to be able to at some point be able to give something back to be able to help other people. And I was thinking very early on, actually, if I go back to my old journals, how I could do that, what sort of difference I could I could make to people uh less fortunate than ourselves, people that were homeless, people that were struggling as well. And now with social spaces, I've been able to do that. So I'm a massive believer, as probably a lot of you are, in manifestation, in you know, thinking it, writing it down, journaling about it, giving it ideas. Yes, it's taken me a long time to actually now get into this sector and to really get out there and help people and make a difference and work with investors and landlords and, of course, partner them up with the right providers. But now I'm doing it, I'm absolutely loving it. I'm so fulfilled in what I'm doing. Get up each day with a spring in my step. I schedule my days out. I have obviously calls for social spaces, I have calls and viewings and things to do in my property business. I have coaching calls that I do with my one-to-one clients, and of course, we have the ETA community where we jump on different live sessions there as well, which is very, very exciting. And of course, you want to surround yourself and put yourself in the right environment with the right people. So have a little think about those different strategies. Let me know in well, email me or whatever, send it across. I'm very easy to get a hold of, or send me a message if you're struggling a little bit with the strategy that you want. You're not 100% sure it's the right one for you. And as I say, if we can help you point you in the right direction, we're more than happy to do so. But make sure that your strategy means more to you than just money. Because money, whilst it's great, will wear thin. If it hasn't got a higher purpose, if it doesn't mean more to you than just a financial gain, chances are you'll play at it, you won't put everything into it, and you won't see the results that you want to

Resources, Outreach, And Closing

see. Thank you for joining me here today. I hope this episode's helped you. If it has, then brilliant. Please feel free to like and share it if you think somebody needs to hear this at the moment that might be struggling. Check out thepropertyunleash.com for free tools, property training, and resources. And I look forward to you joining me in the next episode very soon. Take care and bye for now.