My parents are pushing me to buy an investment property. Should I?

November 25, 2025 — 2.11pm

I’m in my 20s, and I have a good job. My parents are encouraging me to buy an investment property. I get that I should invest my money in something, but I don’t know much about real estate (or investing for that matter), and the idea of taking out a mortgage does make me nervous. My parents bought property back in the 1990s so they think you can’t go wrong with property, but I worry that I won’t be able to take advantage of the same market conditions they had. Is an investment property the right move?

My view tends to be that an investment property isn’t the best place to start for most beginner investors. If you’re new to investing, jumping into a multiple six-figure asset is like jumping into the deep-end of a pool without knowing how to swim.

Property investment is not for the faint of heart.Credit: Simon Letch

I’m not saying property isn’t, or can’t be, a good investment. It can be – if you know how to buy the right property, for the right reasons, at the right time. In other words, do you know how to make an informed property decision – or are you just hoping it’ll work out well for you?

If you’re sitting in the second category – that’s understandable. There are a lot of accidental real-estate millionaires in Australia. It’s easy to think maybe you can win that lottery as well – just buy a property, wait a few decades, and you’ll be rich too.

It’s also easy for those who rode the property boom to have a false sense of confidence, thinking they know more about property than they actually do. Many well-meaning parents push their adult children into investment properties assuming it will be a safe or good investment.

However, it’s more complicated than just buying and sitting on a property. Believe it or not, you can lose money on property – you don’t hear those stories as much because (as with any investment, not just property) it’s harder for people to talk about their losses than their wins.

If you want to minimise the risk of making a move you’ll regret, this is work worth doing.

There are plenty of ways to lose money on property – buy an over-valued property, buy in a location that ends up having little growth, underestimate maintenance costs, be forced to sell at a loss if an unforeseen event means you can no longer afford mortgage payments, and so on.

So, the question isn’t so much – “Should I buy an investment property?” but “Is the journey of property investing for me?” Here are some questions that will help you start to answer that.

Do you have a clear idea of what it entails?

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Every asset-class entails a different kind of investing journey. The journey of being an exchange-traded funds (ETF) investor is quite a different experience to being a property investor, and so on. What you want to do is pick the journey that’s a good fit for the life you want, not the asset that will make you rich.

Property investing doesn’t stop at one property because, usually, one is not sufficient to achieve your financial goal. Which goal is that? Typically, the first major milestone investors are working towards is financial retirement (i.e. can I quit my job and live solely off my investments?)

If you think about what that entails – whether that’s mortgages, property managers, tenants, etc – does the journey of collecting multiple investment properties sound exciting to you?

The truth is – you don’t just want to build wealth. You don’t just want a good return on your money. You want to build wealth in a way that is a good fit for you and your life. There are many ways to build wealth – pick an investment journey that is enjoyable for you to go on.

How does it fit in your long-term wealth strategy?

Many people don’t think past that first property in the beginning. They tend to buy a property, and then ask: “Now what?” But ideally, you want clarity on your long-term wealth strategy before you buy your first investment property, so you know how property fits within your overall financial plan. What you buy, and how you buy, will depend on what your long-term strategy is.

Do you plan to build a property portfolio with multiple properties? Are you more interested in capital-growth or income-producing assets? If you don’t intend to grow your property portfolio to multiple properties, what other asset would you invest in after the first property (given the likelihood that you can’t achieve your long-term goals with one property alone)?

This might sound like a lot of work. Can’t you just jump in and figure it out later? Sure. But if you want to minimise the risk of making a move you’ll regret, and maximise the extent to which your property decisions move you towards your long-term goals … this is work worth doing.

Paridhi Jain is founder of SkilledSmart, which helps adults learn to manage, save and invest money through financial education courses and classes.

• Advice given in this article is general in nature and not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.

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