Do THIS If You Want A Property Portfolio That ACTUALLY Makes Money

Most people start property investing in Australia thinking it's all about picking the right property…

Yet the investors who actually build wealth, create passive income, and reach financial freedom start somewhere completely different.

Miss this one step, and every investment property you buy after could be the wrong one.

In this episode of the No BS Property Investing Podcast, we break down one of the most overlooked fundamentals in Australian property investing - clarity of purpose.

Because even the best investment property means nothing if it doesn't align with your long-term property strategy, your timeframe, or your real financial goals.

Here's what we cover:

✅ Why most property investors have no clarity on their real financial goals
✅ The biggest mistake Australians make before buying an investment property
✅ How to align your property investment decisions with your life goals
✅ Why "passive income" from property isn't as simple as it sounds
✅ Setting realistic growth expectations and investment timeframes
✅ Why taking action beats over-planning your property portfolio
✅ The truth about how property wealth is actually built (hint: it's not linear)

Key Moments:

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:00 A 5-Year-Old's Property Wisdom
00:02:40 Goals Investors Actually Chase
00:04:20 Clarity Before Action
00:05:20 Partner Alignment
00:07:20 Setting Realistic Timeframes
00:09:00 Growth Expectations vs Reality
00:10:00 About Exit Strategies
00:11:40 Understanding Your Exit Number
00:12:20 The Slingshot Effect
00:13:20 Questions Before You Buy

If you’re trying to build wealth through property, this episode will help you cut through the noise and focus on what actually matters.

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👉Get In Touch With ALIC

https://www.ripehouseadvisory.com.au/lp/24/8/investment-lending-sign-up

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👉Access our “Top-Performing Suburbs” report to see the highest growth suburbs right now:

https://www.ripehouseadvisory.com.au/lp/25/09/pd/top-performing-suburbs-report-2025

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✅About Mark From ALIC✅

Ranked as Australia’s leading residential broker for the past seven years, Mark Davis is a director and investment lending manager at ALIC.

Winning 23 times broker of the year and $4.5 billion+under management - he co-founded the company in 2009 and has forged it into one of Australia’s most respected brokerages.

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✅About Ripehouse Advisory✅

Through their innovative ‘done for you’ property investment system, Ripehouse Advisory simplifies the investment process - enabling investors to build a property portfolio that generates substantial returns.

With a focus on long-term relationships, personalised strategies, and thorough research, Ripehouse Advisory empowers investors to create a financial legacy that can be passed on to future generations.

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✅Contact Ripehouse Advisory✅

https://www.ripehouseadvisory.com.au/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Today we're going to unpack one of the most important questions investors can ask themselves. Why are you actually buying property? Most people fit in three categories. They either want to buy their first home and pay it off, they want to upgrade their current home because they got into that and they've promised the missus or the kids that they're going to upgrade scale and you know do that without taking on more debt, and or they want to have a comfortable retirement.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

When we're talking to people about investing in property, we hear a lot of the same things. They want to build wealth, they want financial independence, they want a passive income. And we often hear things like, I want to have an income of $100,000, I want to have an income of $150,000. These arbitrary numbers that I'm not really sure people even understand what they are or how to get there. You sit across the desk of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people each year. What are the goals that they're talking about when they come and sit in front of you?

SPEAKER_01 0:52

I think uh Welcome back to the No BS Property Investing Podcast, the show for time poor Australians who want real strategies, not recycled guru content. And joining me today is our special guest, not Mark Davis for a change, but our general manager at Ripehouse Advisory, Ian Dowson. Ian's typically running the day-to-day behind the scenes at Ripehouse. However, he's a very experienced property investor himself with over two decades in the property space. Dows, welcome back to the podcast. Now, earlier this week, you told me a story about something that happened over breakfast with your little daughter Harlow. She's almost five years old, and you were sitting at a cafe before work talking about the ideas for the podcast, and you asked her a simple question. What do you think people should think about when they want to buy a house? And without missing a beat, little Harlow, maybe she's uh future Einstein in the making, why they want to buy it was her response. Now, that might sound like a pretty simple answer from a five-year-old, but it's actually a question a lot of investors never probably ask themselves, I think. So today we're gonna unpack one of the most important questions investors can ask themselves.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Why are you actually buying property? 100% true story, Jules. That's exactly what happened. Uh she just piped up and said, Why do they want to buy it? That was uh that was her response. Um I don't know if she really understood the meaning behind what she was talking about, but that was the answer she gave me, which I loved. And um and it sent off something in my mind straight away because I know you and I have been talking about this uh a fair bit recently, about modeling out outcomes, about looking at you know the future. And I know you and I do that. Maybe we do that too much, you and I. Uh we're but we're doing that religiously. So, Jules, when we're talking to people about investing in property, we hear a lot of the same things. They say they want to we want to hear that we hear these bud word buzzwords. They want to build wealth, they want financial independence, they want a passive income. And we often hear things like, I want to have an income of $100,000, I want to have an income of $150,000. These arbitrary numbers that I'm not really sure people even understand what they are or how to get there. But you sit across the desk of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people each year. What are the goals that they're talking about when they come and sit in front of you? I think uh it's a good question, Deus.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

I think for for most people, they are thinking they're the things that are important to them. But uh that's probably more tied to escapism, right? Like you're not happy with work or relationship or health or whatever it might be, and that is gonna be the silver bullet that fixes everything. When in reality there's what you want and what you need. And I think what most people are really looking for, they probably fit in three categories. They either want to buy their first home and pay it off, they want to upgrade their current home because they got into that and they've promised the missus or the kids that they're gonna upgrade scale and you know, do that without taking on more debt, and or they want to have a comfortable retirement. They don't want to be relying on the pension or you know, seeing that their parents had to do it tough or scale back. So I think for most people, that's the the three things like if you turned around and said, hey, if you followed this plan for 10 years, they would walk away going, I'd be rapped if I achieved one or all of those goals and we're way ahead of, I guess, where we were. Having that financial independence is probably the biggest thing that people really want.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

And do you think it's important for clients or for people going into property to have clarity on that goal before they start?

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Oh look, uh it's a bit of a tricky one because I think some people will and we've talked about this on another podcast, they'll want clarity, but then they'll spend ten years planning out the ten-year plan. And and I think the biggest and the most important thing for for everybody and anyone listening, action. Like we can always pivot and go a different direction if we're in a good financial position. But if we haven't done any of the work, we can't really do anything because I I say this, I've said it previously, there's three consonants in life that that will always be open for change. It's work, family, and health. Those three things will rarely stay the same for most people. So where you start your goal versus where you actually end up getting to can be completely different based off those three things kind of turning on you. But if you don't put the work in and do the actions, I think that's the most important part.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yeah. I think from a starting point, um, I think it is important to have a goal because goals create commitment and alignment, you know. Um so I and I think, you know, I talk about alignment, and Jules, I know you see this um all the time. Alignment between partners as well, you know, making sure that together you are aligned on the same thing before you even start. Because uh or you tell me, what do you see? Yeah, I think that's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

I think for for a lot of people, they it's most of the time we're dealing with couples that start the journey. Yeah. And like I said, like they'll start this and maybe one partner didn't want it as much as the other. Um and it might be like, well, we'll do well, we'll buy this first one or these first two, and then our focus is gonna swap switch to, you know, buying our first home or upgrading our home. So I think for a lot of people, it's just making sure you're aligned and you stick to that, because if you're not, it's gonna be cause issues for you down the track. And uh I that's why I mentioned like for most people, if they are ticking those boxes along the way, and we've been we're lucky enough now where we've got plenty of clients that they're at the position where that all they have can sell their property off, pay off their mortgage, and and act on those things, upgrading the home, you know, it's then they can really double down on building for for retirement. But uh yeah, I think alignment is super, super important. And that comes from also following through on each other's commitment. So it's like if we're gonna go buy the houses next, uh, but then we're gonna sell them off and pay off the mortgage. Well, if you promise your partner that once that's done, you're upgrading or whatever it might be, you've got to follow that through because it's it's it's making compromises on both sides of the fence.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

And this isn't a relationship counseling service to the way, Jules. Seek professional advice when it comes to that. But yeah, that is uh it is it is absolutely critical. And I think just alignment on those goals, you know, can help you uh shut out some of the external noise, too. If you're really focused and uh clear on where you're going, you know, some of the outside stuff uh you can tend to shut out a little bit more easily. Jules, talk to us about time frames and uh and having clarity on time frames and why time frames are important when you're looking ahead.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Yeah, I think this is a big one too, because you know we touched on alignment with a partner's. It's not going to be a 12-month thing, right? So like what you can't be saying to your partner is like, well, we'll just do this for 12 months or 24 months and then we'll get to that. Because buying, selling costs that they're not cheap, right? That's some reality, capital gains tax, et cetera. So just having really realistic, I'd say, time frames. So it's, babe, it's not going to be three years or two years, and then we'll it's well, well, we're gonna do this for five years. Are you committed? Don't you know, because what you don't want to do is you started the plan, and then two years down the track, whichever side of the fence it is, they're asking to change, because it's you you basically won't have seen much progress if you you go down that pathway. So I think realistic and clear time frames, don't don't overpromise something. Don't don't say it's gonna happen within two years, you're gonna have a million dollars in equity, because probably not unless you've gone really aggressive really, really quickly. So I think that one's a big, big important one as well. And uh just real realigning the goal sometimes along the way as well, because sometimes things mightn't have gone to plan for better or for worse. So having checkpoints and just realigning those time frames and making sure that that everybody's aligned.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Do you think most investors understand how their property is likely to perform over different time frames?

SPEAKER_01 8:54

If you're serious about building wealth through property, you don't just need a loan, you need a strategy. And that's exactly what the Australian Lending and Investment Centre delivers. Australia's most awarded brokerage. They're not just looking at what you can borrow, they'll build you a holistic lending plan tailored to your long-term goals. We use them, we trust them, and so do our clients. So to find out more or to book your complimentary lending strategy session, head to the link in the show notes to connect with the team. Thanks for listening. Now back to the video. I wouldn't say so. I mean, I I constantly have conversations with clients that are coming in now that maybe signed up with us in 2021 or 2022, and it's and it's guys, you've you've gone through a doubled. Yeah, you know, you've you've gone through a pandemic which then saw the building industry basically double, or not double, but that 50% increase on on building costs. Yep. That is an anomaly. So it's having realistic expectations along the way where like put it this way, if the average national growth is six percent and you're getting eight percent, that is a fantastic result. Like you shouldn't be coming into most investing thinking you're going to get double digit growth year on year on year on year. Like there's if if it was that simple, some of these um hedge funds and things out there, they would be that's where everybody would park their money. It's actually quite challenging because you've got all these different macroeconomic conditions which you can you can no one really can control. Though some experts will just say you just need to follow an 18-year property book and you'll be fine. But uh I think that the biggest one is just in terms of having realistic expectations, what happened over a short period of time isn't always going to happen in the next period of time as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Yeah. Let's talk about uh Jules, let's talk about exit strategies. Is that something that people should be thinking about when they're first entering, or is it too soon to be uh worrying about that stuff? Is that something that people should think about later? Talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Look, I think it's nice to have a goal because so you feel like you're working towards something. But the reality is like if it's AFL, you want to win the premiership, but that's just wanting it doesn't get you there, right? It's the it's the the rounds under 23, it's then the finals and all that kind of stuff, managing your workload, injuries, all those kind of things in the property space. It's good to have that as a goal, but it's the actions that are got to be the most important and also rewarding yourself in between. So we've we've talked about this recently, Dallas, where it's like, well, your property can be making your money on paper, but when does it actually feel like you're making progress? Is it when you sell that first investment down and pay off the mortgage or you buy your first home or upgrade your home? So you're actually celebrating the wins. I think those micro to medium goals along the way and ticking those off are more important than chasing the exit strategy because the thing with the exit strategy, anybody who's been in property long enough, like yourself or myself, things will change. Markets will adapt, you know, where where you park your capital over one period of time might not make sense later on as well. Government policies can change as well. So we can have an exit strategy in terms of, well, we need to build up A, B, and C to hit our retirement number. But how you're actually going to enact on that might change along the way. So I think it's it's good to have that as the end goal, but you've got to start with the actions at the beginning and and celebrate the little successes along the way.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Aaron Powell And do you think people understand what that exit strategy even looks like or what that level of exit is actually going to deliver them from a uh income point of view when they do exit? Yeah, I don't I don't think anybody really has it.

SPEAKER_01 12:27

I think from from from my side of the fence, um, you know, I'm I'm a bit different in terms of I'm fairly strong financial literacy. Most people I guess it's because it's not really taught in schools or uni unless you're really chasing down that pathway, right? So most people don't have strong financial literacy. Yeah. So people think when they're chasing, let's just say they're chasing a passive income goal, they think it's going to be nice and linear, right? They think that, well, if I'm chasing 150, year one I'll be at zero, year five, I'll be at 30 or 50k, year 10, I'll be at 70 or 100k, and at year 15 or 20, I'll be at 100. It just doesn't work. Like that, it it tends to kind of come through basically, of course, for lack of a better word, suffering or due diligence, right? And being really disciplined. And then eventually it's just like you're pulling the slingshot back, you're building up that capital, that equity, and then later on deploying that as you're starting to work less or look to exiting the workforce. So I think that's probably the biggest misconception people have. It's gonna be nice and linear, and life just gets easier and easier each and every year. It's not, it's through discipline that's gonna get you there.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah, cool. Um Jules, I know it's something that you and I are both passionate about. And um for anyone that's still listening to this conversation, um, we've got some exciting news coming up where you're gonna be having some conversations with clients around this type of thing uh moving forward. So we're gonna be opening up some opportunities for for clients to basically have a a a check-in with yourself to see where they're at on their path to where they're going, uh, which I think is is is going to be something really cool. So maybe just to wrap up, Jules, just as a bit of a final thought. Um, so before someone buys an investment property, what are some key questions they should be really asking themselves?

SPEAKER_01 14:08

I think number one, can I afford it? Uh and if I can't, what sacrifices or changes am I willing to make to see if it works? Because if you're not willing to make those sacrifices, you're just not gonna stick it out, right? You're gonna maybe do it for a year or two and then throw in the towel. Like property investing is a medium to long-term thing. It's not something that's just day trading on crypto or or stocks, right? So number one, can I afford it? Andor am I willing to make the changes to do so? And then number two is what and why am I doing it for? Like we the end goal of passive income is one thing, but what am I actually like what's gonna be the medium-term goal that's gonna make me carrot on a stick, make me feel like I'm gonna go back and keep repeating? You gotta you've got to have reward for effort along the way. So having those medium-term goals, I think, is uh is a very, very big one for people to chase. Because otherwise it just feels like you're doing it for the sake of doing it. Like just because someone told you to go to the gym or brush your teeth, you're doing it for the sake of doing it, you've got to see the the rewards come through as well.

unknown 15:08

Cool.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Well, uh, thanks for uh steering the ship today, Dowso. It's a bit different answering the questions, but uh, I guess here's the no BS takeaway. Most people think investing is about picking the right property, but in reality, it's about being clear on the destination. Because if you don't know what outcome you're actually trying to achieve, it becomes very difficult to know whether the property you're buying is the right one or it's just the next one. Understanding your goal, your time frame, and the realistic performance of property over time is critical before making any investment decision. If you want clarity on what your long-term property strategy should actually look like, you can always book a call in with myself via the link in the show notes. If you want some advice on the investment lending side of things, as always, the team at ALIC and Mark's link will be in there as well. We'll tell you straight where you stand and whether the property decisions you're making today are actually helping you get where you want to go. As always, thanks for listening and we'll catch you on the next episode. Bye for now.