May 17, 2023 • 25 mins
In today's episode, we hear from an independent woman who refused to let one bad experience with a mortgage broker hold her back. Determined to buy an apartment on her own (despite being told maybe she should look at getting a partner), this week's diarist overcame health issues and the limitations of part-time work to achieve her goal of home ownership.
Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Property Playbook would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians
of the lands of where this podcast is recorded. There
were wondering people of the cooler nations acknowledging the culture,
the history, and the connection to the lands of what
we call home. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello and welcome to The Property Playbook, the podcast where
we take you from A to V of all things property.
My name is Jessica Ricky and maybe one day soon
I'll be a first home book. I will be, but
it don't be a doubt for But until then, I
want to chat to our community to learn a little
bit more what the journey was like for them, as
you've probably gathered from that little voice trying to be
guess who I've got with me today, Victoria Divine.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Never wait to be introduced.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm like, what's up? I'm here, Hello me today, Victoria.
I have a diarist who use the FHLDS and who
also is very close to our hearts. FHLDS is a
mouthful jeff it sure is. Let me tell you all
about her. So diarist said, I knew for a long
time that I wanted to buy my own place. Sadly
it was delayed due to some health issues which stopped
me from working full time. When I did get back
(01:10):
into full time work, I moved around through a couple
of contract roles. I'd lived in and around the Melbourne
CBD in apartments, so I knew that was what I
wanted to buy. My first interactions with a broker were
with a middle aged white guy who was very caught
up on me being single, wanting to buy apartments, and
recently changing jobs. He kept trying to change my property
goals to house and land packages in the outer suburbs.
(01:31):
He even asked me if I wanted to buy with
my boyfriend, as it might be smarter financially. Oh great,
good for He's very helpful. After listening to the property
playbook and choose on the money, I sent an inquiry
via the Shees on the Money website for a broker.
A few days later, I was matched with Nicki, and
on the first of June I settled on my apartment.
Nicki also helped me to access the FHLDS. Safe to say,
(01:51):
I am very glad I didn't listen to him and
let the doubt he put in my mind win, because
I wouldn't be in my own place right now without
the help of fabulous Nicki and Kate.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Shout out to Nicky and Kate. There's absolutely no way
Nikki would have said buy with a partner. No, well,
Nicky didn't even buy with a partner, so why would
she recommend you do.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh my gosh, Property Diarist. This is resonating with me
because I also had a mediocre white man tell me
that I should buy with a partner, very rude of him.
And I mean we can get into that a little
bit later on.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Because it's just easy, Like from a broking perspective, it's
because it's just so much easier for them, Like it's
got nothing to do with your goals and values, but
two easy incomes means easy loan writing.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, well, that's what we're here for. We're here to
see people succeed, and that is what our diarist has done.
So let's start at the beginning. Can you tell me
a little bit about your buying journey.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Yeah, so, once I spoke to Niki, it was a
lot easier for me, which is really great. But yeah,
so I knew I wanted to buy in and around
the center of Melbourne. I knew I wanted to buy
an apartment because it had things like safety and the
benefits of public transport. I was really familiar with the area.
(03:03):
I spent a lot of time researching it, especially as
you noticed through my story, I had been told to
wait once or twice, so I was monitoring the market
to try and figure out what was going on. So
once I started looking with the support of Nikki and
knew how much I could afford and all those kind
of things, it made it so much easier and it
(03:24):
was relatively quick for me. Actually, I settled within like
five months of meeting Niki, which was really great.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Oh my gosh, five months. You went through the whole
process and got a property. That's a dream for Jess.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That is yeah, I can only imagine. I'm very very envious.
You kind of already touched on this. But tell us again,
when and where did you purchase.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
So I purchased in at the start of April, settled
on the first of June, and I purchased around their
Thornberry Preston area.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Oh congrats, that's so new. It's such a nice area.
Swell around there for our fellow Melbourneites. Now, did you
end up purchasing with anyone else. Did you rope your
boyfriend in.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
No, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, my big question, Jess, I know, I was like,
but we love to see we've been doing it for themselves.
Now tell me Property Diarist. How much do you earn
and what do you do for WEK.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
So I work in the community services space. I work
in a youth housing refuge, so I don't earn that
much and this is actually the highest standing job I've had,
which is pretty I guess says something about those particular industries.
So I'm currently around seventy seven thousand dollars a year.
My previous contract roles were in the sixties range, so
(04:42):
most of my savings happened lower. So having this job
gave me more flexibility and I guess a little bit
more financial security as well.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Do you get any additional benefits? A lot of the
time in those industries you get maybe salary, packaging benefits
and things like that. Is there anything like that that's
available to you.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, And it's something they do really promote. And when
you go through your onboarding process, a lot of good
not for profits will give you great connections and obviously
there's different things you can add and obviously if you've
got a fixed straight home loan, you can add that
in as well. So there is benefits to it, which
I guess helped subsidize some of those lower incomes that
(05:20):
we have.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, amazing, it's no small feat. I think doing it
by yourself as a woman and as someone who's trying
to do that process. Right now, my hat goes off.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
You'll get it done. I promise, it's.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Not about me. It's not about me. Tell me, property diarist,
how much did you spend on this property?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
So this property was actually less than what Nikki, my broker,
originally told me that I could spend. And there was
a few reasons for that. So it was four hundred
and fifty five thousand. It was probably around one hundred
thousand dollars less than my max Puget. So I did
that for a couple of reasons. One, I really liked it.
Two it was a really good location. But also I
(05:56):
was conscious of the changing market and trust rates and
different things like that, so I wanted to sort of
give myself a buffer.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, I liked.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Myself a bit a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I feel like that's not something we always take into
consideration sometimes when we go to a broker, They're like, oh, Jess,
you can borrow up to eight hundred thousand, and you go, wow,
wham bam, I'm going to spend eight hundred thousand without
really thinking about the implications of that or the fact
that you are going to have to pay back that
loan and what that actually means when it comes to
lifestyle impacts. So it's so nice to hear that. You're like, no, no, no,
(06:28):
Like I got approved higher, but I ended up going lower.
It made more sense for me.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I love that. Did you have access to any of
the government schemes or grants?
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, so I did. The deposit I think it's changed
names now, so yeah. I think it was the first
home loan deposit scheme, which is where you can have
a minimum of five percent deposit and then the government
helps with the covering the al am i, so bringing
you up to twenty percent, which was really helpful because
it reduces that cost on top I had more than
(06:57):
five percent, but yeah, it did. It did help a
lot with taking over that cost of what your alamai
would be. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Absolutely. Now, when you were looking at all of these
different places, what were your non negotiables that you were
not willing to budge on.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
It changed so much as you start looking and when
you're actually in a place compared to what you think
you need, and then once you're in it, the practicality's changed.
I have dogs, so I knew I wanted to have
an outdoor area, so whether it was a balcony in
an apartment or like a courtyard or something like that.
I noticed I mentioned safety earlier, which was a big one,
(07:32):
so that was the area in location. But I also
noticed one thing in apartments they seemed to remove was
dining spaces, so faced out a table. Yeah, And it
wasn't until I was in them looking to buy that
I realized that was a big thing for me. So
I really figured out that after about one or two
that I was really keen on. And then I took
(07:54):
my mom as like the second opinion, you know, always
have that person come along with you towards and my
Mum's like, where are you going to put this dining table?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Where are we all going to? That great question? Hadn't
thought about that? Thank you so much, We will find
another property. Were there any other things on that list?
Speaker 4 (08:13):
And the location I wanted to be close to public
transport particularly you know, it's just me, so it's social.
I wanted to be able to see my friends and
have them come really easily, and luckily this area is
great for that. And also I want to be close
to the supermarket and the market, so Preston Market's obviously
not too far away, and you've got lots of great
(08:34):
food places along High Street and Plenty Road and places
like that.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
And that's such a nice location. Turn out of ten
can recommend to that space and work. Great choice, my love.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Last question I have for you Property Dires before we
scoop to a quick break is looking back, is there
anything about your journey that you would change?
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I think, like really trying to keep my confidence, Like
I knew that I could do this, but you have
so many different opinions, whether it's family or friends or
a broker, and it's really hard to I guess, trust
your own gut, and that was definitely the number one
thing that looking back, But I think it's a common thing,
(09:15):
whether it's employment or buying a property. You know, confidence
is a really really big thing, and do you know
sometimes you just got to back.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yourself absolutely, and it's even harder as a woman doing
it by yourself when you have someone kind of go,
oh what about your boyfriend? I feel like that is
an additional knock to your confidence or a lack of
faith that you really just didn't need. And I want
to talk to you about that broking process because I
think I feel like that you went through that, Jem,
and I did go through something really similar. So I
want to compare notes with you. But let's head to
(09:43):
a really quick break first, and we'll chat about it
when we come back.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
All right, we are back and property direst. You said
something that I feel resonates with your journey, Jess. And
I'm not saying that because you're here going, oh my gosh,
that makes so much sense. It's actually as a I
guess spectator to your journey. I remember you coming into
the office and honestly being so disheartened. I think you
were crying after you know, not crying immediately, but when
(10:10):
I started asking about it, you were like, yeah, really
sad about it. And then you just broke because I
started asking about, oh my gosh, how did your meeting
with that broker that got recommended to you go? And
you were just like, oh, well, actually it was so
disheartening and property direst You touched on confidence before, and
so many people just don't even have the confidence to
reach out to a broker and have that chat. But
(10:32):
then having stories like this, it makes you feel like trash.
It makes you feel like, oh, well, you know, my
friend got told that she'll never buy, or she needs
a boyfriend or whatever it is. What are your top
tips on staying confident during this journey? Because it's not
as though you're a single female with a three hundred
thousand dollar income, so it made sense that you could buy.
It took a lot of confidence, a lot of planning,
(10:53):
Like how did you stay on track? My love?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Well, I was pretty lucky in that, Like my parents
were really really sto and I think, you know, when
you've got people around you that can see the goals
and are trying to keep you on track, that made
a really big difference. And also I guess just that
own self reflection of you know, I knew how much
money I had saved, I knew what I was earning.
(11:17):
I know what my expenses are in how I spend
and what I was going to do. I'd also lived
alone renting for such a long time before that it
made sense. The only real part was I guess finding
a broker that understood my goals and understood the life
(11:39):
I wanted to live. It should never have come up
that I had a boyfriend, not alone, whether or not
I should have bought with him, yeah, because also he
knew nothing about that person. He knew nothing about my
boyfriend's life or what he wanted to do or his goals,
So it was just a strange assumption. And then the
confidence was even more effective by the choice of my
(12:01):
career and that I'd had contract roles, which is really
common for people that are in the first part of
their career that you've sort of got to be creative
and do different things and you're still learning. But yeah,
it didn't clearly didn't make sense to him, and the
house and land staff came up a lot, which then
really confused me because they're talking about the other schemes
(12:23):
that weren't relevant to me wanting to buy an apartment.
But he would say, you know, you get this extra
on top and it can adjust your borrowing power. So
that's just confusing because they're trying to move you in
ways that potentially are not something you've considered. And then
more options makes the process and your goals seem a
(12:44):
little bit fuzzy. So that was very, very difficult, and
I think that once I moved on to finding Niki,
everything made so much more sense. Yeah, there was no
discussion of other things. And if I was changing my
goals accident or talking about things that weren't relevant to me,
and what I've discussed with her when we'd set out
(13:05):
my plan, she would always double check or you hadn't
mentioned this before? Is this something that you want to
discuss because we need to adjust this. Yeah, that reflective
process NICKI was giving rather than pushing, made it so
much easier to keep my plan, keep my confidence that
I was on the right track, and stay within my
budget and all that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And it's not offensive when someone says, oh, like, hey,
property diarist, you actually never mentioned this before, like I'd
like some more clarity. That's so different than someone being like,
so what I think you should do is consider house
and land. And I guess digging a little bit deeper
on that side where someone suggesting that we need to
look at your partner, it's a knock of confidence, but
(13:46):
it's also just them basically underlyingly saying, hey, Jess, I
don't actually think you can do this on your own
because I don't have enough belief in you. Is there
someone else we can drag in? And you just go,
hold up, that's not what I'm here to talk about.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I promise you.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
If I had a boyfriend I was buying with, I
would have already brought him up. Mate. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
It's also like a really interesting, I suppose line because ideally,
I think a broker should be letting you know of
all of your options, right, Like that is a part
of their job to say, well, if you were to
consider this, here's what would be available to you. But
I personally feel like it's really crossing a line when
they start trying to push you in a specific direction,
(14:25):
because that's really not their job. Like their job is
to support you. And you know, there definitely would be
instances like if I turned around to Kay and Nicky
and I said hey, I want to buy a one
point five million dollar property, they would be like, bestie,
that's not going.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
To happen, Like, yeah, they're really lodges.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Like a broker does sometimes have to be practical and
say hey, like that's not within your means right now,
but maybe we can put together a plan to get
you there. But I really wonder why or what benefit
there was to him to try and push you in
that direction.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I was about to go there jest, because.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I mean sometimes and I would be interested to ask
you property diarist. Did this particular broker have an affiliation
with any companies? Did he work at a bank?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Was he getting a kickback? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Being paid?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Like it's actually so common on house and land for
the broker.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
For there to be an in house broker or someone
that has an affiliation with them, not even.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
A referral agreement where they get five percent of the
purchase price is really common, and that gives me the ick,
not the referral, but the factor that they push it
on people who aren't looking for it.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Do you know if that was the case for him,
I don't know for certain. He definitely spoke about certain
areas more than others, so it's definitely a possibility. And
I think after that last meeting where I definitely felt
the same way that you did, jes bit deflated and
it was pretty much a no go for me after that.
I didn't like the way I felt afterwards. I didn't
(15:49):
like the doubt that it had been put in my mind.
I didn't like the confusion, and there was just like
you said, that it killed there's something not right and
the area the areas that he were talking about would
areas that I clearly said I did not like for
my own reasons. So it's definitely possible that people have
those connections, but you don't know, and that's part of
(16:11):
the journeys you have to do. Figure out when people
are giving you advice based on you know, good evidence
or information or these kind of things, or whether it's
a kickback or a connection or they know somebody who's
going to give them a benefit afterwards.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
How did you find this particular broker through a.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Family connection, which is even more disappointing.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I had a really similar experience to you, so I totally,
I totally get it.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Let's hope it was the same broker, only that that
makes me feel better that there's not multiple of them.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah. Absolutely. I want to ask you Property Diarus about
using the fhlds and why you utilize that scheme and
what the benefits were from your perspective, because I think
it's really helpful to hear from someone who has used it,
to what benefits you personally saw and why you chose
to utilize it, because there are restrictions, like any scheme
(17:00):
that that then places on the choices and the property
options that you have.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Yeah, so, because I didn't have up to twenty percent deposit,
it was something that was always in the back of
my mind, and I knew that you could have lender's
mortgage insurance and all those kind of things which some
of people I knew had used, and they were all saying,
you won't really notice it, it will go on top
of your loan and all that kind of thing. But
(17:25):
then I had heard of this scheme and in discussions
with Nicky sort of explained that if you can access it,
it can help a lot in terms of reducing the
costs that go on top which can affect your boring
power and all those kind of things. She also I
had to go apply to the bank that I ended
(17:46):
up using and wait for a spot on the scheme. Yeah,
Luckily I didn't have to wait too long, and that
was something as well. Having someone who knew the process
made it a lot easier. So yeah, I didn't have
to wait too long. And then from that date I
had ninety days, i'd believe to use that spot. If not,
(18:07):
it was sort of freed up for the next person,
and then you reapply.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I've looked into the scheme as well with the Zela team,
and I think it is really like that avoiding al
ami is a really huge benefit for the people, particularly
if it aligns with the properties that they're looking at.
Had you heard of it before or was it something
that you learned through working with your brokers.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
I had heard of it. I think you know it
sometimes comes up and prompts you on real estate dot
Com or or you know when on Facebook, because Facebook
seems to know everything that we do and so things
like that. I'd seen it and always found it a
little bit confusing, And I guess I'd never looked at
too many of the schemes because I didn't want to build,
(18:49):
so knocked out a lot of those. This was really
the only one that I'd ever explored. It helped a
lot in that I didn't have to worry about I
guess crazy us fast saving to try and make up
that bit I didn't have, yeah, which reduced a bit
of stress as well. And then it gave me some
flexibility in terms of what I did with the deposit amount,
(19:12):
how much money I kept in different types of accounts.
And this is why having a broker helped so much.
One that I had a really good relationship with, because
she could talk through the different technicalities and how I
could use my money and how I could put it
in the right places to make sure that I felt
safe and secure in what I was doing.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
And I feel like that's a really good point as well,
because I think a lot of people who are looking
at purchasing homes, they go a broker. I can just
go and apply for my own loan. It's so much
more than that. It's like budget and cash flow and
working out what the future looks like. And you know,
I know that the girls. Obviously I'm quite biased because
I own that business, but the girls go above and
(19:53):
beyond to make sure that you're in the right position.
And I was only talking to Kate the other day
and she was saying that one of her buyers was
really nervous about putting in and off.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
She's just like, oh, I'll do it for you.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So she like gets on the phone, organizes it all
and just wants her clients to be as comfortable and
safe and secure as possible, And it's so much more
than Hey, I just organized your loan, and I just
think that helpful hand to hold makes the whole process
so much nicer to go through.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, and the comfort thing is a really important thing.
And I guess that's the last question that I have
for you today, Property Diarist, is you know, we've both
found ourselves in a position where we've met with a
broker and it's not felt right. And I guess it's
hard to articulate that to somebody who hasn't had that
experience yet, but I wanted to get your insight into
are there any red flags? I mean, obviously, someone going, oh,
(20:41):
do a boyfriend is a bit of an obvious one,
I would say, But if someone is feeling a little
bit not quite right, or you know, is thinking, I
don't know if this is quite the connection or the
person to help me, what would you recommend that they
do in that situation?
Speaker 4 (20:55):
I think keep looking. I guess one thing, you're not
married to the broker. You can meet with a bunch
of different ones that have different values from different places
and go through Because and this was something that you know,
following and working with Kate and Nikki is they all
have different connections. They all have different people and banks
(21:18):
that they work with, which means you know that some
might be specialists in a certain area, some might have
a connection for a certain type of buyer. And I
think that was something I didn't realize that they're all different,
They're all going to have different values and connect to
different buyers, and that was something that Yeah, I kind
of just went back to the same guy a bunch
(21:40):
of times because I thought that was what I supposed
was supposed to do. And that was the number one
lesson about brokers. I was like, that's not true. Only
once you, I guess, get to that point that you've
got pre approval and stuff, does it become a little
bit tricky in you know, if you change it's going
to affect how much you can borrow, or you know,
you might get different numbers and things like that. But
(22:01):
in the process of finding one that you fit with,
you can meet with, I guess as many as you like,
and you have time to meet with.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
So I reckon, guys, you should be treating brokers like
a tin to date haha, Like, if you want to
see them again, go for it. But if you never
want to talk to them again, you do you like,
you owe them nothing, treat them like a TIN to date.
My tin to date worked out well, we're getting married,
so like, obviously you can have a good outcome from
a TIN to date, but also you can meet some
people that you're like, this ain't the right fit and
(22:29):
you don't have to work with them again because you
owe nobody anything.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, and if you do want to go on a
TIN to date with the Zella girl's Victoria, how do
people find that?
Speaker 3 (22:37):
We don't have an app, but we do have a website,
Zella dot com dot au is where you'll find the
girls and all of their information. I mean we'll probably
link them in the show notes of this episode, but
they're also on Instagram. Kate does a lot of reels
and tiktoks, and honestly it's basically just taking the mickey
out of me at this point, which you know what
you do you if they're happy, I'm happy.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah. Really Funnily, it's now both my broker and our
property direst's broker, and we both got there after working
our way through some shrity ones as well. So if
you want to chat to the girls as absolutely obligation.
I like, having had a bad experience, really respect them
and I am so in admiration of everything that they do.
But again I'm a little bit biased because they're a
part of our team.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah again, they're just someone else to throw into the mix,
and if they sound like a good fit for you,
go hit them up. If not, that's totally okay as well.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, cycle through, do your Tinder dates. Like our diarists said,
find the right fit for you, because sometimes it's not
even a matter of the person being so blatantly rude
or unkind. It's also just a matter of who you
click with. Maybe you connect because you like the same things,
maybe you go for the same footy team. Whatever it
takes for you to feel comfy, because ultimately, I think
that person's handling something that's really personal and really significant
(23:46):
in your life, and you want to trust them and
be able to ask questions and all of those fun things.
But I think that's about all we've got time for today.
Property diarists, thank you so much for chatting to us
and for validating my experience a little bit. Look at
it us both go One day, I will be in
your position where I too can say I do own
this house, strokes on.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
You, sir, and you'll have a dining table and I'll
be able to come over and have dinner there. So
next time you got all property inspection, we're going to
make sure that there's a dining table.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, I've learned that one from you today. So thank
you for joining us.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
No, thank you very much for having me. It's really
great to chat to you guys.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Oh my goodness. Alrighty guys, before we go, don't feet
the boring but important it's the advice shared on the
Property Playbook is general in nature and does not consider
your individual circumstances. The Property Playbook exists purely for educational
purposes and should not be relied upon to make an
investment or a financial decision. If you do want someone
to talk things through with, head to the Property Playbook
(24:39):
Facebook group. We have a whole group of thousands of
wonderful humans who are all on that journey investing, buying
their first properties, sharing tips and tricks, and asking questions.
It is such a solid place to find people doing
the same thing that you're doing. It's really really special.
If Facebook's not your thing, we're on Instagram as well.
You can find us at Property Playbook a US. But
that's about it today, guys. Thanks for joining me by day.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
See you Stain guys.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Bye mm hmm
The Property Playbook would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians
of the lands of where this podcast is recorded. There
were wondering people of the cooler nations acknowledging the culture,
the history, and the connection to the lands of what
we call home. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello and welcome to The Property Playbook, the podcast where
we take you from A to V of all things property.
My name is Jessica Ricky and maybe one day soon
I'll be a first home book. I will be, but
it don't be a doubt for But until then, I
want to chat to our community to learn a little
bit more what the journey was like for them, as
you've probably gathered from that little voice trying to be
guess who I've got with me today, Victoria Divine.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Never wait to be introduced.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I'm like, what's up? I'm here, Hello me today, Victoria.
I have a diarist who use the FHLDS and who
also is very close to our hearts. FHLDS is a
mouthful jeff it sure is. Let me tell you all
about her. So diarist said, I knew for a long
time that I wanted to buy my own place. Sadly
it was delayed due to some health issues which stopped
me from working full time. When I did get back
(01:10):
into full time work, I moved around through a couple
of contract roles. I'd lived in and around the Melbourne
CBD in apartments, so I knew that was what I
wanted to buy. My first interactions with a broker were
with a middle aged white guy who was very caught
up on me being single, wanting to buy apartments, and
recently changing jobs. He kept trying to change my property
goals to house and land packages in the outer suburbs.
(01:31):
He even asked me if I wanted to buy with
my boyfriend, as it might be smarter financially. Oh great,
good for He's very helpful. After listening to the property
playbook and choose on the money, I sent an inquiry
via the Shees on the Money website for a broker.
A few days later, I was matched with Nicki, and
on the first of June I settled on my apartment.
Nicki also helped me to access the FHLDS. Safe to say,
(01:51):
I am very glad I didn't listen to him and
let the doubt he put in my mind win, because
I wouldn't be in my own place right now without
the help of fabulous Nicki and Kate.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Shout out to Nicky and Kate. There's absolutely no way
Nikki would have said buy with a partner. No, well,
Nicky didn't even buy with a partner, so why would
she recommend you do.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Oh my gosh, Property Diarist. This is resonating with me
because I also had a mediocre white man tell me
that I should buy with a partner, very rude of him.
And I mean we can get into that a little
bit later on.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Because it's just easy, Like from a broking perspective, it's
because it's just so much easier for them, Like it's
got nothing to do with your goals and values, but
two easy incomes means easy loan writing.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, well, that's what we're here for. We're here to
see people succeed, and that is what our diarist has done.
So let's start at the beginning. Can you tell me
a little bit about your buying journey.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Yeah, so, once I spoke to Niki, it was a
lot easier for me, which is really great. But yeah,
so I knew I wanted to buy in and around
the center of Melbourne. I knew I wanted to buy
an apartment because it had things like safety and the
benefits of public transport. I was really familiar with the area.
(03:03):
I spent a lot of time researching it, especially as
you noticed through my story, I had been told to
wait once or twice, so I was monitoring the market
to try and figure out what was going on. So
once I started looking with the support of Nikki and
knew how much I could afford and all those kind
of things, it made it so much easier and it
(03:24):
was relatively quick for me. Actually, I settled within like
five months of meeting Niki, which was really great.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Oh my gosh, five months. You went through the whole
process and got a property. That's a dream for Jess.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That is yeah, I can only imagine. I'm very very envious.
You kind of already touched on this. But tell us again,
when and where did you purchase.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
So I purchased in at the start of April, settled
on the first of June, and I purchased around their
Thornberry Preston area.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Oh congrats, that's so new. It's such a nice area.
Swell around there for our fellow Melbourneites. Now, did you
end up purchasing with anyone else. Did you rope your
boyfriend in.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
No, definitely not.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, my big question, Jess, I know, I was like,
but we love to see we've been doing it for themselves.
Now tell me Property Diarist. How much do you earn
and what do you do for WEK.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
So I work in the community services space. I work
in a youth housing refuge, so I don't earn that
much and this is actually the highest standing job I've had,
which is pretty I guess says something about those particular industries.
So I'm currently around seventy seven thousand dollars a year.
My previous contract roles were in the sixties range, so
(04:42):
most of my savings happened lower. So having this job
gave me more flexibility and I guess a little bit
more financial security as well.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Do you get any additional benefits? A lot of the
time in those industries you get maybe salary, packaging benefits
and things like that. Is there anything like that that's
available to you.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, And it's something they do really promote. And when
you go through your onboarding process, a lot of good
not for profits will give you great connections and obviously
there's different things you can add and obviously if you've
got a fixed straight home loan, you can add that
in as well. So there is benefits to it, which
I guess helped subsidize some of those lower incomes that
(05:20):
we have.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yeah, amazing, it's no small feat. I think doing it
by yourself as a woman and as someone who's trying
to do that process. Right now, my hat goes off.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
You'll get it done. I promise, it's.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Not about me. It's not about me. Tell me, property diarist,
how much did you spend on this property?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
So this property was actually less than what Nikki, my broker,
originally told me that I could spend. And there was
a few reasons for that. So it was four hundred
and fifty five thousand. It was probably around one hundred
thousand dollars less than my max Puget. So I did
that for a couple of reasons. One, I really liked it.
Two it was a really good location. But also I
(05:56):
was conscious of the changing market and trust rates and
different things like that, so I wanted to sort of
give myself a buffer.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, I liked.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Myself a bit a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I feel like that's not something we always take into
consideration sometimes when we go to a broker, They're like, oh, Jess,
you can borrow up to eight hundred thousand, and you go, wow,
wham bam, I'm going to spend eight hundred thousand without
really thinking about the implications of that or the fact
that you are going to have to pay back that
loan and what that actually means when it comes to
lifestyle impacts. So it's so nice to hear that. You're like, no, no, no,
(06:28):
Like I got approved higher, but I ended up going lower.
It made more sense for me.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
I love that. Did you have access to any of
the government schemes or grants?
Speaker 4 (06:36):
Yeah, so I did. The deposit I think it's changed
names now, so yeah. I think it was the first
home loan deposit scheme, which is where you can have
a minimum of five percent deposit and then the government
helps with the covering the al am i, so bringing
you up to twenty percent, which was really helpful because
it reduces that cost on top I had more than
(06:57):
five percent, but yeah, it did. It did help a
lot with taking over that cost of what your alamai
would be. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Absolutely. Now, when you were looking at all of these
different places, what were your non negotiables that you were
not willing to budge on.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
It changed so much as you start looking and when
you're actually in a place compared to what you think
you need, and then once you're in it, the practicality's changed.
I have dogs, so I knew I wanted to have
an outdoor area, so whether it was a balcony in
an apartment or like a courtyard or something like that.
I noticed I mentioned safety earlier, which was a big one,
(07:32):
so that was the area in location. But I also
noticed one thing in apartments they seemed to remove was
dining spaces, so faced out a table. Yeah, And it
wasn't until I was in them looking to buy that
I realized that was a big thing for me. So
I really figured out that after about one or two
that I was really keen on. And then I took
(07:54):
my mom as like the second opinion, you know, always
have that person come along with you towards and my
Mum's like, where are you going to put this dining table?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Where are we all going to? That great question? Hadn't
thought about that? Thank you so much, We will find
another property. Were there any other things on that list?
Speaker 4 (08:13):
And the location I wanted to be close to public
transport particularly you know, it's just me, so it's social.
I wanted to be able to see my friends and
have them come really easily, and luckily this area is
great for that. And also I want to be close
to the supermarket and the market, so Preston Market's obviously
not too far away, and you've got lots of great
(08:34):
food places along High Street and Plenty Road and places
like that.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
And that's such a nice location. Turn out of ten
can recommend to that space and work. Great choice, my love.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Last question I have for you Property Dires before we
scoop to a quick break is looking back, is there
anything about your journey that you would change?
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I think, like really trying to keep my confidence, Like
I knew that I could do this, but you have
so many different opinions, whether it's family or friends or
a broker, and it's really hard to I guess, trust
your own gut, and that was definitely the number one
thing that looking back, But I think it's a common thing,
(09:15):
whether it's employment or buying a property. You know, confidence
is a really really big thing, and do you know
sometimes you just got to back.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yourself absolutely, and it's even harder as a woman doing
it by yourself when you have someone kind of go,
oh what about your boyfriend? I feel like that is
an additional knock to your confidence or a lack of
faith that you really just didn't need. And I want
to talk to you about that broking process because I
think I feel like that you went through that, Jem,
and I did go through something really similar. So I
want to compare notes with you. But let's head to
(09:43):
a really quick break first, and we'll chat about it
when we come back.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
All right, we are back and property direst. You said
something that I feel resonates with your journey, Jess. And
I'm not saying that because you're here going, oh my gosh,
that makes so much sense. It's actually as a I
guess spectator to your journey. I remember you coming into
the office and honestly being so disheartened. I think you
were crying after you know, not crying immediately, but when
(10:10):
I started asking about it, you were like, yeah, really
sad about it. And then you just broke because I
started asking about, oh my gosh, how did your meeting
with that broker that got recommended to you go? And
you were just like, oh, well, actually it was so
disheartening and property direst You touched on confidence before, and
so many people just don't even have the confidence to
reach out to a broker and have that chat. But
(10:32):
then having stories like this, it makes you feel like trash.
It makes you feel like, oh, well, you know, my
friend got told that she'll never buy, or she needs
a boyfriend or whatever it is. What are your top
tips on staying confident during this journey? Because it's not
as though you're a single female with a three hundred
thousand dollar income, so it made sense that you could buy.
It took a lot of confidence, a lot of planning,
(10:53):
Like how did you stay on track? My love?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Well, I was pretty lucky in that, Like my parents
were really really sto and I think, you know, when
you've got people around you that can see the goals
and are trying to keep you on track, that made
a really big difference. And also I guess just that
own self reflection of you know, I knew how much
money I had saved, I knew what I was earning.
(11:17):
I know what my expenses are in how I spend
and what I was going to do. I'd also lived
alone renting for such a long time before that it
made sense. The only real part was I guess finding
a broker that understood my goals and understood the life
(11:39):
I wanted to live. It should never have come up
that I had a boyfriend, not alone, whether or not
I should have bought with him, yeah, because also he
knew nothing about that person. He knew nothing about my
boyfriend's life or what he wanted to do or his goals,
So it was just a strange assumption. And then the
confidence was even more effective by the choice of my
(12:01):
career and that I'd had contract roles, which is really
common for people that are in the first part of
their career that you've sort of got to be creative
and do different things and you're still learning. But yeah,
it didn't clearly didn't make sense to him, and the
house and land staff came up a lot, which then
really confused me because they're talking about the other schemes
(12:23):
that weren't relevant to me wanting to buy an apartment.
But he would say, you know, you get this extra
on top and it can adjust your borrowing power. So
that's just confusing because they're trying to move you in
ways that potentially are not something you've considered. And then
more options makes the process and your goals seem a
(12:44):
little bit fuzzy. So that was very, very difficult, and
I think that once I moved on to finding Niki,
everything made so much more sense. Yeah, there was no
discussion of other things. And if I was changing my
goals accident or talking about things that weren't relevant to me,
and what I've discussed with her when we'd set out
(13:05):
my plan, she would always double check or you hadn't
mentioned this before? Is this something that you want to
discuss because we need to adjust this. Yeah, that reflective
process NICKI was giving rather than pushing, made it so
much easier to keep my plan, keep my confidence that
I was on the right track, and stay within my
budget and all that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
And it's not offensive when someone says, oh, like, hey,
property diarist, you actually never mentioned this before, like I'd
like some more clarity. That's so different than someone being like,
so what I think you should do is consider house
and land. And I guess digging a little bit deeper
on that side where someone suggesting that we need to
look at your partner, it's a knock of confidence, but
(13:46):
it's also just them basically underlyingly saying, hey, Jess, I
don't actually think you can do this on your own
because I don't have enough belief in you. Is there
someone else we can drag in? And you just go,
hold up, that's not what I'm here to talk about.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I promise you.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
If I had a boyfriend I was buying with, I
would have already brought him up. Mate. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
It's also like a really interesting, I suppose line because ideally,
I think a broker should be letting you know of
all of your options, right, Like that is a part
of their job to say, well, if you were to
consider this, here's what would be available to you. But
I personally feel like it's really crossing a line when
they start trying to push you in a specific direction,
(14:25):
because that's really not their job. Like their job is
to support you. And you know, there definitely would be
instances like if I turned around to Kay and Nicky
and I said hey, I want to buy a one
point five million dollar property, they would be like, bestie,
that's not going.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
To happen, Like, yeah, they're really lodges.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Like a broker does sometimes have to be practical and
say hey, like that's not within your means right now,
but maybe we can put together a plan to get
you there. But I really wonder why or what benefit
there was to him to try and push you in
that direction.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
I was about to go there jest, because.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
I mean sometimes and I would be interested to ask
you property diarist. Did this particular broker have an affiliation
with any companies? Did he work at a bank?
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Was he getting a kickback? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Being paid?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Like it's actually so common on house and land for
the broker.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
For there to be an in house broker or someone
that has an affiliation with them, not even.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
A referral agreement where they get five percent of the
purchase price is really common, and that gives me the ick,
not the referral, but the factor that they push it
on people who aren't looking for it.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
Do you know if that was the case for him,
I don't know for certain. He definitely spoke about certain
areas more than others, so it's definitely a possibility. And
I think after that last meeting where I definitely felt
the same way that you did, jes bit deflated and
it was pretty much a no go for me after that.
I didn't like the way I felt afterwards. I didn't
(15:49):
like the doubt that it had been put in my mind.
I didn't like the confusion, and there was just like
you said, that it killed there's something not right and
the area the areas that he were talking about would
areas that I clearly said I did not like for
my own reasons. So it's definitely possible that people have
those connections, but you don't know, and that's part of
(16:11):
the journeys you have to do. Figure out when people
are giving you advice based on you know, good evidence
or information or these kind of things, or whether it's
a kickback or a connection or they know somebody who's
going to give them a benefit afterwards.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
How did you find this particular broker through a.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Family connection, which is even more disappointing.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I had a really similar experience to you, so I totally,
I totally get it.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Let's hope it was the same broker, only that that
makes me feel better that there's not multiple of them.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah. Absolutely. I want to ask you Property Diarus about
using the fhlds and why you utilize that scheme and
what the benefits were from your perspective, because I think
it's really helpful to hear from someone who has used it,
to what benefits you personally saw and why you chose
to utilize it, because there are restrictions, like any scheme
(17:00):
that that then places on the choices and the property
options that you have.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Yeah, so, because I didn't have up to twenty percent deposit,
it was something that was always in the back of
my mind, and I knew that you could have lender's
mortgage insurance and all those kind of things which some
of people I knew had used, and they were all saying,
you won't really notice it, it will go on top
of your loan and all that kind of thing. But
(17:25):
then I had heard of this scheme and in discussions
with Nicky sort of explained that if you can access it,
it can help a lot in terms of reducing the
costs that go on top which can affect your boring
power and all those kind of things. She also I
had to go apply to the bank that I ended
(17:46):
up using and wait for a spot on the scheme. Yeah,
Luckily I didn't have to wait too long, and that
was something as well. Having someone who knew the process
made it a lot easier. So yeah, I didn't have
to wait too long. And then from that date I
had ninety days, i'd believe to use that spot. If not,
(18:07):
it was sort of freed up for the next person,
and then you reapply.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
I've looked into the scheme as well with the Zela team,
and I think it is really like that avoiding al
ami is a really huge benefit for the people, particularly
if it aligns with the properties that they're looking at.
Had you heard of it before or was it something
that you learned through working with your brokers.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
I had heard of it. I think you know it
sometimes comes up and prompts you on real estate dot
Com or or you know when on Facebook, because Facebook
seems to know everything that we do and so things
like that. I'd seen it and always found it a
little bit confusing, And I guess I'd never looked at
too many of the schemes because I didn't want to build,
(18:49):
so knocked out a lot of those. This was really
the only one that I'd ever explored. It helped a
lot in that I didn't have to worry about I
guess crazy us fast saving to try and make up
that bit I didn't have, yeah, which reduced a bit
of stress as well. And then it gave me some
flexibility in terms of what I did with the deposit amount,
(19:12):
how much money I kept in different types of accounts.
And this is why having a broker helped so much.
One that I had a really good relationship with, because
she could talk through the different technicalities and how I
could use my money and how I could put it
in the right places to make sure that I felt
safe and secure in what I was doing.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
And I feel like that's a really good point as well,
because I think a lot of people who are looking
at purchasing homes, they go a broker. I can just
go and apply for my own loan. It's so much
more than that. It's like budget and cash flow and
working out what the future looks like. And you know,
I know that the girls. Obviously I'm quite biased because
I own that business, but the girls go above and
(19:53):
beyond to make sure that you're in the right position.
And I was only talking to Kate the other day
and she was saying that one of her buyers was
really nervous about putting in and off.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
She's just like, oh, I'll do it for you.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So she like gets on the phone, organizes it all
and just wants her clients to be as comfortable and
safe and secure as possible, And it's so much more
than Hey, I just organized your loan, and I just
think that helpful hand to hold makes the whole process
so much nicer to go through.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, and the comfort thing is a really important thing.
And I guess that's the last question that I have
for you today, Property Diarist, is you know, we've both
found ourselves in a position where we've met with a
broker and it's not felt right. And I guess it's
hard to articulate that to somebody who hasn't had that
experience yet, but I wanted to get your insight into
are there any red flags? I mean, obviously, someone going, oh,
(20:41):
do a boyfriend is a bit of an obvious one,
I would say, But if someone is feeling a little
bit not quite right, or you know, is thinking, I
don't know if this is quite the connection or the
person to help me, what would you recommend that they
do in that situation?
Speaker 4 (20:55):
I think keep looking. I guess one thing, you're not
married to the broker. You can meet with a bunch
of different ones that have different values from different places
and go through Because and this was something that you know,
following and working with Kate and Nikki is they all
have different connections. They all have different people and banks
(21:18):
that they work with, which means you know that some
might be specialists in a certain area, some might have
a connection for a certain type of buyer. And I
think that was something I didn't realize that they're all different,
They're all going to have different values and connect to
different buyers, and that was something that Yeah, I kind
of just went back to the same guy a bunch
(21:40):
of times because I thought that was what I supposed
was supposed to do. And that was the number one
lesson about brokers. I was like, that's not true. Only
once you, I guess, get to that point that you've
got pre approval and stuff, does it become a little
bit tricky in you know, if you change it's going
to affect how much you can borrow, or you know,
you might get different numbers and things like that. But
(22:01):
in the process of finding one that you fit with,
you can meet with, I guess as many as you like,
and you have time to meet with.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
So I reckon, guys, you should be treating brokers like
a tin to date haha, Like, if you want to
see them again, go for it. But if you never
want to talk to them again, you do you like,
you owe them nothing, treat them like a TIN to date.
My tin to date worked out well, we're getting married,
so like, obviously you can have a good outcome from
a TIN to date, but also you can meet some
people that you're like, this ain't the right fit and
(22:29):
you don't have to work with them again because you
owe nobody anything.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Yeah, and if you do want to go on a
TIN to date with the Zella girl's Victoria, how do
people find that?
Speaker 3 (22:37):
We don't have an app, but we do have a website,
Zella dot com dot au is where you'll find the
girls and all of their information. I mean we'll probably
link them in the show notes of this episode, but
they're also on Instagram. Kate does a lot of reels
and tiktoks, and honestly it's basically just taking the mickey
out of me at this point, which you know what
you do you if they're happy, I'm happy.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Yeah. Really Funnily, it's now both my broker and our
property direst's broker, and we both got there after working
our way through some shrity ones as well. So if
you want to chat to the girls as absolutely obligation.
I like, having had a bad experience, really respect them
and I am so in admiration of everything that they do.
But again I'm a little bit biased because they're a
part of our team.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Yeah again, they're just someone else to throw into the mix,
and if they sound like a good fit for you,
go hit them up. If not, that's totally okay as well.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, cycle through, do your Tinder dates. Like our diarists said,
find the right fit for you, because sometimes it's not
even a matter of the person being so blatantly rude
or unkind. It's also just a matter of who you
click with. Maybe you connect because you like the same things,
maybe you go for the same footy team. Whatever it
takes for you to feel comfy, because ultimately, I think
that person's handling something that's really personal and really significant
(23:46):
in your life, and you want to trust them and
be able to ask questions and all of those fun things.
But I think that's about all we've got time for today.
Property diarists, thank you so much for chatting to us
and for validating my experience a little bit. Look at
it us both go One day, I will be in
your position where I too can say I do own
this house, strokes on.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
You, sir, and you'll have a dining table and I'll
be able to come over and have dinner there. So
next time you got all property inspection, we're going to
make sure that there's a dining table.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, I've learned that one from you today. So thank
you for joining us.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
No, thank you very much for having me. It's really
great to chat to you guys.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Oh my goodness. Alrighty guys, before we go, don't feet
the boring but important it's the advice shared on the
Property Playbook is general in nature and does not consider
your individual circumstances. The Property Playbook exists purely for educational
purposes and should not be relied upon to make an
investment or a financial decision. If you do want someone
to talk things through with, head to the Property Playbook
(24:39):
Facebook group. We have a whole group of thousands of
wonderful humans who are all on that journey investing, buying
their first properties, sharing tips and tricks, and asking questions.
It is such a solid place to find people doing
the same thing that you're doing. It's really really special.
If Facebook's not your thing, we're on Instagram as well.
You can find us at Property Playbook a US. But
that's about it today, guys. Thanks for joining me by day.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
See you Stain guys.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Bye mm hmm
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