Buying a house as a young single woman is no easy feat. With only your own income to rely on it certainly does not put you in the best view of the bank. However, it is not impossible, depending on your location, your income, and what you are willing to work with in terms of the calibre of property in order to get on the ladder. This is my story of how I purchased my first home in 2019 as a single woman.
When I was a kid my first job was as a Touch Football referee. $5 per game, two games per week, every Monday and Wednesday from memory. As it turned out being a referee SUCKED and I HATED that job. I traded up the next year and started working at a Bakery on the weekend and after school. And so it goes on with different hospitality jobs I had until moving into the full-time workforce when I was 18. Starting work so young was great for me, I believe that it really helped give me some much-needed confidence. I also was a saver even back then so I diligently started stashing my money away and by the time I finished high school I had 20K in the bank. This was certainly a good boost before getting into full-time work.
As I had started saving my money so young and it was only as I reached early adulthood I realised I wanted to get into the property market like most Aussies who have an interest in personal finance. By the time I was 23 I had progressed in my career into a decent income and had a solid deposit. After 2 years of searching for the right house in 2019, I bought a 3 bedroom 1950’s fixer-upper in my hometown (Regional Northern NSW) for 320K. I was stoked, I had finally achieved my dream of home ownership and that first night sleeping in my own house was a really fantastic feeling.
My new house was a total dive but that is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a good location, good bones, and ugly on the inside so that I could fix it up in my own way whilst adding value to the property. I didn’t want something that already had all the work done. I was also trying to get the cheapest property available whilst ticking these boxes to keep my mortgage as small as possible. By doing this I was in a great position to pay my mortgage off early (which I well and truly did) I certainly did not borrow as much as the bank was willing to offer me even though I could have got a much nicer house for an extra 100K.
As I was a single girl on a single income it was a daunting prospect but I knew it was the right choice for me at the time. A part of my personal finance goal was the security of owning a property and also a part of my plan to have diversified assets. If I knew back then what I know now about the share market I would have made a few changes to the way I utilised my large deposit and started share investment alongside buying my house but hindsight is always 20/20.
Over the past two years, I did quite a few renovations myself which included painting the entire inside of the house, sanding and polishing the floors, and other general bits and pieces. It is amazing what you are capable of learning and achieving if you are prepared to have a crack and with YouTube DIY tutorials. Yes, my paint job and floors may not be perfect but I was happy that I did it because it saved me thousands of dollars.
I also bought a new kitchen to be installed as this was out of my DIY capabilities. (I know my limits I am not crazy) I lived with those ugly green cupboards and an oven that only had one working element for two years so I was very happy to see the back of that 1950’s kitchen.
Recently after living in my house for two years I moved to Brisbane to be with my partner and turned this property into a rental. Covid had really increased the demand for rentals in the area so the prices for rents as well as houses have gone up. The covid boom in house prices has also had a huge effect on property prices in the regional town where my house is. The value has nearly doubled in the space of the nearly three years I have owned it.
There are so many factors to take into account when trying to buy a property as a young single Aussie or a young couple. Price, location, income, long-term plans, stability, kids, renovations, the list goes on. Of course, I am under no illusion that it was much easier for me to buy a property that was not to be based in Sydney or Melbourne. But if you can focus on getting the deposit together the light at the end of the tunnel starts to become clearer and the motivation will increase. If you are a couple it’s even more attainable for you. It might mean you first have to buy a dive like my house or a unit/townhouse for a cheaper entry point into the market but if homeownership is a part of your financial goals it is worth doing what you can to make it happen!
