Perhaps warnings about property investment seem pointless to you but there are very good reasons to be careful, even with what is often regarded as a sure-fire winner. For a long time wealth has been created by careful and well-researched investment in property, but the continuous surge in property values, particularly for Irish homes, has created a newbreed of investor, an investor who breaks just about every rule in the book. The rising tide lifting all the boats has created a dangerous sentiment: that investing in property is a one-way ticket to getting rich quickly, that property can go only in one direction and that the good times will last forever.

Lessons to the contrary from history, on both equity and property bubbles, hasn't deterred our exuberant new property investor. Historically low interest rates, which are necessary to breathe life into the faltering economies of Germany, France and Italy, have created a gold rush in lending in Ireland. It appears like a penalty kick. Thanks to a low European base rate, money can be borrowed very cheaply, typically at less than 4%, and this can be secured against the massive equity Irish property-owners now enjoy on their homes and other properties.

But it is dangerous to assume that just because the banks are lending you money, your investment planning is being rubber-stamped and risks are low. A sharp economic reversal can haul back property prices, drive up unemployment, lead to long vacancy periods and trigger a sharp reversal in property values in poor locations. Gearing works wonderfully by transferring a rising capital value onto your balance sheet, while the bank merely enjoys its profit margin on the mortgage finance. But the rate of acceleration that gearing brings in an upward-moving market is matched by an equally sharp reversal in a falling property market. The bottomline is: you can't afford to be lackadaisical about property, ever. In spite of this, many people I meet have ideas about property that make my hair stand on end. So I'm going to share some of them with you, then we can look at the moral of each story and you'll take away some very important lessons.