Scott and Mina O'Neill own 25 properties. They are not normal and what they did is impossible for most people.

OPINION: Stop me if you've read this one before.

Great looking millennials. Scrimped and saved through uni to buy their first place, while their peers blew their money on booze. Now they own a whole portfolio of properties, leveraging off the equity of their first one - all before the age of 30!

I'm talking about Scott and Mina O'Neill, the young Australians who own a jaw-dropping 25 properties and were recently profiled by news.com.au. But I could also be talking about Andrew Morello, or Nathan Birch. These stories seem to come out every month or so, and they are toxic.

123RF This is not an accurate picture of real life!

The O'Neill story is typically insane. The pair are almost thirty now, but got on the ladder early, picking up their first place when they were just 22 and 23, thanks to things like "dedication" and "$15,000 in the bank when they were 19".

This yarn is particularly bad - the first line used to claim "most" 22 and 23-year-olds are "fresh out of university and spending almost every dollar they earn from their first fulltime job at the pub" before an editor changed it to "some" - but it's hardly unique, and it's far from harmless.

These stories are a lullaby. They use anecdotal experience, usually from people who had some substantial help along the way, to soothe the consciences of those who are reaping the gains of this housing crisis. But the fantasy of the thrifty millennial, busy saving while everyone else buys beer, is often just that, a fantasy, and a dangerous one. Here's why.

123RF Look at this stock image of a young woman using a credit card. How irresponsible!

THESE STORIES SHOWCASE A TINY MINORITY

Human stories are essential for good economics journalism. You can report on a trend all you want, but until you tell that story through an actual person most of your audience will switch off. Unfortunately, you can also flip this formula on its head - using a human story to sell a version of reality that exists for very few people.

In the 2013 census, just under 13,000 people aged between 20 and 24 owned their own homes. That's just 4.7 percent, and you can bet that a hefty chunk of them inherited their property. 25-29 year olds come in at 18.9 percent. Since 2013 the rate of home-ownership will have dropped in both those segments dramatically.

123RF If you use a calculator while negotiating your mortgage you are GUARANTEED to not go underwater when the bubble pops.

Structural issues like huge house price inflation, stagnant wages, and rampant speculation have locked more and more young Kiwis out of the housing market. Finding one or two who have managed to find a way through doesn't disprove anything. Around 4 percent of people live into their 90s, but we don't sit around telling people aging is no big deal.

MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE THE CASH FOR A DEPOSIT

There is nothing wrong with reporting on outliers. They often have very interesting stories. The people who buy multiple homes in their 20s usually don't.

They saved while we drank. They prioritised a deposit over an OE. They worked all summer during uni. The moralising is boring and often a complete lie.

Notice, while reading these stories, that actual numbers are elusive. A number for a deposit may come up, or an amount of savings they started with several years ago - but there's always kind of a magic gap, a sudden jump from the pittance most students live on to the tens of thousands of dollars you need for a deposit.

That's because saving for a deposit in the first few years of your career is nearly impossible. Most students work during summer (they use that money to pay rent through the year) and most people don't blow their entire salary on weekend drinks. The median annual income of people aged between 20 and 24 was less than $20,000 in 2013. The median cost of a 10 percent deposit (with the Welcome Home Loan) on a "starter home" was $33,500 in September of this year, and is rising far faster than most people's salaries or savings are. In a city, where most employment opportunities are, that price is a lot higher.

This isn't a savings hurdle that most people can make up for with a part time job. It's just impossible - unless mum and dad give a hand, a detail often elided over in these stories of earnest savers.

(It doesn't get much better for people in their late 20s, who still made less than $35,000 in median personal income in 2013. It's hard to save your entire salary for a deposit when you have to do annoying things like "pay rent" and "buy food" - especially when that deposit's price is rising at a rate far faster than you can save.)

USING YOUR EQUITY TO BUY MULTIPLE PROPERTIES EARLY MIGHT NOT BE A GOOD IDEA

These stories never stop at the first home. Once the youngsters are on the ladder they leverage their equity to borrow more money and buy an investment property, paying off the mortgage with rental income.

For many people this isn't a bad investment choice. But it's hardly the rosy risk-free picture of an early retirement these stories promise.

Yes, interest rates are extremely low right now, making your mortgage payments manageable on rent. Yes, capital gain is not currently taxed properly, meaning these assets are likely making a lot of money that you get to keep if you sell them - or use as equity to buy another. And yes, the housing market is currently growing far faster than most other investment markets.

But all of these factors could change, fast. Voters are not fans of property speculators. No matter how diversified your property portfolio is, it's still all in property, and you still owe the bank a huge amount of money. The people worst hit in the 2008 financial crisis were those who had leveraged a home they could barely afford to buy another. If the bottom falls out of the market, and house prices drop dramatically, you're still going to owe the bank all that money you promised while the market was hot, and you might have just lost your job too.

Housing investments also require huge amounts of time and ongoing effort - maintenance, finding tenants, rates, and insurance. You could be enjoying what most people think of as the best decade of their lives during that time.

Then, these stories aren't here to serve as investment advice. They exist so the older people who are exploiting the property market feel good about themselves and the younger ones losing it have something to hate-read.

Maybe we should stop writing them.