Nobody Told Me… The Realities of Property Investing

Manufactured Urgency and Guarantees

Damien flags pressure tactics like constant follow-up messages, claims of limited availability, or waitlists designed to create urgency. Both agree that since property is a longer-term investment than something like shares or crypto, there's rarely a genuine need to rush a decision, and that words like "guarantee" should immediately prompt more questions rather than confidence.

Fancy Titles

Damien and Jeremy question the value of elaborate professional titles sometimes used in the property space, joking about seeing something along the lines of a "doctor of property." Their broader point: genuine expertise in property investing tends to come from direct, often costly, personal experience rather than formal credentials alone, and investors should be cautious about assuming a title automatically signals genuine expertise.

Property Investment Advisors Aren't a Regulated Profession

Both note that "property investment advisor" isn't a formally regulated title in the way financial planning is, meaning credentials and advice quality can vary enormously between individuals. Their suggestion: attend multiple initial consultations with different firms before committing, ask about credentials and track record directly, and recognise that different advisors may give conflicting advice with no formal accountability mechanism in place.

Large Portfolios as a Marketing Tool

Jeremy is direct that companies publicising very large personal property portfolios are usually demonstrating success in marketing their business, not in picking property. He shares a past example of reviewing over 100 historical recommendations from a buyer's advocacy whose founder publicised a large personal portfolio (reportedly around $20 million at the time); the quality of those specific recommendations, in his assessment, could not plausibly have produced that outcome on their own, reinforcing his view that the portfolio was more likely built from business profits than from following the same investment picks given to clients.

Cherry-Picked Case Studies

Damien and Jeremy caution against taking published "success stories" or case studies at face value, since companies naturally showcase their best results rather than a representative, complete track record. Jeremy shares a personal example from early in his own investing journey: purchasing a property in 2008 based on an "industry expert" report citing major planned infrastructure investment, only to sell it 14 years later for around 20% less than he paid, while the rest of the country's property values had roughly doubled over the same period. He notes that market has since improved, illustrating that even a genuinely poor pick can eventually turn around if held long enough, though that doesn't retroactively justify the original recommendation.

Who Can You Trust? Real Estate Agents and Generalists

Both caution against relying on real estate agents for investment advice, since their expertise and incentives are centred on selling property in their local area, not on broader investment strategy. Jeremy also pushes back on the common belief that building a personal relationship with a real estate agent leads to genuine "off-market" discounts, pointing out the agent's job and legal obligation is to secure the best outcome for their own client (the seller), not to hand a buyer a discount out of personal rapport.

Damien similarly cautions against blindly following property recommendations from generalist professionals like accountants or financial planners who refer clients to developers, citing cases he's seen where this led to poor outcomes (off-the-plan units or house-and-land packages with negative growth).

"Off-Market" and "Under Market Value" as Marketing Terms

Jeremy shares an anecdote about seeing a "for sale" sign in a front yard, clearly visible to the public, labelled as an "off-market opportunity," illustrating how loosely this term is now used in marketing despite genuinely off-market sales being a very small share of the overall market. On "under market value," Jeremy notes this is a logical contradiction from a growth perspective, whatever a property is actually sold for effectively becomes its new market value, so a genuine, sustained "discount" in this sense doesn't really exist once a sale is completed.

Industry Awards and Social Proof

Both express scepticism toward industry awards, given how numerous and inconsistently judged they can be. Jeremy shares two personal examples: noticing that a mortgage broker's customer satisfaction survey was only sent to him following a completed deal (not after a deal he didn't proceed with), and separately being invited to judge a "property investor of the year" style award, where he found applicants' timelines and portfolio growth stories included significant, unexplained gaps that made it impossible to properly assess the legitimacy of their claims.

On broader "social proof" (glowing reviews, positive testimonials), Damien notes these tend to focus on the client experience (friendliness, communication) rather than genuine investment performance, and both suggest that a business publicising its charitable contributions as part of its marketing should be treated as a marketing signal in itself, rather than something requiring public promotion if done for genuine reasons.

Buyers Agents With Limited Geographic Scope

Both reiterate a consistent theme from earlier episodes: a buyers agent operating only within one city or region will naturally tend to recommend that same area regardless of whether the data actually supports it elsewhere. Their suggested approach: complete independent research and shortlist target markets first, then engage a local buyers agent only if needed for on-the-ground execution in an already-identified location, rather than letting a buyers agent's own geographic limitations dictate where you invest.

Written a Book? That's Not Necessarily Expertise Either

Jeremy jokes that in his experience, writing a book has almost become an expected rite of passage for someone positioning themselves as a property expert, regardless of genuine track record, and both question the meaningfulness of "bestseller" claims given how easily that status can reportedly be engineered through bulk distribution or marketing tactics (such as bundling a book with a magazine subscription).

The "Just Buy Positive Cash Flow" Trap

Revisiting a theme from their earlier three-part series, Jeremy cautions against chasing a high yield (using an example of an 8–9% yield on a $400,000 property netting only around $10 a week after tax) purely to achieve a small positive cash flow, since pursuing yield this aggressively typically comes at a much larger cost in foregone capital growth, which matters more during the accumulation phase specifically.

The Flashy Car Trap

Damien shares an anecdote about a conversation with his barber, whose father had suggested selling a $50,000 car to fund a property purchase instead, with the idea of buying a nicer car a few years later once a portfolio was established. Both frame this as a deferred gratification trade-off, acknowledging it's genuinely difficult to prioritise an appreciating but "invisible" asset (unrealised property growth) over an immediately visible lifestyle purchase, particularly with social media constantly showcasing others' lifestyle spending. Jeremy also notes that flashy displays of wealth (expensive cars, cigars) used in property marketing are ultimately just a way for a business to visually differentiate itself, rather than a meaningful signal of investment skill.

The "Long-Term" Excuse: A Real Data Example

Jeremy presents a concrete example to test the common industry response of "just hold long-term" when a purchased property underperforms. Using three-year total growth data across suburbs with a statistical reliability score of 55 or higher, he shows Sydney houses grew around 7% (below the national average) over that period, while Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Townsville (52%), Cairns (18%), Toowoomba (43%), and Rockhampton (73%, albeit based on a smaller sample of 13 suburbs) all substantially outperformed over the same three years.

Jeremy's point: an investor placed into Melbourne or Sydney three years prior by a locally-focused buyers agent, then told to simply "hold long term" when questioned about underperformance, has a legitimate grievance, since the data clearly pointed toward stronger alternative markets at the time. He notes that while property markets do tend to converge toward similar long-term (20+ year) averages eventually, missing out on a strong multi-year growth window, and instead having to wait for an underperforming market to catch up, represents a real, avoidable opportunity cost, particularly for an investor's first purchase during their accumulation phase.

Closing Thoughts

Damien and Jeremy acknowledge this episode leaned more critical and opinion-based than usual, but stress the goal is encouraging healthy scepticism rather than distrust of the industry as a whole. Their practical advice: attend multiple initial consultations before committing to any firm, ask direct questions about credentials and track record, and recognise that learning to spot common marketing tactics may be just as valuable to a new investor as learning the mechanics of property investing itself. They preview a future episode featuring a guest who went through extensive due diligence before engaging a company, and close by encouraging listeners to like, comment, and subscribe.