Investor tip: Surround yourself with experts

"I think is important is to surround yourself with experts—people that have walked the walk, talked the talk... I consider myself very fortunate to be in the position I am in my job where I am surrounded [by] people that know what they're talking about when it comes to mortgages and investing in property," Jim states.

Like many people who are in the business of creating wealth through property, Jim has also built a reliable financial team to help him navigate his way through the landscape of property investment, which has been regarded by many as complicated and a little too overwhelming.

"I've learned to understand [what is] a good advice and some of the bad advice as well... I've got friends that have also started up in the property investment road. [This is] the advice I share with them: Get yourself a good accountant. Get yourself a good mortgage broker... Just get people you trust and get people that have done it before you," he said.

"Everyone I work with, [including my] mortgage broker, invests in property. The accountant that I have probably has about 40 or 50 properties. The property buyers I have already bought 3,000 odd properties over the last decade or so. I've just surrounded myself with people that know more than I do about creating wealth through property investment."

His final advice for prospective property investors is to find people who encourage you to take action and stop the procrastination. As difficult as it may seem to start an investment journey without a plan, Jim has proven through his story that it is possible to successfully build a portfolio on the fly—just take advantage of every single opportunity to learn from anything and anyone.

"[I read] The Richest Man in Babylon, a centuries-old book about investing in property for the future—it's pretty simple stuff... You just have to take that leap of faith for the first property.

It is a leap of faith," he said, advising investors to "[w]atch the TV shows and listen to people all the time... As I said, when I went into buy that first property, I still didn't really understand it a great deal, but all of a sudden, it comes together. Again, [when you surround] yourself with the right people, it all makes sense. It becomes quite clear."

Tune in to Jim Hall's episode in The Smart Property Investment Show to know more about how he successfully built a portfolio on the fly, what he's learned along the way, and the lessons he is still learning up to this day.