May 24, 2023 • 22 mins
Today’s property diarist is a single woman who spent FOUR YEARS looking for the right home in her ideal rural area…and the pandemic nearly upended those plans. Thankfully her patience paid off and she was able to share her timely tips for persevering in your property journey
Acknowledgement of Country By Natarsha Bamblett aka Queen Acknowledgements.
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 financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and The Property Playbook are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708, AFSL - 451289.
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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 lens 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 Jessic Ricky and one day, one day,
I will be a homeowner. But until then, I want
to talk to some people to hear about their journey
so I can learn from them and hopefully get myself
there one day soon. Today I've got Victoria to find
the Pie joining me in the studio to chat to
(00:49):
one of our beautiful community members and V. Today I'm
going to talk you through somebody who has gone through
the auction process and it was arduous. Would you like
to hear?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I cannot wait, Like this is going to be one
that's really relatable to a lot of people in our community,
so let's dive straight in, alrighty.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Our direct says I am a single female and I
bought my first home in the Maston Rangers in May
this year. I had an inheritance to help with the deposit.
My grandparents bought shares for me when I was born,
and I sold them. At the beginning of last year,
I bidded seriously for three different properties, not at an auction,
usually via text message with the agent text message bidding,
I know, and each time was outbid by another buyer.
(01:27):
Oh where houses are concerned. I'm a bit of a
dreamer and a bit of a romantic. I was happy
to keep renting until my idea of a little cottage
in the country came up. But I've been looking for
four years and COVID met that house prices where I
was looking had skyrocketed and there was loads more competition.
It was only about a month after I'd decided maybe
I could stand to move back to the city that
a place came onto the market.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Alrighty, Propertiras, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome
to the show.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Oh, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I'm very excited to hear all about it because, yeah,
very relatable content. It sounds like it's coming our way.
Can you tell me a little bit, Start at the
beginning and talk me through your property buying journey.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Sure, I started about four years ago, and I was
just like keen to have my own place, but I
was really happy renting. I moved from Brunswick in kind
of the inner north of Melbourne out to the Massidon
Rangers and really loved that area and being out in
regional Victoria and all the kind of lifestyle benefits that
(02:25):
that brought with it, and I was really keen to
stay out that way. So I started looking about four
years ago, but you know, was happy renting until the
right place came up.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Tell me when and where did you purchase?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Things progressed and COVID happened, and the market really got
very difficult to buy into, and I kept thinking I
should have, you know, you should have jumped on some
opportunities earlier on. I think I have been fairly picky
in the kind of place that I want to buy,
so that certainly meant that I wasn't looking, you know,
at every single place. I wasn't you know, bidding at
(02:56):
every single place that I looked at, and that its
benefits and its disadvantages as well. And then I was
lucky enough this year to purchase a place in would
end in the Massidon ranges.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Oh god, afol this year so nice?
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Would end is so cute? Did you purchase with anybody else?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
No?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
On my own?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, Queen behavior, I'd love to see it. Can you
tell me property ours? How much do you earn and
what do you do for work?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Yeah? So I'm a leading teacher, so in a secondary school,
and my kind of portfolio is curriculum and assessment. So
you can look up the salaries for teachers in Victoria.
But I, as of the first of July, I'm earning
one hundred and sixteen, seven hundred and eighty two dollars
a year before tax.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Amazing leading teacher. So does that mean that you're in
charge of all of the other teachers?
Speaker 4 (03:44):
It does not mean that.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
No, What does it mean that?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I have lots of responsibilities in terms of the running
of the curriculum across the school and making sure that
we get all our reports done and on time and
out to parents. But yeah, I guess it's sort of
in charge of like big picture thinking rather than in
charge of particular staff members.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That is a big job. It sounds like, yeah, that's
a lot.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Yeah, it's a big job, but I really love it,
Like it's really exciting and gives me a lot of satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Oh that's so great. I can see your passion like
coming off of you through the screen. That's amazing. Back
to the property, can you tell me how much did
you spend?
Speaker 4 (04:19):
So I purchased it for six hundred and sixty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And how much did you have in your deposit for
that one?
Speaker 4 (04:24):
So I had more saved up than I spent on
my deposit, but my deposit was sixty six thousand dollars.
I really wanted to make sure that I had some
leftover in my emergency fund, so I had about one
hundred thousand saved up. So I used sixty six thousand
for the deposit, and then there was a settlement fees,
so I had lender's mortgage insurance came into it as
(04:45):
well as some of their stamp duty funds as well,
So I didn't spend all of my savings, but I, yeah,
spent more than just the sixty six obviously because of
the lender's morgage insurance.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Do you have a rough ballpark on what those additional
fees costs for like LMI and your settlement fees and
stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, it was about thirty two thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, okay, great, and so you had it's really great
that you had that buffer there, but you still had
enough sitting that.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
It's you want to spend every dollar that you want,
is what I'm finding on my journey. I'm like, throw
every cent at it, take it all. But it's so
important that you do like you did and you have
that little emergency buffer.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I think it's really difficult, Like I've been saving for
such a long time now that it feels like spending
all of that money and having nothing there is a
really big to like shift in like not necessarily lifestyle,
but just my mindset of I don't have all of
this cash sitting there if something would happen, or you know,
I decided suddenly that I hated my job and wanted
to do something different.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, no, one thousand percent. It's kind of scary, right
to see all that money.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Just disstud fine.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
When you purchased, did you use any government grants or schemes?
Speaker 4 (05:46):
I did not know.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And when you were looking what were your non negotiables?
You said before, you're a little picky, which I fully
same girlfriends, same I think you're spending a lot of money,
you want to be happy. So what were the things
that you were not willing to budge on?
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Yeah, okay, it's going to sound like it's not like
three bedrooms and you know, two car, garage and that
kind of thing were my non negotiables. I discovered, like
when I started looking, I didn't feel like I had
a list, But the more properties that I looked at,
the more that list developed. And really what it came
down to was that I really wanted something with character.
I felt like I wanted a house that I could
(06:19):
go home to at the end of the day that
I like loved being in, and so having something, you know,
I could decorate that that had some character of its
own was important to me. I wanted it to be
within commuting distance to work and also to my parents' place.
So in the massive end ranges, certainly there were places
within my price range that were a little bit further
out that I loved, but because they were that little
bit further from work and from my parents' place, I
(06:41):
ruled them out because of that. And I also discovered
this year when I started kind of looking closer into
the city, thinking that the kind of regional dream wasn't
going to happen. That something that was really important to
me was just having a space where I could have
friends over and entertain. So they don't seem like really
crucial things, I think, but they've really been important to
of finding a place that I feel really happy in.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, and you want to make your home feel like
your home, right, you're sanctuary Generally that's the place where
you can spend time with the people you love, or
feel supported and feel nurtured. And so yeah, as much
as you say that, okay, feeling like I can entertain,
it's not a I need an extra bedroom type of deal.
I think it's definitely something that is really worthy of considering.
(07:22):
And I love that you brought that up. The last
question that I have for you before we head to
a really quick break is looking back, Is there anything
that you would want to change about your journey?
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Yeah. I think there's probably three things for me that
I would change or do differently. The first thing is
that I would be much more active in my approach.
Like since listening to their She's on the Money podcast,
I feel like I've got a lot more knowledge and
a lot more kind of ammunition for how to talk
to agents and approach them directly. I thought about getting
a buyer's agent that you know, I was able to
(07:52):
purchase a property before that happened, but just like knowing
that that was a possibility, and you know, thinking about
different ways that I could have approached it rather than
us looking on you know, real estate dot Com and
then going to open for inspections and having that as
the only way that I was looking. I would definitely
be more active if I were to do it again.
The second thing is that I'm really happy with the
(08:13):
bank that I went to for my mortgage. But I
didn't look at any other banks and I didn't shop
around like with a mortgage broker or anything like that.
And in hindsight, I think that was really silly, and
I think part of that was like a timeframe thing.
I really wanted to, like, you know, lock it in.
And I was comfortable with the person that I was
seeing and speaking to at the bank and felt really
supported by her. I really feel like I am a
(08:34):
sort of person who doesn't like conflict and doesn't like
having to make phone calls. So if I've found a
person that I like and get on with, and I
feel like, I can ask lots of questions and they
won't make me feel silly, then that's going to be,
you know, the person that I want to stick with.
But financially, I would have been more sensible to shop
around a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Did you pick that bank because it was your primary
bank that you already banked with?
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Yes? And I also had my sister and another friend
of mine both have their mortgages with that bank, so
I felt really secure and knowing I guess that kind
of recommendation from them.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Okay, yeah, that makes heat of sense. What was your
third one?
Speaker 4 (09:06):
And my third one is that I would just ask
friends more. I feel like there's a bit of a
taboo around things like how much you paid and the
whole process and what it might look like for different people.
And yeah, there were lots of things. When it happened,
I was like, you know, I didn't know that, or
I guess I knew I had to find a conveyancer,
but I didn't know what the process was going to
be like with that, And you know, the kinds of
(09:26):
deadlines and paperwork and things that you had to get organized.
And I've got friends who have properties and I wish
i'd just been more open about what I was going through.
I'm sure they could have given me lots more advice.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
That is, I really liked that you had those three things,
and as you said, none of them were like detrimental,
but all really good tips for someone like me who's
kind of gearing up, and a lot of people who
are listening to this podcast as well. So I'm going
to sit on that for a few minutes while we
go to a quick break, and then when we come back,
I want to hear all about these auctions that you
were doing over text. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
I have questions, Jessica, tell me them. Property diarist, I
mentioned just before that when you purchased your house, you
didn't use all your savings for it, which I feel like,
as a single female property purchaser, unheard of. But okay,
you do, you well done. I want to know, though
you said you'd saved one hundred grand, how how did
(10:16):
you save one hundred thousand dollars? Can you tell us
your tips and tricks because I too would like to
be in a position where I can save one hundred grand.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yes, so obviously, as just read in the letter, I
had inheritance from my grandparents, so they bought some shares
for me when I was born. And I'm not very
good at shares, but like my mum is very good
at watching the share market, and you know, it was
the shares were up, and so like I made the
decision to sell. So that was about thirty thousand dollars,
So that really was a significant help in getting my
(10:46):
deposit together. I think in terms of other things, I
think moving regionally meant that my rental costs were a
little bit cheaper because I was able to rent something
that was similar to what I was renting in the
city for much cheaper. And then I think I just
don't have a very expensive lifestyle. So I like hanging
out with my friends, but I'm more of a board
game person than a clubbing person, so that certainly made
(11:07):
it easier. But I also definitely think that workwise, that's
been helped. So I've been on this salary for quite
a few years now, and that was certainly a consideration
when I applied for not disposition, but something that's a
similar salary. Ranged early on that if I wanted to
buy a house, like I just needed to have a
bigger income, and I worked to make sure that that happened.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
That's incredible. You said being regionally your lifestyle was a
little bit more affordable. Did you find that when you
were looking for a regional property that there were also
less options available to you as well.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Definitely, and that was one of the difficult things during COVID.
I mean, I think like during COVID was a time
where I really was like, I really love living out
this way, and that really brought home for me that
I didn't feel that I could move back to the city.
But it also was the realization that lots of people had,
and so even though there weren't that many, like there
want a lot of properties to begin with, suddenly there
were even fewer, and they were going off market really
(11:59):
really quick, Like you know, before I could even inspect.
I'd ring the real estate agent to make a time
and they said, on it, we've already had three offers
in So that certainly has been a real challenge.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, and I guess something that people in a lot
of other states other than Victoria might not have necessarily
had the same experience because Victoria, for those who you know,
don't remember or weren't aware, we had those really strict
lockdown laws. And at one point we were separated by
what was called the Ring of Steel, and it was
separating like rural and metro Victoria. And so it meant
(12:30):
that the people living rurally generally speaking, had slightly laser
restrictions because there's more space and there's you know, a
smaller population, so there was less risk and all of
those things. But that really did, as you said, drive
a lot of people to realize that, oh, maybe I
want to see change, maybe I do like being out
in the country. And there was the appeal of the
less strict rules. And I can only imagine how much
(12:51):
harder that would have made that experience for you, with
all of these people now vying for the properties that
you wanted so badly.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, I think that shift from people where it into
working at home as well certainly made an impact there.
There was one weekend where we went into lockdown within
like they announced it at nine o'clock in the morning
for twelve o'clock and I had an inspection and I
think it was eleven thirty to go to and so
I contacted the real estate agent and I was like,
I assume that this is not going ahead, you know,
is it possible to do a video tour of the
(13:19):
house or something. And I heard back from him two
hours later He's like, oh, no, we went ahead and
there's now offers being put in on the property shop.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Oh my gosh, that's heartbreaking. Talk to me about this
bidding via auctions. So it's not I guess, a traditional auction.
During lockdown, some auctions were still going ahead in Victoria,
at least digitally over zoom, like so many other things
that were going ahead over zoom at the time. But
these sound like they were, you know, not official auctions,
(13:46):
but maybe offers that were being put in and the
agent coming back to yourself and saying, we've got an offer,
can you do better? How did that kind of all
go and how did you find that particularly the first time,
because that's a bit of a more unique experience.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Yeah, I wonder if it's just like if that's if
I've been in a unique like experience each time, or
that's just a thing that happens more regularly in regional Victoria.
So I've been across the four years I've been looking,
I think I've only put in offers on about four
or five different places, and each time it hasn't been
by auction, and it has always been that case of
the agent getting back to me and saying, somebody else
(14:22):
has put in a different offer. So each time it's
happened slightly differently. And sometimes the agent will let you
know that exactly what the other person is offered, and
you can like bid higher than that and offer to
be higher than that, and sometimes they just let you
know that there's been an offer put in and you
have to, I guess, magically decide if you think that
(14:42):
they're going to bed higher than you, if they like
the property more than you do. What I like about
it is the low stakes approach, like it gives you
time to kind of think about it and you know,
bring Martin say should I go higher or should I
stick to where I am now? Or to bring up
the bank and say, you know, do I have this possibility? Yeah.
My experience apart from this time obviously, has been that
(15:03):
I haven't got the property.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
So I feel like that is actually wild, Like this
whole buying off market, buying on market, texting people going
back and forth. I genuinely feel like it maybe wasn't
as real. I'd be like, are you sure you've got
an offer or are you just trying to get me
to put in an offer by telling me that there.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Is an offer?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Like, I hate that, and I know that real estate
agents do that for sure, But I want to ask
you about your goals and your values. Obviously, buying a
house is so epic and such a big goal for
so many people, and probably a massive milestone when it
comes to achievement for you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
How long was that your goal though?
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Did you grow up being like, oh, own property or
did you grow up being like, oh, I don't know
if this is for me, and then you fell into it,
like I want to know more.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Yeah, that's a great question. I think the idea of
living regionally is because of where I grew up. So
my parents bought a ten acre property when I was
about eight years old, and that obviously have a lot
of nostalgia for that childhood and growing up on a
carey and all the kind of fun and adventures that
we had doing that. They looked for a long time
before their property, so I think that certainly instilled in
(16:06):
me this idea that it's okay to keep looking like
the perfect place isn't going to happen overnight. I think
both of them also working for me to find the
perfect place. You know, there's lots of properties that we
looked at. I was like, this will be fine, and
you know mom and Dad will have a look around
and say, oh, look, you know it's falling apart, or
you're going to need to do a lot of work here,
or you know, I think it's a little bit further away,
(16:28):
it's not as clearly cut a good investment. So I
think that certainly made me want to keep looking and
find a place that they would be happy to see
me in. My younger sister also bought a property, so
I think that kind of that those family values of
property ownership have certainly been there for me. There's certainly
a period in my twenties when I was renting and
I was really happy renting, you know, a house shared
(16:50):
in Brunswick for a while, and then you know, living
by myself. I really loved that and I was like
this is enough. But I think, yeah, probably about six
years ago was when I made the shift and I
was like, I want this to be mine and I
want to be able to hang pictures on the wall
wherever I want, and to be able to you know,
have as many cats as I want and say, girls
say plant things in the backyard and not have to
(17:12):
check with the landlord and all of those things. So
I think it's that independence, that idea of like being
able to make changes without having to check with somebody
else first. And I also remember like a house inspection,
you know, at one point, you know, been through many
house inspections, but having the landlord coming through and just thinking,
I really wish that nobody could come into my home
and say, can you please clean this better? Or can
(17:35):
you make sure you take that picture down? I was like,
I just don't want to have to do this anymore. Yeah,
that is so fair.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Real talk here, though, How many cats do you now have?
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I just have one.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Lots of room to grow. It sounds like I have.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Room to put like a little CaTiO on the side.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh my gosh, it's sway between Jess and I. We
have four cats, So I feel like you need to
up your game. Weaving the diarist, Yeah, we really are,
we really are. We are crazy cat ladies. And if
you've only just learned that and you don't like it,
you can leave now that's all good.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I have one more thing to ask you before we
let you go, you know, the process of going through
those auctions and even just the process of looking for
so many years. It is hard. I am sad and frustrated,
and I can only imagine what that process was like
few in the middle of COVID on top of everything else.
Can you share any wisdom or any insights with me
(18:32):
and all of the other people who listening who might
be in the same position where they know what they
want and theoretically it shouldn't be that hard, but it's
feeling like it really is.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Yeah. I think I really hit that point at the
beginning of that year, and it seems odd that it
didn't hit me sooner than that, given how long I've
been searching for something, and I really felt I had
to kind of. I was like, this is sort of
decision making time, Like either keep pursuing this and keep
you know, being disappointed each time, or be satisfied renting
and maybe find a different rental property which is somewhere
(19:02):
that you feel really happy and look at investing money
in other ways like three shares for example, and you
know you've got all this money, you can go on
a big overseas holiday and that will give you lots
of satisfaction as well. So I felt like I made
the call. And when I decided I was going to
keep looking, I thought like, what are those non negotiables?
And I was like, I can still hit those three
(19:23):
things with somewhere that's not regional, and maybe in five
years time the market in regional Victoria will have slowed
down and people will decide that actually they don't like
working from home and they don't like this great lifestyle
that I love, and we'll move back to the city
and there'll be all these properties back on the market again.
So at that point I decided I'm going to start
looking in the city again. And so I had kind
(19:45):
of sort of three weekends or four weekends of open
for inspections in the city, which is a very different market,
and that was a whole different level of adventure and
that really clarified some of the things for me, and
I think I probably could have found somewhere that I
was like moderately happy there. I guess my advice to
people in the same situation is to decide what you're
not like, any of your non negotiable is actually negotiable?
(20:07):
Are there things that you can change? They're going to
give you different properties to look at, I would say
stick it out. I think that is advice. It's really
hard to hear when in the middle of the process.
For lots of my friends had been looking for a
much shorter amount of time in me and got properties
that they really loved, and I was still looking and
that felt really hard. But it does feel really worth
it now that I'm got somewhere that I'm really happy
(20:27):
with that I didn't settle for something that you know,
might have you know, made my parents happy, or might
have been satisfying for somebody else. And I think just
like tell people about it and get advice from different people.
I think I was really dismissive sometimes of the advice
that other people gave me. It's like, you don't understand
what I'm going through. Or this suggestion that my mum
(20:48):
gave me is silly. She doesn't know what it's like
to look for a property, you know, in twenty twenty two.
But I think lots of those people have like good
advice and good strategies and different ways to look at things, because.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I think so many of us like, oh, what would
they know? But then it's also like, you know what, oh, listen.
I'll take it with a grain of salt, but absorbing
it is probably a good idea. Then post having the conversation,
then you can make an assessment as to whether you're
going to implement that advice or not.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
But also it probably save.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
To you a few arguments too, So that's probably apology,
especially dealing with parents.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Oh my goodness, well, Property Divis, thank you for sharing that.
I feel seen and heard and validated a little bit.
So thank you very much. But I think that's about
all we've got time for today. But don't forget guys,
just before we head off. The advice that we share
on the Property Playbook is generally nature and does not
consider your individual circumstances. The Property Playbook exists purely for
educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make
(21:40):
an investment or a financial decision. And if you do
want someone to have those fun property conversations with, why
don't you join the Property Playbook Facebook group. There are
thousands of us in there talking about our wins, our highs,
our lows, our questions, and just about everything in between.
You can find us by searching the Property Playbook. We're
also on Instagram. The Property playbook aus where we're sharing
kIPS and tricks all the time, and maybe, if you're
(22:02):
feeling generous, leave us a review. All right, See you
guys next time. Bye.
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 lens 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 Jessic Ricky and one day, one day,
I will be a homeowner. But until then, I want
to talk to some people to hear about their journey
so I can learn from them and hopefully get myself
there one day soon. Today I've got Victoria to find
the Pie joining me in the studio to chat to
(00:49):
one of our beautiful community members and V. Today I'm
going to talk you through somebody who has gone through
the auction process and it was arduous. Would you like
to hear?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I cannot wait, Like this is going to be one
that's really relatable to a lot of people in our community,
so let's dive straight in, alrighty.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Our direct says I am a single female and I
bought my first home in the Maston Rangers in May
this year. I had an inheritance to help with the deposit.
My grandparents bought shares for me when I was born,
and I sold them. At the beginning of last year,
I bidded seriously for three different properties, not at an auction,
usually via text message with the agent text message bidding,
I know, and each time was outbid by another buyer.
(01:27):
Oh where houses are concerned. I'm a bit of a
dreamer and a bit of a romantic. I was happy
to keep renting until my idea of a little cottage
in the country came up. But I've been looking for
four years and COVID met that house prices where I
was looking had skyrocketed and there was loads more competition.
It was only about a month after I'd decided maybe
I could stand to move back to the city that
a place came onto the market.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Alrighty, Propertiras, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome
to the show.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Oh, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I'm very excited to hear all about it because, yeah,
very relatable content. It sounds like it's coming our way.
Can you tell me a little bit, Start at the
beginning and talk me through your property buying journey.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Sure, I started about four years ago, and I was
just like keen to have my own place, but I
was really happy renting. I moved from Brunswick in kind
of the inner north of Melbourne out to the Massidon
Rangers and really loved that area and being out in
regional Victoria and all the kind of lifestyle benefits that
(02:25):
that brought with it, and I was really keen to
stay out that way. So I started looking about four
years ago, but you know, was happy renting until the
right place came up.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Tell me when and where did you purchase?
Speaker 4 (02:36):
Things progressed and COVID happened, and the market really got
very difficult to buy into, and I kept thinking I
should have, you know, you should have jumped on some
opportunities earlier on. I think I have been fairly picky
in the kind of place that I want to buy,
so that certainly meant that I wasn't looking, you know,
at every single place. I wasn't you know, bidding at
(02:56):
every single place that I looked at, and that its
benefits and its disadvantages as well. And then I was
lucky enough this year to purchase a place in would
end in the Massidon ranges.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Oh god, afol this year so nice?
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Would end is so cute? Did you purchase with anybody else?
Speaker 3 (03:14):
No?
Speaker 4 (03:14):
On my own?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yes, Queen behavior, I'd love to see it. Can you
tell me property ours? How much do you earn and
what do you do for work?
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Yeah? So I'm a leading teacher, so in a secondary school,
and my kind of portfolio is curriculum and assessment. So
you can look up the salaries for teachers in Victoria.
But I, as of the first of July, I'm earning
one hundred and sixteen, seven hundred and eighty two dollars
a year before tax.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Amazing leading teacher. So does that mean that you're in
charge of all of the other teachers?
Speaker 4 (03:44):
It does not mean that.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
No, What does it mean that?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
I have lots of responsibilities in terms of the running
of the curriculum across the school and making sure that
we get all our reports done and on time and
out to parents. But yeah, I guess it's sort of
in charge of like big picture thinking rather than in
charge of particular staff members.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That is a big job. It sounds like, yeah, that's
a lot.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Yeah, it's a big job, but I really love it,
Like it's really exciting and gives me a lot of satisfaction.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Oh that's so great. I can see your passion like
coming off of you through the screen. That's amazing. Back
to the property, can you tell me how much did
you spend?
Speaker 4 (04:19):
So I purchased it for six hundred and sixty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
And how much did you have in your deposit for
that one?
Speaker 4 (04:24):
So I had more saved up than I spent on
my deposit, but my deposit was sixty six thousand dollars.
I really wanted to make sure that I had some
leftover in my emergency fund, so I had about one
hundred thousand saved up. So I used sixty six thousand
for the deposit, and then there was a settlement fees,
so I had lender's mortgage insurance came into it as
(04:45):
well as some of their stamp duty funds as well,
So I didn't spend all of my savings, but I, yeah,
spent more than just the sixty six obviously because of
the lender's morgage insurance.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Do you have a rough ballpark on what those additional
fees costs for like LMI and your settlement fees and
stuff like that.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, it was about thirty two thousand dollars.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, okay, great, and so you had it's really great
that you had that buffer there, but you still had
enough sitting that.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
It's you want to spend every dollar that you want,
is what I'm finding on my journey. I'm like, throw
every cent at it, take it all. But it's so
important that you do like you did and you have
that little emergency buffer.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I think it's really difficult, Like I've been saving for
such a long time now that it feels like spending
all of that money and having nothing there is a
really big to like shift in like not necessarily lifestyle,
but just my mindset of I don't have all of
this cash sitting there if something would happen, or you know,
I decided suddenly that I hated my job and wanted
to do something different.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, no, one thousand percent. It's kind of scary, right
to see all that money.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Just disstud fine.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
When you purchased, did you use any government grants or schemes?
Speaker 4 (05:46):
I did not know.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And when you were looking what were your non negotiables?
You said before, you're a little picky, which I fully
same girlfriends, same I think you're spending a lot of money,
you want to be happy. So what were the things
that you were not willing to budge on?
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Yeah, okay, it's going to sound like it's not like
three bedrooms and you know, two car, garage and that
kind of thing were my non negotiables. I discovered, like
when I started looking, I didn't feel like I had
a list, But the more properties that I looked at,
the more that list developed. And really what it came
down to was that I really wanted something with character.
I felt like I wanted a house that I could
(06:19):
go home to at the end of the day that
I like loved being in, and so having something, you know,
I could decorate that that had some character of its
own was important to me. I wanted it to be
within commuting distance to work and also to my parents' place.
So in the massive end ranges, certainly there were places
within my price range that were a little bit further
out that I loved, but because they were that little
bit further from work and from my parents' place, I
(06:41):
ruled them out because of that. And I also discovered
this year when I started kind of looking closer into
the city, thinking that the kind of regional dream wasn't
going to happen. That something that was really important to
me was just having a space where I could have
friends over and entertain. So they don't seem like really
crucial things, I think, but they've really been important to
of finding a place that I feel really happy in.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, and you want to make your home feel like
your home, right, you're sanctuary Generally that's the place where
you can spend time with the people you love, or
feel supported and feel nurtured. And so yeah, as much
as you say that, okay, feeling like I can entertain,
it's not a I need an extra bedroom type of deal.
I think it's definitely something that is really worthy of considering.
(07:22):
And I love that you brought that up. The last
question that I have for you before we head to
a really quick break is looking back, Is there anything
that you would want to change about your journey?
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Yeah. I think there's probably three things for me that
I would change or do differently. The first thing is
that I would be much more active in my approach.
Like since listening to their She's on the Money podcast,
I feel like I've got a lot more knowledge and
a lot more kind of ammunition for how to talk
to agents and approach them directly. I thought about getting
a buyer's agent that you know, I was able to
(07:52):
purchase a property before that happened, but just like knowing
that that was a possibility, and you know, thinking about
different ways that I could have approached it rather than
us looking on you know, real estate dot Com and
then going to open for inspections and having that as
the only way that I was looking. I would definitely
be more active if I were to do it again.
The second thing is that I'm really happy with the
(08:13):
bank that I went to for my mortgage. But I
didn't look at any other banks and I didn't shop
around like with a mortgage broker or anything like that.
And in hindsight, I think that was really silly, and
I think part of that was like a timeframe thing.
I really wanted to, like, you know, lock it in.
And I was comfortable with the person that I was
seeing and speaking to at the bank and felt really
supported by her. I really feel like I am a
(08:34):
sort of person who doesn't like conflict and doesn't like
having to make phone calls. So if I've found a
person that I like and get on with, and I
feel like, I can ask lots of questions and they
won't make me feel silly, then that's going to be,
you know, the person that I want to stick with.
But financially, I would have been more sensible to shop
around a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Did you pick that bank because it was your primary
bank that you already banked with?
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Yes? And I also had my sister and another friend
of mine both have their mortgages with that bank, so
I felt really secure and knowing I guess that kind
of recommendation from them.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Okay, yeah, that makes heat of sense. What was your
third one?
Speaker 4 (09:06):
And my third one is that I would just ask
friends more. I feel like there's a bit of a
taboo around things like how much you paid and the
whole process and what it might look like for different people.
And yeah, there were lots of things. When it happened,
I was like, you know, I didn't know that, or
I guess I knew I had to find a conveyancer,
but I didn't know what the process was going to
be like with that, And you know, the kinds of
(09:26):
deadlines and paperwork and things that you had to get organized.
And I've got friends who have properties and I wish
i'd just been more open about what I was going through.
I'm sure they could have given me lots more advice.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
That is, I really liked that you had those three things,
and as you said, none of them were like detrimental,
but all really good tips for someone like me who's
kind of gearing up, and a lot of people who
are listening to this podcast as well. So I'm going
to sit on that for a few minutes while we
go to a quick break, and then when we come back,
I want to hear all about these auctions that you
were doing over text. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
I have questions, Jessica, tell me them. Property diarist, I
mentioned just before that when you purchased your house, you
didn't use all your savings for it, which I feel like,
as a single female property purchaser, unheard of. But okay,
you do, you well done. I want to know, though
you said you'd saved one hundred grand, how how did
(10:16):
you save one hundred thousand dollars? Can you tell us
your tips and tricks because I too would like to
be in a position where I can save one hundred grand.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Yes, so obviously, as just read in the letter, I
had inheritance from my grandparents, so they bought some shares
for me when I was born. And I'm not very
good at shares, but like my mum is very good
at watching the share market, and you know, it was
the shares were up, and so like I made the
decision to sell. So that was about thirty thousand dollars,
So that really was a significant help in getting my
(10:46):
deposit together. I think in terms of other things, I
think moving regionally meant that my rental costs were a
little bit cheaper because I was able to rent something
that was similar to what I was renting in the
city for much cheaper. And then I think I just
don't have a very expensive lifestyle. So I like hanging
out with my friends, but I'm more of a board
game person than a clubbing person, so that certainly made
(11:07):
it easier. But I also definitely think that workwise, that's
been helped. So I've been on this salary for quite
a few years now, and that was certainly a consideration
when I applied for not disposition, but something that's a
similar salary. Ranged early on that if I wanted to
buy a house, like I just needed to have a
bigger income, and I worked to make sure that that happened.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
That's incredible. You said being regionally your lifestyle was a
little bit more affordable. Did you find that when you
were looking for a regional property that there were also
less options available to you as well.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Definitely, and that was one of the difficult things during COVID.
I mean, I think like during COVID was a time
where I really was like, I really love living out
this way, and that really brought home for me that
I didn't feel that I could move back to the city.
But it also was the realization that lots of people had,
and so even though there weren't that many, like there
want a lot of properties to begin with, suddenly there
were even fewer, and they were going off market really
(11:59):
really quick, Like you know, before I could even inspect.
I'd ring the real estate agent to make a time
and they said, on it, we've already had three offers
in So that certainly has been a real challenge.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, and I guess something that people in a lot
of other states other than Victoria might not have necessarily
had the same experience because Victoria, for those who you know,
don't remember or weren't aware, we had those really strict
lockdown laws. And at one point we were separated by
what was called the Ring of Steel, and it was
separating like rural and metro Victoria. And so it meant
(12:30):
that the people living rurally generally speaking, had slightly laser
restrictions because there's more space and there's you know, a
smaller population, so there was less risk and all of
those things. But that really did, as you said, drive
a lot of people to realize that, oh, maybe I
want to see change, maybe I do like being out
in the country. And there was the appeal of the
less strict rules. And I can only imagine how much
(12:51):
harder that would have made that experience for you, with
all of these people now vying for the properties that
you wanted so badly.
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah, I think that shift from people where it into
working at home as well certainly made an impact there.
There was one weekend where we went into lockdown within
like they announced it at nine o'clock in the morning
for twelve o'clock and I had an inspection and I
think it was eleven thirty to go to and so
I contacted the real estate agent and I was like,
I assume that this is not going ahead, you know,
is it possible to do a video tour of the
(13:19):
house or something. And I heard back from him two
hours later He's like, oh, no, we went ahead and
there's now offers being put in on the property shop.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Oh my gosh, that's heartbreaking. Talk to me about this
bidding via auctions. So it's not I guess, a traditional auction.
During lockdown, some auctions were still going ahead in Victoria,
at least digitally over zoom, like so many other things
that were going ahead over zoom at the time. But
these sound like they were, you know, not official auctions,
(13:46):
but maybe offers that were being put in and the
agent coming back to yourself and saying, we've got an offer,
can you do better? How did that kind of all
go and how did you find that particularly the first time,
because that's a bit of a more unique experience.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Yeah, I wonder if it's just like if that's if
I've been in a unique like experience each time, or
that's just a thing that happens more regularly in regional Victoria.
So I've been across the four years I've been looking,
I think I've only put in offers on about four
or five different places, and each time it hasn't been
by auction, and it has always been that case of
the agent getting back to me and saying, somebody else
(14:22):
has put in a different offer. So each time it's
happened slightly differently. And sometimes the agent will let you
know that exactly what the other person is offered, and
you can like bid higher than that and offer to
be higher than that, and sometimes they just let you
know that there's been an offer put in and you
have to, I guess, magically decide if you think that
(14:42):
they're going to bed higher than you, if they like
the property more than you do. What I like about
it is the low stakes approach, like it gives you
time to kind of think about it and you know,
bring Martin say should I go higher or should I
stick to where I am now? Or to bring up
the bank and say, you know, do I have this possibility? Yeah.
My experience apart from this time obviously, has been that
(15:03):
I haven't got the property.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
So I feel like that is actually wild, Like this
whole buying off market, buying on market, texting people going
back and forth. I genuinely feel like it maybe wasn't
as real. I'd be like, are you sure you've got
an offer or are you just trying to get me
to put in an offer by telling me that there.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Is an offer?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Like, I hate that, and I know that real estate
agents do that for sure, But I want to ask
you about your goals and your values. Obviously, buying a
house is so epic and such a big goal for
so many people, and probably a massive milestone when it
comes to achievement for you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
How long was that your goal though?
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Did you grow up being like, oh, own property or
did you grow up being like, oh, I don't know
if this is for me, and then you fell into it,
like I want to know more.
Speaker 4 (15:46):
Yeah, that's a great question. I think the idea of
living regionally is because of where I grew up. So
my parents bought a ten acre property when I was
about eight years old, and that obviously have a lot
of nostalgia for that childhood and growing up on a
carey and all the kind of fun and adventures that
we had doing that. They looked for a long time
before their property, so I think that certainly instilled in
(16:06):
me this idea that it's okay to keep looking like
the perfect place isn't going to happen overnight. I think
both of them also working for me to find the
perfect place. You know, there's lots of properties that we
looked at. I was like, this will be fine, and
you know mom and Dad will have a look around
and say, oh, look, you know it's falling apart, or
you're going to need to do a lot of work here,
or you know, I think it's a little bit further away,
(16:28):
it's not as clearly cut a good investment. So I
think that certainly made me want to keep looking and
find a place that they would be happy to see
me in. My younger sister also bought a property, so
I think that kind of that those family values of
property ownership have certainly been there for me. There's certainly
a period in my twenties when I was renting and
I was really happy renting, you know, a house shared
(16:50):
in Brunswick for a while, and then you know, living
by myself. I really loved that and I was like
this is enough. But I think, yeah, probably about six
years ago was when I made the shift and I
was like, I want this to be mine and I
want to be able to hang pictures on the wall
wherever I want, and to be able to you know,
have as many cats as I want and say, girls
say plant things in the backyard and not have to
(17:12):
check with the landlord and all of those things. So
I think it's that independence, that idea of like being
able to make changes without having to check with somebody
else first. And I also remember like a house inspection,
you know, at one point, you know, been through many
house inspections, but having the landlord coming through and just thinking,
I really wish that nobody could come into my home
and say, can you please clean this better? Or can
(17:35):
you make sure you take that picture down? I was like,
I just don't want to have to do this anymore. Yeah,
that is so fair.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Real talk here, though, How many cats do you now have?
Speaker 4 (17:44):
I just have one.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Lots of room to grow. It sounds like I have.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Room to put like a little CaTiO on the side.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Oh my gosh, it's sway between Jess and I. We
have four cats, So I feel like you need to
up your game. Weaving the diarist, Yeah, we really are,
we really are. We are crazy cat ladies. And if
you've only just learned that and you don't like it,
you can leave now that's all good.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
I have one more thing to ask you before we
let you go, you know, the process of going through
those auctions and even just the process of looking for
so many years. It is hard. I am sad and frustrated,
and I can only imagine what that process was like
few in the middle of COVID on top of everything else.
Can you share any wisdom or any insights with me
(18:32):
and all of the other people who listening who might
be in the same position where they know what they
want and theoretically it shouldn't be that hard, but it's
feeling like it really is.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
Yeah. I think I really hit that point at the
beginning of that year, and it seems odd that it
didn't hit me sooner than that, given how long I've
been searching for something, and I really felt I had
to kind of. I was like, this is sort of
decision making time, Like either keep pursuing this and keep
you know, being disappointed each time, or be satisfied renting
and maybe find a different rental property which is somewhere
(19:02):
that you feel really happy and look at investing money
in other ways like three shares for example, and you
know you've got all this money, you can go on
a big overseas holiday and that will give you lots
of satisfaction as well. So I felt like I made
the call. And when I decided I was going to
keep looking, I thought like, what are those non negotiables?
And I was like, I can still hit those three
(19:23):
things with somewhere that's not regional, and maybe in five
years time the market in regional Victoria will have slowed
down and people will decide that actually they don't like
working from home and they don't like this great lifestyle
that I love, and we'll move back to the city
and there'll be all these properties back on the market again.
So at that point I decided I'm going to start
looking in the city again. And so I had kind
(19:45):
of sort of three weekends or four weekends of open
for inspections in the city, which is a very different market,
and that was a whole different level of adventure and
that really clarified some of the things for me, and
I think I probably could have found somewhere that I
was like moderately happy there. I guess my advice to
people in the same situation is to decide what you're
not like, any of your non negotiable is actually negotiable?
(20:07):
Are there things that you can change? They're going to
give you different properties to look at, I would say
stick it out. I think that is advice. It's really
hard to hear when in the middle of the process.
For lots of my friends had been looking for a
much shorter amount of time in me and got properties
that they really loved, and I was still looking and
that felt really hard. But it does feel really worth
it now that I'm got somewhere that I'm really happy
(20:27):
with that I didn't settle for something that you know,
might have you know, made my parents happy, or might
have been satisfying for somebody else. And I think just
like tell people about it and get advice from different people.
I think I was really dismissive sometimes of the advice
that other people gave me. It's like, you don't understand
what I'm going through. Or this suggestion that my mum
(20:48):
gave me is silly. She doesn't know what it's like
to look for a property, you know, in twenty twenty two.
But I think lots of those people have like good
advice and good strategies and different ways to look at things, because.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
I think so many of us like, oh, what would
they know? But then it's also like, you know what, oh, listen.
I'll take it with a grain of salt, but absorbing
it is probably a good idea. Then post having the conversation,
then you can make an assessment as to whether you're
going to implement that advice or not.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
But also it probably save.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
To you a few arguments too, So that's probably apology,
especially dealing with parents.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Oh my goodness, well, Property Divis, thank you for sharing that.
I feel seen and heard and validated a little bit.
So thank you very much. But I think that's about
all we've got time for today. But don't forget guys,
just before we head off. The advice that we share
on the Property Playbook is generally nature and does not
consider your individual circumstances. The Property Playbook exists purely for
educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make
(21:40):
an investment or a financial decision. And if you do
want someone to have those fun property conversations with, why
don't you join the Property Playbook Facebook group. There are
thousands of us in there talking about our wins, our highs,
our lows, our questions, and just about everything in between.
You can find us by searching the Property Playbook. We're
also on Instagram. The Property playbook aus where we're sharing
kIPS and tricks all the time, and maybe, if you're
(22:02):
feeling generous, leave us a review. All right, See you
guys next time. Bye.
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