Property investors share how many properties they own while on a boat

A clip of property investors partying on a boat has gone viral, and some Australians are arguing that it shows “everything wrong” with Sydney.

A group of property investors on a boat on Sydney Harbour sharing the number of homes they own has divided viewers online.

The clip was posted by The Scouting Australia Podcast, a property investing strategy podcast co-hosted by buyer’s agent Sam Gordon and property investor Jimmy Ibrahim.

The people on the boat all work for Australian Property Scout, a property investment firm that claims to help people retire by 50.

The clip’s caption on TikTok reads, “From admin to the top we are all property investors at APS”.

The person behind the camera goes around the boat, where people are drinking and celebrating, asking them, “How many investment properties do you have?”

One man wearing a party shirt replies, “Not enough! We only have two”, and that pretty much sets the tone.

From there, people happily stop celebrating to reveal just how many properties they own, the highest being a man wearing sunglasses who shares that he owns 16 properties.

The lowest being a woman who shares that she only owns one investment property.

Quite a few people admit to owning seven or five properties, and one claimed to own 12 investment properties.

Some people commented and shared that they found the clip inspiring.

Someone called them “weapons”, and someone else praised the gang and said they were “smashing it”.

“Great example for your clients,” one noted.

The podcast has over 700,000 downloads. Picture: Instagram/scoutingaustraliapodcast

The people on the boat were honest about their investments. Picture: TikTok/scoutingaustraliapodcast

However, the clip also generated quite a bit of backlash from people finding it more tone-deaf than inspiring.

Australia is in a housing crisis. The median rental price nationally is over $600 a week, and the median house price, according to the Australian Bureau of Statics, has risen to over $900,000.

Finder also reported that 47 per cent of homeowners struggled to pay their mortgages in October 2024.

There’s no affordable way to live left.

“Everything wrong with Sydney in a reel,” one person complained.

The Australian Property Scout Instagram account replied and said, “Barely any of the properties are in Sydney”.

“You make it so easy to hate you,” another noted, prompting a reply from the owner of the business, Sam Gordon, who claimed, “the feeling is mutual”.

“Big Short vibes,” someone else wrote, a reference to the Adam McKay movie that examines the 2008 financial crisis.

Some people commented and shared that they found the clip inspiring. Picture: TikTok/scoutingaustraliapodcast

One commented and said it was a great example for clients. Picture: TikTok/scoutingaustraliapodcast

“The whole reason Australia is in a rental crisis right now all on one boat,” one commenter claimed and the Mr Gordon’s business account replied and called it an “silly and uneducated” comment.

“What is wrong with this f**king country?” another asked.

“So crass and selfish,” someone wrote.

Another person wrote that you “only need one” property and people “wonder why we have [a] housing crisis”.

Mr Gordon replied and said, “Australia needs private rental properties less than 1 per cent is provided by the government.”

“Most of people can’t even afford one property and small groups of people have multiple expensive properties which are rented out for very high prices,” the person argued back.

“Okay so what’s the solution? If every landlord in Australia sold out there would be no rental properties and where would you or I live?” Mr Gordon asked.

“The government made the decision in the eighties to go away from social housing and turned to private investors to provide this.

“To say all properties are very expensive and rented very high is a massive generalisation - most landlords lose money holding their properties every year compared to the rent they receive.”

News.com.au has reached out to Australian Property Scout for comment.

Sam Gordon owns Australian Property Scout. Picture: Instagram/SamGordonProperty

Mr Gordon responded to the backlash. Picture: Instagram/SamGordonProperty

According to financial comparison website Finder’s Wealth Building Report, nine per cent of Australians surveyed own at least one investment property.

More than one in 10 say they are thinking about buying an investment property in the next 12 months.

Mark Brown, who owns a real estate agency in Victoria, told news.com.au that, in general, he doesn’t think Australians “begrudge’ other people’s success, but the environment for this clip wasn’t right.

“If they were sitting in a cafe and someone said, ‘Hey mate, do you own real estate? And he and ‘Yeah I’ve got four properties’, people would at like that in a completely different light,” he said.

Mr Brown said he can see why people could be offended by the clip because it is a hard time for Aussies right now.

“People bought investment properties when interest rates were so cheap, and now interest rates have gone up, and their mortgages have doubled, and their rents haven’t covered it, and they’ve had to let properties go,” he explained.

“We’ve seen people having to sell their investment properties because the interest rates have impacted them so much.”

Mr Brown said that so many people have been impacted by the housing crisis that people talking about how many investment properties they own can hit a nerve.

“They’ve taken a punch, and it has hurt them. So when you see people on the boat bragging about it. It sends out the wrong type of message,” he said.

Property expert Kellie Richardson, who works alongside Mr Brown, said that 90 per cent of the properties they are working together to sell are failed investment properties.

Property expert Kellie Richardson pointed out that, just because you own multiple properties, it doesn't mean you're cash rich. Picture: Supplied

“We’ve got clients who have moved into their homes that they’ve spent three years building, and they’ve been in it for less than a week and then had to move it out,” she said.

Ms Richardson also warned that just because someone owns a lot of properties, it doesn’t mean they are cash rich.

“You can own 10 different properties but it doesn’t mean those properties are working for you,” she said.

Ms Richardson said she understands why the clip could upset people because the “setting is wrong” to discuss property wealth.