Scott and Mina bought their first property in their early twenties. Now, they own 25.

For anyone who has dared to dip their toe into the Australian property market and run away screaming, this story is for you.

Staggering property costs in Australia’s urban centres have all but felled the Great Australian Dream of being a homeowner. Most young people that don’t have access a cash deposit – whether from parents, lenders, or otherwise – have pretty much given up on ever being able to purchase their own property.

But then you hear a story like this, and a small glimmer of hope remains.

Meet Scott and Mina O'Neill. Now almost 30, the young couple were just 22 and 23 when they managed to scrape together the deposit on their first home back in 2010. When they first decided to invest, they had just $15,000 between them - but spent the next three years scrimping and saving for the deposit on their first home.

The rundown property was on the outskirts of Sydney and bought for $480,000. That was house number one.

Six years and 25 properties later, Scott and Mina boast a property portfolio worth almost $10 million.

Scott! Mina! You guys!

The son of an accountant and a property investor, Scott has always had a keen interest in growing his wealth. In fact, he made his first $50 trading in Telstra stocks at the ripe old age of eight.

Mina, on the other hand, is the daughter of Greek and Egyptian immigrant parents and has had a strong work ethic drilled into her from a young age.

“I was brought up in a family where a dollar could be two dollars if you put your mind to it,” she said to News.com.au

The couple has used their capital growth from each property to fund the deposit on the next house.

"The first property is definitely the hardest and the second one is the second hardest, and so forth,” says Scott.

Watch: How an article about young people buying property sent the 'smashed avocado' viral. (Post continues after video.) 

“When you buy that first one – let’s say you purchase it for $400,000 and it grows in value to $500,000 over a few years, then you can go back to the bank and refinance 80 per cent, hypothetically, of the new purchase price.

"That will give you access to $80,000 – 80 percent of the $100,000 growth – and you can use that to put a deposit on the next house.”

Makes sense. But how did they get the money to buy into the market in the first place?

“All I did was work my butt off as much as I could, and sacrifice," says Mina.

"Even though my income was very little at the time, every time I got it I would think about how much I could set aside for myself and how much I needed to save to reach each goal.”

*Looks guiltily at shopping bags on floor*

With the couple's first property out in Sutherland being an 'ugly' old home far where they lived and worked, Scott says that looking outside their comfort zone was the only way to find an opportunity.

“Don’t buy in your own backyard… getting emotional is such a bad thing,” says Scott.

“If you’re willing to think like an investor and invest outside of your comfort zone, or your local area, you can find what you need."

So there you go: sacrifice, looking further afield, and starting young are the secret herbs and spices to getting involved in the Australian property market.

Play your cards right, and you might even be able to keep your Sunday morning smashed avo on toast.