You can afford a home...Just not that one

This might annoy some people and that’s ok because I want the info I share here to be real. I don’t think housing affordability in Australia is a problem, I actually think it’s people’s expectations that are the problem. 

What do I mean by that. 

Take this example, you grew up in an inner ring suburb (15km or so of the CBD) and lived in a 4 bedroom house with 2 bathrooms and a full sized block with a pool then your expectations might that this is normal. 

You then venture off to buy a property close to your folks, only to find out that you need $5 million bucks to buy a home around there. Now some people get upset at this, because it’s their god given right to buy a property where they grew up and the world has done them wrong. 

But you guys aren’t those people, you understand entitlement isn’t going to get you anywhere. 

With that mindset you probably could buy a property in the area you grew up in, just not the one you want. We bought a property for a client a few years back a couple of streets over from their parents (they wanted to be walking distance to drop the washing off haha). With the help of The Bank of Mum and Dad, We ended up buying a good sized apartment for sub $600k in a small complex with only 8 or so and this was in a suburb with a median of $3mil. 

But I get it sometimes that might not even be possible, which was the case when I was buying my first home. There was no way I could afford a property where I grew up so I actually moved and bought a place 15 minutes away from my parents. Because I was so obsessed with the market well before I was actually going to buy, I reset my expectations on what was achievable. 

So how can you get a grip on the market and set your expectations? Educate yourself, get out there, go through open homes, look on realestate.com, or Domain (the SOLD tab) The more you can immerse yourself in what the market is doing, the quicker you will learn what things cost. 

Housing affordability isn’t a new problem and it’s not isolated to Australia, there are many cities around the world that have had this problem for decades just like us. I was watching the series Madmen last night which is set in New York during the 60’s. Now when you think of New York real estate, you think expensive, right? And that was still that case back then.

In the episode a newly married couple wanted to buy an apartment in New York, but couldn’t afford it, so they had to go to their parents for help. So The Bank of Mum and Dad was still a normal thing some 60 years ago in New York, but the expectation of those wanting to buy there, was that property is expensive and we can’t afford it on our own. 

The Wrap Up

The media LOVE to get a hold of the affordability debate as it “sell’s news papers” but they are misleading by what they are putting out. Don’t let these guys get the better of you, dig a bit deeper, start speaking to people and go check out a few properties.  

You can do this, sometimes it might not be easy, but you’ve got this! 

Got more questions? That’s why we built First Home Club, because you shouldn’t have to do this alone. We are getting close to launching the community and can’t wait to show you what’s inside. 

If you got some value from this, it would mean the world if you could share it with anyone who might benefit from reading it. 

See you next week,

James Rankin
Club Captain
First Home Club

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