REVEALED: THE BIGGEST BLOCKERS TO PROPERTY SUCCESS
A clear strategy matters more than a high income, say two of Australia’s top property experts.
3 min
When it comes to property investing, most people don’t fail because they picked the wrong suburb or mistimed the market. They fail before they even begin — not from bad decisions, but from the wrong beliefs.
Property commentators Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley say mindset is often the biggest barrier, not money or opportunity. After two decades advising Australians on how to build wealth through property, and being investors themselves, they’ve seen how a few common myths can keep people stuck on the sidelines.
Here, they break down the six most damaging beliefs holding Australians back and reveal the mindset shifts that could make all the difference.
Myth 1: “You Need to Be Rich to Invest”
This is the most common belief that holds people back. Many assume property investing is reserved for high-income earners or people who already have significant wealth.
In reality, wealth is built by what you do with your income, not how much you earn. Holdaway and Kingsley have worked with teachers, tradies, nurses and young professionals who all started with modest savings. The difference? They followed a strategy aligned to their goals, avoided spruikers, and played the long game. You don’t need to be rich — just intentional.
Myth 2: “I Need to Learn Everything Before I Start”
Education matters, but perfectionism is progress’s worst enemy. They’ve met countless people stuck in a loop of reading books, attending webinars, and watching YouTube videos — and never taking the first step.
Property investing is a marathon, not a sprint. You don’t need all the answers before you begin. You need a clear goal and a trusted process.
Myth 3: “I Missed the Boat”
We hear this every time the market rises. And yet people were saying the same thing 10, 20, even 30 years ago.
The truth? The best time to invest was yesterday — the second-best time is today. Property rewards time in the market, not timing the market.
Myth 4: “Property Is Too Risky”
Every investment carries risk, but inaction driven by fear is often the greater danger. In Australia, property represents more than investment; it’s stability, aspiration, and security.
Yes, buying the wrong asset in the wrong place is risky. But that’s a reason to get educated, not a reason to avoid the market altogether. When you buy investment-grade property in a good location with a long-term view, risk becomes manageable. You’re not gambling — you’re making a calculated decision.
Myth 5: “You Need 10 Properties to Retire”
Some investors chase a big portfolio. But the truth is, you only need enough income to live the life you want — and that often comes from two or three high-performing properties.
The authors have seen small, strategic portfolios outperform larger ones built on volume. It’s not about how many properties you own — it’s whether they’re working for you.
Myth 6: “I’m Too Young/Too Old to Start”
You’re never the wrong age to shape your financial future. Young investors often underestimate their greatest asset — time. Older Australians worry they’ve left it too late. But Holdaway and Kingsley say they’ve worked with people in their 40s and beyond who’ve built strong passive income streams later in life.
It’s not about age. It’s about clarity, action and alignment with your goals.
Bryce Holdaway and Ben Kingsley are co-authors of How to Retire on $3,000 a Week: The Property Couch’s Playbook for Passive Property Investing (Major Street Publishing RRP $32.99). They are two of Australia’s leading voices in property.
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A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.
3 min
For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.
The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.
So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.
Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.
Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.
The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.
A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”
Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.
“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.
Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.
Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.
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