A significant number of our successful clients came to their first consultation with no experience, little money, and even less of a clue how to get started in real estate.

But if you have a household income upwards of $50,000 then you are likely more than ready to start building your property portfolio.

While your savings may not be large, understand that because property is considered a low-risk investment, financial institutions are willing to lend more money than for other investment categories (such as shares), to help you get started. This means you will generally only need to have saved about 10% of the purchase price plus about $20,000 for stamp duty and other costs to invest in a property. It also means you can leverage those savings to multiply your returns many times over.

Alternatively, many of our clients draw on the equity in their home in order to get started, rather than rely on savings.

A new legal "loophole" that will soon be snatched away

More recently, since the start of 2008, some of our clients have started taking advantage of the Howard government's last-minute changes to superannuation laws that have enabled (otherwise ineligible) investors to use their super as a deposit on a property investment, without needing any of their "own" money. The new Labor government has indicated it will change the relevant laws any moment now, so if you would like to take advantage of this legal "loophole", you may need to act fast.