Data Over Gut Feel — How Alex Littlejohn Built a Property Portfolio Using Numbers, Not Noise

In this episode, Adrian sits down with Alex Littlejohn — a data-driven investor who built his property portfolio across Rockhampton and Launceston using a disciplined buy-settle-wait strategy.

Alex shares why he chose property over stocks and commodities (hint: leverage), how he uses data instead of backyard barbecue tips to pick suburbs, and why outsourcing to a buyer's agent was the smartest move he made.

Key topics:
- Why leverage makes property the ultimate wealth-builder
- Using data to select investment suburbs
- The buy-settle-wait strategy explained
- How to invest without it consuming your life
- Why outsourcing beats DIY property research
- Alex's advice to new investors: just start

Watch the full video episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZLG6JIr0eg

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🏡The Property Investor Next Door: 100 Property Stories🏡

This series features 100 real Australians sharing the unpolished truth about building a property portfolio -  what worked, what didn't, and how it actually felt.

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➡️About Ripehouse Advisory⬅️

Ripehouse Advisory is an Australian buyer's agency and consultancy that's helped over 11,000 investors take a patient, considered approach to building long-term wealth through property.

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📞 See How Ripehouse Advisory Could Help You📞

Book an obligation-free call here: https://www.ripehouseadvisory.com.au

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This series isn't about how to invest. It's about how decisions feel and how they compound over time, especially the ones that you carry quietly. Here, we listen to how people think and the moments that shaped how they make decisions today. Today, I'm speaking with Alex, who took a more measured approach to investing. Not chasing quick wins or trying to outsmart the market, but focusing on making solid, data-driven decisions that fit around his life. What's interesting here is how that mindset plays out in practice and what it actually looks like to build wealth steadily without overextending or over-complicating it. Alright, Alex, welcome to the show. I guess I wanted to start first before. So you started investing with Ripe House, I believe it was, was it 22, 23?

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yeah, that's right. We've been on board with Ripe House uh yeah since 22, 23. It's been a great experience so far. Really enjoying what they came up with.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

What what was your um because I want to talk about investing you know in in general? So what was your mindset, I guess, toward money and investing before you before you started getting into property?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yeah, look, we we really wanted to keep it simple and you know, something that that was easy for us being uh time poor in our in our general life. So yeah, we're we're looking for something that uh you know fed us the data and fed us the information, and really also recognising that property wasn't our skill set as a team. So uh yeah, we're looking for that sort of information to be fed to us. Um and as far as our mindset, look, you know, like everyone, we're just looking to uh create wealth and and set up the future, and and uh property to us was something that is we can leverage, and you know, that was just an important piece of the puzzle for our uh wealth plans.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Yeah, I mean, like how I guess specifically did you decide that property was the vehicle for investment? Because obviously there's a whole bunch of other options, you know, there's obviously well commodities, like you work in commodities, there's stocks and stuff. What made property the one that you were like, okay, I'm really gonna commit to this?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Yeah, it's the ability to leverage it, really. So it's the size of the investment and the ability to leverage that by borrowing the money and having that work for you. So yeah, property for us, you know, was really the the no-brainer.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

How long would you say you thought about it before you committed? Do you think there was like a period of like, yeah, we kind of want to do it, but we don't know where to start? Or was it like, you know what, let's do this. Bang, straight into it.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Oh no, look, you know, we by the time we got ourselves established and we're looking for the next opportunities. Yeah, I mean, that that happens over a few years. And, you know, prior to Ripe House, we had other investments and and you know, smaller property investments. So yeah, we'll we're really looking to kick start it and get the the next levels sort of starting to build for us.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

You mentioned those those uh previous property investments. Did they go well? Were they okay?

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Or was it Yeah, look, I I mean the Aussie market is quite um good in that way that you you don't have to uh have the best information to be uh making good gains in property, I I think over the last however long, and certainly since we've been investing. So look, there's plenty of people that have winely made good money, I'm sure, in property over the years. But rather than getting the the backyard tip on the next hotspot, we were really looking for data-driven information that we could use and analyse, and sort of, you know, that takes the the emotion out of the decision making for us. And again, you know, recognising that that's not our skill set and that we leave that to the professionals, and that's what you're buying when you sign up with Ripehouse.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Yeah. How did you initially come across Ripehouse? Were there some like had they been recommended to you? How did you uh decide?

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yeah, good friend, yeah, a good friend of mine had used Ripehouse in the past, so we um you know took his advice and uh and got on board, but again, not without doing our own due diligence and checks. And once we'd seen the information at Jacob, we were really comfortable with uh what Ripehouse was offering. And yeah, most importantly, the data they provide, you know, it's a it's a scientific, you know, summary of of the next hotspots, which is what we're looking for. But yeah, I mean, that's not to say that you know, buying properties on the outskirts of Melbourne or something like that wouldn't be um have been you know good investments over the years as well.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Well, you sound like a very data-driven facts kind of guy. That's good. I think it's it's gonna serve you very well in the in the property game. Yeah. What was that first purchase through Ripehouse?

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Well, the first purchase we did was uh in Rockhampton in 2022, 23. And yeah, been very happy with that property. It's really um gone up a lot in uh in value. And yeah, look, no investments perfect. There's sort of you know landlord type issues and things we've dealt with along the way, but uh it's it's never been a property that's been vacant for too long, and yeah, we we've got good returns and good yields out of it over the time.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Great. And then so that was 22, 23, and then it was 24. Uh we then then decided to buy another property through Ripehouse.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, that's right, and that's probably part of our how we're building wealth. We we like to have the property settle, give it a year or two, and then go again, and that'll continue to be our our um strategy. So, yeah, 24 we purchased a place down in Wanceston in Tasmania, and again, that that's been great. The growth has been not as high as as Rockhampton yet, but um we're assured that that's uh on its way, and look, it's it's returned us great rental yields in the meantime. So, yeah, certainly um no issues with our property and and it's hitting all you know our expectations.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Strategy-wise, did you have uh did you have an idea going into it like right at the start what you were going to do, or is it something that you've kind of pieced together as you've as you've gone through the journey? If you're serious about building wealth through property, it's not just about buying a property, okay? It's about buying the right one. That's where Ripehouse Advisory stands out. Their team are experienced property investors themselves, combining deep data from LGA right down to suburban street level analysis with hands-on human due diligence that goes beyond the spreadsheets. So to find out more and see how they can help you with your property strategy, head to the show notes and book a call with Ian and the team. Now, back to the video.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah, look, we're we're not married to any strategy really. We're just trying to make good decisions, comfortable decisions at the time that that suit our lifestyle. We're not trying to overextend ourselves beyond our means. So, yeah, the strategy sort of evolves as we do, and you know, our financial goals will continue to develop and change in the next five and ten years as well. So that sort of strategy suits us without overextending us.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

What is what is the dream? What is the goal here? What would you like to get out of this in the next 10, 20 years? Do you have this kind of blue sky idea of what you're after?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Yeah, not uh not necessarily. I I mean we're we're sort of at the I don't know, early to midpoint of our careers and we're just looking to grow wealth and see where it takes us. It's um there's no major, you know, while retiring early would be nice, we're we're certainly a long way from that. So uh we're just you know making decisions along the way that that are gonna meet our end goal eventually, but no huge expectations to be hanging things up in the next few years anyway.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

Well, especially if you enjoy your work as well. Um, was retirement something that was top of mind when you decided to invest? Like, did it come to a time where it was like, oh, I should really be thinking about retirement, even though it's not soon, but it's you know, in the future, a lot of people don't really think about it for until it's you know pretty close. So was that was that like a deciding factor for you?

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Yeah, absolutely. I mean it's the dream, but yeah, let's see where it takes us uh along the way. But uh yeah, of course, uh the idea of retiring early and uh spending more time on the golf course uh is is always uh you know. No one can complain with that, yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh no, absolutely. I I mean, uh in the early stays of a strategy or an investment, it's really just you know going through the motions and and building um building wealth and capacity. But uh yeah, of course, you know, we do want to retire early and at some stage.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Oh, absolutely. I think it's yeah, that's everyone's dream, isn't it? What's I guess over the time that you've now become an investor, become a property investor, what has shifted in your mindset from before to now? Obviously, you know, you you're seeing these things from the inside now. How is it different? How are you thinking differently about property and and you know this whole thing?

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah, that's that's an interesting question. We um look, day to day, it doesn't really impact our life, and that's the way we wanted it too. Like we want to be in a comfortable position where we're slowly chipping away and growing wealth. Certainly haven't uh you know turned into any uh property attack dog or anything like that. It's been a very good experience for us and we're on board with the um the future developments of it. But again, we sort of wanted it that way. We we didn't want something all consuming and that's gonna really impact our our lives uh on a daily basis. There's sort of enough going on with uh work and families and and uh having a life that we really didn't want intruding too much. So uh yeah, I I don't think it's uh changed our mindset other than keeping an interest in it and um you know deciding where the next one could be. Yeah, we're sort of just you know happily going through the process.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Well, I think this is why it's uh why it's good because I, you know, people do get interested in investing in property, but it's just such a rabbit hole, you know, you could spend so much time, but generally, you know, you're working, like you said, you've got family, you've got other things going on, you just can't commit that much time to it. So, you know, having something like Ripe House, where it's kind of a background thing and say, okay, I'm gonna outsource that. Has that been quite a relief as opposed to like trying to do it yourself if that was everything? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

And you look at alternatives like the share market or things like that, you know, if you don't hit them at the right time and you don't pull out at the right time, it can really become quite consuming. So uh we're happy for the for the property market to keep ticking away for ripe house to feed us good information and we're just gonna grow grow that way.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

If you could go back and talk to yourself, let's say five or six years ago, would there be any any little advice you give yourself?

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Well, uh always uh starting earlier, I guess, was uh is always the uh when you look back on these things. Um, but yeah, look, we were sort of making those decisions along the way as well. So yeah, no major regrets. And look, we're also not trying to extend ourselves too much. We want to have a have a good lifestyle and a good life in the meantime. So yeah, we were uh we're sort of just you know slowly growing things and a bit more of a cautious approach. So yeah, that's that's uh you know our risk appetite as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

I mean, I think it's a wise decision. I think it's a you know a good way to go about it. And you know, for anyone who is listening right now uh and I guess is interested in investing and maybe was in the same position you were four or five years ago when you first had that spark, what advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Yeah, look, I I I mean, get into it. I think everyone's got uh different amounts of risk appetite or uh ability to borrow, but go and speak to your speak to your brokers and start getting into the market, I'll suggest, yeah. Because uh, I mean at the moment uh there's no signs of slowing down, and Ripe House is uh you know has their ability to pick pick those next hotspots within a budget. So yeah, it's a great uh great system.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

Very nice. Where's your journey heading next? What's the plan, you know, for the next few years?

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Yeah, no, look, we'll look we'll look to go again. So yeah, we'll be back on board uh with Ripe House for property number three, and uh yeah, we'll uh continue going on that path for the for the next few and uh yeah, possibly commercial property and things like that next as well.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Very good. Alex, well, look forward to hopefully hearing about how it all goes in the future with property number three. But uh otherwise, thanks for joining us today and uh enjoy the rest of your day. We'll chat soon. Great, thanks, Adrian. Good, mate. Thank you very much. Cheers.