Six things I learnt buying my first home at 21 (without my parents’ help)
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Let me preface this by saying I am very lucky and very grateful for all the opportunities that led me to be able to buy my own home when I was only 21.
But whilst my friends were jetting off on international adventures, buying their first designer bags or cars that weren’t held together with zip ties, I was slowly but surely putting all my savings towards the goal of buying my own home.
Now don’t get me wrong I definitely wasn’t living my most frugal life—regular dinners out, new clothes, and my ever-growing library of books were regularly seen listed in my bank account (along with the mundane expenses of groceries, rent, and the dreaded check engine light popping up on my beat-up 2005 X-Trail). But after five years of at times juggling up to four jobs, studying full time, and learning how to navigate the world as a young adult through some of our most tumultuous years in recent history, I finally had enough money at 21 to put down a deposit for my little one bedroom apartment in Queanbeyan.
That’s not to say that I’m not jealous of my friends at times and the different luxuries they’ve worked hard to achieve, but when I got to slide the key into the door of my apartment for the first time last year it made it all worth it.
For those about to start this exciting journey—good luck. And for those already in it, I hope you can relate to some of the things I wish I’d known and the things I’ve learned over the last nine months.
A mortgage broker will save your life and make everything better
Bank statements, tax returns and payslips…there’s so much that has to happen before you even get to look inside your first listing—and you’ll go on average to ten before finding your top choice. The amount of paperwork you’ll have to fill in will have you wanting to throw it all into a fire pit and watch it burn.
That’s where a mortgage broker will come in, sweep you off your feet and make everything a bit better. They can turn the most complex of documents look like a children’s book—but you have to make sure you find the right fit for you. These are the people you will be trusting to crunch the numbers and negotiate on your behalf. Do you need a fixed or a variable loan? What first-home buyer schemes are you eligible for? How far up can the interest go without you running out of money? These are all big and important questions that your mortgage broker will help answer.
I was blessed with my team at Vision Property and Finance (they were recommended to me by a friend), who more than once answered my calls as I was in tears lamenting about the future of my home ownership.
That brings me to the second point.
You will cry a LOT
They will be happy tears, frustrated tears, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing tears’ and tears for no discernible reason. It’s a big life step and a big financial decision to make so don’t knock yourself around if you’re feeling overwhelmed by it all. Everyone around me was always gushing about how exciting and how proud I must be feeling and whilst yes I was feeling those things I was also feeling scared and at points, incredibly overwhelmed. Let yourself have a good cry and then pull up Pinterest and imagine all the thousands of ways you can make your new place feel like a home.
Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace are your new BFFs
Whilst you are creating your dream home through a carefully curated Pinterest board, make sure you also start trolling through your local Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace pages. I’m sorry if this is a shock to you but furniture (especially new) is not cheap. but through some deep internet dives, haggling and pure luck you can furnish most of your home for a less eye-watering total than if you bought all new. Although I did splurge on my prize possession (a green velvet couch), the majority of my furniture I picked up second-hand (a $600 bed for $40? How could I say no!) or from IKEA.
The settlement date does not mean you’ll get your keys that morning
This was probably one of my biggest shocks (and definitely shows my naivety). After waking up on the morning of my settlement at 6 am and packing the last of my boxes, popping them all in the carport of my share house, scrubbing my space to within an inch of its life (I take getting my bond back very seriously) and giving the real estate who held my keys a call, I realised I would not be getting them that morning and the earliest would likely be 4 pm that afternoon. Cue another breakdown as I realised, I would be stuck sitting with my boxes and one loaded car at my old home with nothing to do but wait for the bank to finalise my loan.
Next time I will be making sure I don’t have someone moving into my old room the very day after my settlement. And I’ll be taking the day after settlement off work so I can move everything during the daylight because (like a stubborn fool), I decided that I didn’t need to use a mover and that borrowing my friend’s ute would be sufficient. Cue me not getting my keys until 4 pm, the sun setting and the rain coming in to create one wet mattress, several damp boxes and one incredibly disparaged and exhausted me.
Fork out the extra couple hundred bucks and hire a mover!
It will cost a LOT more than you thought
Talking of spending money, get ready for your bank account to look the worst it has in years.
I remember stressfully double-checking all the account numbers before I sent across the tens of thousands of dollars I spent five years saving away for my deposit. The little warning tag popped up from the bank asking if I was sure all the details were correct because they wouldn’t be able to get my money back if they weren’t and as I carefully checked again for what had to be the 50th time I pressed confirm. And just like that most of my savings were gone from my account.
Obviously, you know this moment is coming and that this is the purpose of all that money—but it was still startling to see what a fairly hefty chunk of change had been spent in an instant.
That was just the start of the expenses. Lawyer fees, council fees, leaky tap fees and what I thought had been a modest moving budget quickly blew out of its designated bracket. But that’s okay, it is my first home and I am still learning all the ins and outs of what being a homeowner entails.
Whilst you might have your eyes set on a penthouse apartment or beautiful modern home in Ainslie, spending a bit under your maximum budget will be a saving grace in your future.
As interest rates continue to rise, I still grimace at the rising mortgage repayments I have to make, but picking something a bit more run down and off the beaten track has meant that I can keep up with those repayments and not give up on things like dinners with friends or pizza when I don’t want to cook.
I feel like the classic rhetoric going around is ‘Oh well if our generation didn’t buy their daily latte or that $18 avocado toast then they would have their deposit in an instant’ but that’s not the case. You can’t stop living your life just to be able to save an extra $50 a week.
Some cheaper swaps I made were things like being the designated driver on nights out so I wouldn’t have to buy an Uber home or be tempted by the gorgeous cocktails on the menu—although about once a year I do bend that rule and let loose with my friends.
Work with percentages of your income and know within yourself that the joy that a $6 soy chai latte brings you is worth calculating it into your budget—and you can still put aside five or 10 percent of your income towards your home deposit. Baby steps are crucial. This is a marathon, not a sprint and saving slowly will give you the ability to still be able to treat yourself and not be stressed about it all.
Dreams change but your friends remain constant
The last and most important thing I learned is that being willing to flow and adapt as the circumstances change will make the experience all the more magical.
Set those Allhomes filters tightly so you aren’t being wooed by the million-dollar apartments, go to all the open homes with a clear and positive mind and don’t be scared to buy something that just needs a touch of love and a lick of paint.
You will end up exactly where the universe meant for you to end up, and the pride and feeling of accomplishment of actually buying your first home will mean you won’t care that there are a few cracks in the wall or a stain on the carpet.
Most importantly, your friends and loved ones won’t notice either. I still have a post it from one of my dear colleagues and friends stuck to my wall, congratulating me on my success. It was given to me on my first night in my apartment, a night I spent unboxing things and eating pizza on the floor with another friend who made sure that before she left my bed was made and I felt okay.
Pot plants now fill spaces with their life and love from my friends who carefully chose them, each meal I cook is done with the knives gifted by another friend and make each meal now tastes more full of love. Every time I sit on my couch I’m embraced by the memory of board game nights, late-night chats and the joy that has filled this space I now get to call my home.
It hasn’t been a smooth sailing journey to the finish line. But I hope some of this long-winded tale will help you as you enter your journey and I hope you find a space that fills you with as much joy and pride as my little safe haven.
