Most people get into property with big dreams. They want financial freedom, passive income, or just long-term security for their family. But the reality is that 9/10 people never go past their first property.
What starts with good intentions often turns into frustration, and many find themselves stuck. Not because they didn’t try, but because they hit roadblocks that stopped them from moving forward.
Often, the biggest mistake is buying the wrong property. Many first-time investors purchase with emotion rather than data. They choose suburbs they’re familiar with or rely on a friend’s advice, instead of looking at actual growth drivers. These emotional decisions can lead to buying assets that don’t grow in value, leaving the investor with no equity to leverage and no path to scale.
I know this story only too well. This is exactly what happened to me when I started. I went out and bought some investment properties in so-called ‘growth corridors’. Not only was there no growth, but those decisions held me back for a number of years until I eventually sold them.
Another common issue is the lack of a clear strategy. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of buying your first property without considering how it fits into a long-term plan.
Without a roadmap, that first investment becomes the end point, not the starting block. Successful investors take the time to map out what their portfolio should look like, how many properties they need, and what types of properties align with their goals.
The finance side of property also plays a massive role. Arguably, it’s the biggest factor in what separates someone with a large portfolio from a person with 2-3 properties to their name.
Many investors unwittingly limit their options by setting up their loans incorrectly. Cross-collateralising properties or using lenders that aren’t investor-friendly can limit borrowing capacity down the line. Without the right structure, it becomes difficult to fund the next property, regardless of how much equity has been built.
Beyond strategy and structure, mindset is often the silent killer of momentum. Fear, impatience, and needing instant results cause many to lose confidence. Property investment is a long-term game. It takes years, sometimes decades, to build real wealth, but we live in a world of short attention spans and quick wins. That leads to many first-time investors giving up when things don’t go as planned.
Even for those who get the first purchase right, many don’t understand how to use that property to fund the next. Instead of refinancing to access capital for another deposit, investors sit and do nothing, waiting to save more money. This slows down the entire process and prevents the early momentum.
Getting stuck at one property is usually the combination of small mistakes that compound. An average asset, a lack of planning, poor loan structure, fear of risk, and not making the most of the equity you do have can quickly kill off people’s property dreams.
But momentum can also be turned around quickly.
With good planning up front, you can take care of a lot of the problems that typically hold people back. Or turn them around if you already own a property or two that are underperforming. When you start getting some runs on the board, that then feeds into a person’s confidence, and that can very quickly change your mindset.
So if you’re not where you want to be with your property journey, or if you feel stuck, then the good news is that you actually have plenty of options. The first step is taking back control, and that comes down to planning and setting a goal that you want to achieve.
If you can get clear about what you want, then lay the foundation correctly, and everything you build on top of it becomes stronger.