The biggest mistakes first-home buyers make and how to avoid them

Show notes

Veronica Morgan is a Residential Property Expert and Buyers Agent, as well as the host of two television shows, including ‘Location, Location, Location Australia’. As one of the most respected voices in the Australian property landscape, Veronica now shares her tips on her podcasts, including the excellent ‘First Home Buyers Guide’.

In this episode, Veronica explains the biggest mistakes that first-home buyers make, and how to avoid them. She shares why you should be cautious about taking advice from the wrong people, and breaks down why the concept of “free money” like government grants may cause more harm than good.

Transcript

Michael Nasser 0:00
The information contained in this podcast is general in nature and is not to be taken as financial or personal advice. It does not consider your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether this information is suitable for you and your personal circumstances before acting on it.

Hi, and welcome to The Home Run – your guide to buying your first home in Australia. On the show, I’ll walk you through the home buying process from every angle. We cover the steps to take the pitfalls to avoid, and the answers to all your questions you’ve been dying to ask. No matter what stage you’re at, you’ll learn everything you need to know about buying your first home. I’m your host Michael Nasser, and I’m a mortgage broker at Lendstreet. And I really love helping people buy their first home.

Today I’m joined by one of the most respected voices in the Australian property landscape, Veronica Morgan. Not only is Veronica a residential property expert and buyers agent, but she’s also the host of two television shows, including Location, Location, Location Australia on Foxtel. She also hosts two podcasts, including the excellent Your First Homebuyers Guide, and she’s the co-founder of Homebuyer Academy, as well as being the principal of Good Deeds Property Buyers. In this episode, Veronica will share her tips on how to avoid the biggest mistakes that first home buyers make. She’ll break down why you may be taking advice from the wrong people. And she’ll share why chasing free money from the government can lead you to regret your purchase sooner rather than later. Let’s get into it.

Hi, Veronica, and welcome to the show today.

Veronica Morgan 1:35
Hi, Michael, thank you so much for having me.

Michael Nasser 1:37
You’ve got multiple podcasts and two separate TV shows. How did you get started in the media?

Veronica Morgan 1:45
It’s a good question. I was originally a sales agent. And when I jumped the fence to become a buyers agent years ago, somebody said, oh, you should look at this show on UK television. It’s on Fox sales called Location, Location, Location. And it’s all about what buyers agents do. And you can learn a lot from that. So, that was like my early training as a buyers agent, weirdly enough. And then when I heard that they were going to bring out an Australian version, it was just was like that is my gig, I’m going to do that. And it was weird. I just had this sort of feeling. And then I did get an opportunity, obviously to audition. And then I got the gig. So I can’t really say there was no great design behind it. It was just literally I just felt like I should be doing that. So yeah, that’s how I got started. And then we haven’t filmed for like eight years or something now. We did four years of it, which is fantastic. And a great learning experience. But then I got into the podcasting side of things about five years ago, and I absolutely prefer it. I don’t have to do a hair and makeup for podcasting.

Michael Nasser 2:45
Absolutely. I guess when that happens, all buyers agents probably weren’t a massive thing. I mean, they still are, I guess growing as an industry, but back then it would have been not as common to have buyer’s agents around. Is that correct?

Veronica Morgan 2:55
No, you’re absolutely right. And in fact, I was quite keenly aware of the responsibility of the show in a way to position the idea of buyers agents in people’s minds and how we can help purchases but to not set it up as unrealistic. I was really I mean, the thing we television is entertainment, when we used to call infotainment. It’s that genre, but you don’t want to bore people with all the details in the in the nitty-gritty of it. So I was always at pains to reconcile what is it about the serious side of the business, the serious ways in which we help people, but also bringing it to it the emotional journey that people go on and make it entertaining at the same time. So I actually joined REBAA, which is a Real Estate Buyers Agents Association in that period of time, and I even got on the executive became vice president purely because I could see that the show was doing a job of raising the awareness of buyers agents. And I wanted to make sure that I was at least doing my bit to get into the industry to hopefully raise the standards as well so that consumers can get good outcomes when they do use buyers agents.

Michael Nasser 4:00
That makes sense. Now of the multiple businesses that you’ve got, one of the most relevant to our audience is the Home Buyer Academy. Can you tell me a bit about that?

Veronica Morgan 4:08
Yeah, so that is a joint venture with another buyers agent, Megan Welsh. She’s based in Brisbane. We actually formed Home Buyer Academy back in 2018. But we didn’t really do much with it until we were locked down for it right. Because we could see that first home buyers in particular, are under-serviced on this buyers agent side of the fence. They recognise that they don’t know what they’re doing most of the time, but they tend not to be able to afford to pay for advice. And so certainly not to pay for having a buyers agent. And so they’re the end of the market, I guess it needs the most help has the least amount of money and yet is very underserviced. And also there’s a lot of misinformation out there around trying to grab every grant that’s out there as if that’s the solution to getting into the market, which is it’s a lot more complicated than that. So we could just say that there’s a lot of misinformation out there. And so it’s our passion really to help people make better buying decisions across the board. And so that’s how we created Home Buyer Academy and the Your First Home Buyer Guide podcast, so that we can really put out there unbiased real information for first home buyers. Megan and I combined of getting close to 50 years experience now and we’re our byline is that you know, we’re both old enough to be your mom. Although we’re first home buyers getting older and older, I don’t think I’m old enough to be a lot of their moms. But it’s very unserviced entered the market. And it’s a part of the market so important to get your first purchase right. Because if you don’t get the first one right, you may not ever get another chance to upgrade or to get an investment property or even retire debt free, potentially, if you don’t get that first purchase. Right. So it’s a critical purchase. And it’s a critical time which people really do need expert guidance.

Michael Nasser 5:53
Yeah, and it’s a little bit similar to I guess, a little bit of our passion here as well about providing information to first home buyers, because the process is so expensive. There are many facets to it. And it does have a lot of implications long term, depending on what you start off with. So when you have a first home buyer, how do you justify using a buyers agent or why you justify, how could you justify that service to them, knowing that the costs perhaps may be quite high?

Veronica Morgan 6:20
Well, some frankly can’t afford it. Whether you justified or not, they just cannot afford it. And so that’s where Home Buyer Academy is great, because we’re not buyers agents in Home Buyer Academy. We have an online course that teaches first home buyers to go through that process step by step themselves. And I would argue, given the low standards of education for buyers agents in this country that actually if you do our Home Buyer Academy course, you could potentially come out of that better educated than a lot of the buyers agents that have come in licensing courses, right. And even some of our students have actually done the course done the your first home buyer course. And then ultimately, they’ve actually engaged a buyers agent, but it’s helped them make a hell of a lot better decision on who to use and whether or not they’re any good or not. Sometimes they engage a buyers agent just to handle the evaluation negotiation of property not to actually find it. So there are ways in which buyers agents can provide services that aren’t the full service step, full complete service that might be more affordable, that by educating yourself, you’re in a better position to either do it yourself, or to choose a really good buyers agent so that you don’t waste money. Because unfortunately, as much as I am an advocate for using a buyers agent, I’m also an advocate for using one that’s experience that’s got the right level of skills, not just what they learn in the real estate course, and do a better job that you can do if you are educated. So they have a complex answer to your what would be a simple question. I don’t think every first home buyer should use a buyers agent.

No. And I think that that course that you mentioned in the Home Buyer Academy that you’ve got, I think that’d be brilliant. So for first home buyers, considering what needs to be considered in that purchase, doing a course like yours would help them through that journey, and at least maybe even show them the value of a buyers agent. So they might be able to justify it, I guess, as well. So that’s great. Do you have any recent success stories that you’ve had with a first home buyer that you could share with us?

Yeah, look, I mean, we’ve had some amazing success stories, actually. And in particular, some of our students, I mean, they’re all different, right. And some of them have been looking for a long time. And some of them look for a short time. And some of them were looking through the boom of 2021, and didn’t buy them and bought in 2022, and did very well for themselves, because they took advantage of a more controlled market, I won’t say so much a falling market, because the problem is with rising interest rates offering borrowing capacities, fallen as well. So some of our success stories have really been around our students that have been able to overcome their preconceptions. When they’re doing it themselves. They’re getting everything in the wrong order. And so they haven’t got really good advice. And one of the things that we say it’s step one, we have a 10-step program, right? Step one is to get your support crew right. So getting the right broker is absolutely critical. They’re one of the support crew and getting a broker that would walk you through the long term early on. So not just when you’ve actually got your deposit saved, but one that will actually help you work through well, when should you maybe consider paying LMI for argument’s sake, so we’ve had students that have actually bought quicker than they would otherwise because they’ve got the right support crew on and they’ve realised that actually, I’m in a position to buy now and I was going to wait. So we’ve also had one particular couple that bought in a one of the suburbs in Geelong. And I just thought their story was fantastic because getting couples on the same page is always difficult. You know, I keep my buyers agency business. That’s one of the big challenges. We often call it property therapy, right? So you’ve got to get the couple on the same page. And this particular pair that we’re doing our course, she was just so frustrated by him really because he was so negative about how expensive properties are and they couldn’t get over the amount of debt, he couldn’t get over the cost of buying properties. And he found it in so many ways it was hamstringing him because he just kept his dialogues basically, are those people paying that price are idiots just wait property markets going to fall, it’s going to crash and all this sort of stuff. But we sort of went through the process with him where he learned that there was a process where he also learned that there were A, B, and C grade properties. And there were plenty of people overpaying for C grade properties. And they don’t know any better. But when he started learning about being more discerning, and about the difference in good debt and bad debt, and the difference between borrowing the right amount of money to get the right property that’s going to serve you for longer, rather than wasting a lot of money and stamp duty and selling costs and buying costs and that sort of stuff. Once he got his head around all that, they bought this property that was just a fantastic like they bought a property, he was willing to walk to the beach, it was it needs a little bit of upgrading. But there was well within their ability to do that. They’re in exactly the location they want to be in, it’s within a price that he felt comfortable with. But he did have to adjust his expectations, of course, but that was all about getting the reality check and stopping fighting the market, and actually work out what was right for them. So they got to move on with their lives, rather than this endless fighting that they were doing, because they were just at odds with each other the whole time. So stories like that I just love and that’s the power of education. It’s not just oh, okay, they got to negotiate a great price, or they got to work out how to do their due diligence, or whatever. And all that’s really critical to it, that this is really how buying the right home is a life skill effectively and how it enhances your life. And so that’s just one of my favourite stories. I guess.

What I hear there is there was a bit of a pivot in mindset. And I think what that education can do is perhaps change your perspective on how you’re looking at something. And it sounds like that’s what he’d experienced, perhaps it was just like a bit of a pivot in mindset. And this is all what I’m doing. I’m sure if he was to have the conversation now that he’d be probably very grateful and very thankful as to guiding him through that particular process. So I guess education is key in all of that.

He lost it himself. And I love that.

Michael Nasser 13:30
Yeah, exactly. A big trend in your career is helping first home buyers. Why is this something that you’re passionate about?

Veronica Morgan 13:30
I look back to my own first home-buying experience. Bungled my way through it. And I was very fortunate to get onto the market in a way that I wasn’t hamstrung. But I could have been, I did not know what I was doing is quite some time ago. Now, of course, I had no idea what I was doing is at the mercy of a sales agent stepping me through the process, I did not buy the best asset, I was lucky the market was very forgiving. But there was an enormous amount of luck. That meant that I didn’t shoot myself in the foot with that first purchase. And so I guess I look at the market now with prices, so expensive. And we talk about fear of borrowing the fear of debt and the sticker shock. But that’s the reality of the market. So the market is what the market is. But as in terms of household debt, and percentage of a multiple of income, property prices are a lot more than they were back when I bought even though interest rates, even after having risen eight consecutive months. They’re still lower than they were when I bought my first property. But other things are more difficult. And so the opportunity to get into the market and not get it wrong. It’s so important. And it’s just one of those things I look back now. And I know that my financial position is so much better because I was able to get into my house, I was in my late 20s. When I did buy my first property, I could have made better decisions. Absolutely. And I could be a lot better off than I am now. However, I have through my life. And I’ve learned these things. Obviously through my life. I know how much better off I could be if I’ve made better decisions for my first property. But I also know how well off I am because I have the types of property that I purchased. And for anybody who wants to know that and how to do that, and in 20-30 years time, look back and think thank God, I did that. Then I want that to be available for anybody who wants it.

Michael Nasser 14:00
And you talk about getting it wrong. One of the mistakes that I’ve heard you talk about is how first home buyers can take advice from the wrong people. What tips do you have for first home buyers trying to figure out if the person that they’re speaking to is reliable?

Veronica Morgan 14:11
Don’t talk to your dad. Probably the first thing I’d say. It then seems to be most people do turn to their parents. But you got to think critically here think, Okay, how many properties is mum dad really bought? And how recently and just because they have bought one or two or three, are they really experts? And I say dad because dads do have a bit of a thing quite often they’ll do like to show how much they know even if they don’t. And maybe I’m being a bit unfair, but hey, stereotypes exist for a reason. It’s experienced talking. Yeah, it’s I’ve seen it so many times either option all the time effect. And so people turn to their parents but really are your parents experts in this area? No, just because they’ve done it once or twice, they are not an expert. Likewise with your friends and workmates. If they’ve done it once they’re in the market. They’ve done it once they are not an expert When you’re talking to mortgage brokers, as I mentioned earlier, you know, we’re big advocates of working with a broker and finding one who will help you early on when you got questions early on, not one that will say, “Oh, well, it’s too early, I can’t help you until you’re ready.” That’s a very transactional person. So what you want to do is talking to people who are not transactional, do have your best interest and a long view and are prepared to invest in you learning so you make good decisions, and they’re not then obviously, the implication is that you would use them. One of the things that I find is it’s obviously tempting with first home buyer grants, the government’s dangling money in front of you, think it’s free money, but there are absolute costs, usually associated with taking advantage of these grants. And whenever a grant is being offered, that then dictates the type of property that you need to buy. And I’m what I mean, here is off the plan and brand new, and a lot of the grants are higher, if you’re buying off the plan, or grant brand new, or they don’t exist, unless you’re buying off the plan or brand new and that’s across the country, there are some that don’t write the some first home buyer incentives that don’t stipulate that. But anything that stipulates you have to buy off the plan or brand new, I would be very, very careful. And the reason I’m very, very careful here is because the data shows that the least amount of capital growth is experienced by the people who buy off the plan or brand new. And the reason is you’re paying a premium. And it takes a long time for that to work out the system. And also often there’s no scarcity. And there’s no secondary market for it. Because what are all the other first home buyers doing when you go to sell that they’re looking at the brand new stuff, not the one that you’ve owned for five or 10 years. And the same with investors, investors are incentivized to buy brand new with the tax breaks you get in this country. And so you got to be very, always mindful about who your next buyer is, when you go to upgrade. It’s a very important principle. And it’s not one that’s focused on enough. So if you’re going to a broker or someone at the bank, or any website that purports to help first home buyers, and they’re pitching you their main pitch is how you can take advantage of free money. My advice to you is run and go and find someone else who can give you real advice and not just trying to sell you an easy solution. Because anything is easy to buy, can well turn out to be very hard to sell it down the track. And that’s what’s going to sting you in the tail.

Michael Nasser 17:17
You mentioned the concept there free money. That’s not a term. I’m also aware of grants not but is that what you’re referring to with the free money? It’s effectively the grant set up that governments are? Or perhaps other entities? Is anyone other than governments that issued free money? Or could it be developers? Or could it be anyone else? Or is generally just coming from the government?

Veronica Morgan 17:34
Okay, so here’s the thing. Yes, governments and I say free money, it’s just someone saying to you, oh, you can get stamp duty free, or you can get a $10,000 first home buyer grant whatever that is perceived as free money. But you know, nothing free comes with a cost, right? So you’ve always got to think what is the real cost of this free money? Why is the government incentivising first home buyers? Or typically they incentivise first home buyers? Because? Well, it looks good. You know, it’s a good optic. But the reality is that the construction industry in these countries, I think it’s the biggest employer. And so look at what one of the things that was a stimulus during COVID 2020, it was a home builder, program, great way to get money into the system, right and get people working and jobs and money flowing. So it’s a hugely powerful lever for our governments at every level. But you asked about does anyone else offering incentives? Absolutely. And this is sort of not quite first home buyers, but certainly for investors. And I remember some years back in Brisbane, we were filming up there and there was charging from the airport to the hotel. This is billboard saying, you know, the incentive here was actually for tenants, though three months free rent plus a free iPad, and you go right must be a real problem must be a very high vacancy rate if tenants are incentivised by basically be given a quarter of the year for free plus a free iPad. And you think, Okay, why is it for developer doing that the developers doing that so that they can sell to investors with a guaranteed rental return. And so they’ve just put that into the price. And so anything that they’re giving away for free, it’s built into the price somewhere, or it was overinflated in the first place, and they just take them off. This is the thing that a lot of people that are particularly if they’re trying to take advantage of the free money from the government and buy brand new, they’re not out there also looking at what established properties would cost in the same sort of area or similar area or nearby. And so they don’t understand the premium they’re even paying. They haven’t even worked out that they’re actually overpaying to the tune of whatever grant they’re getting potentially even more plus to get the double whammy of a negative impact on capital growth often. So there’s certain incentives that are encouraged first home buyers, but there’s no free money when it comes to real estate.

Michael Nasser 19:41
Yeah, I guess a conclusion that that I’ve come up with is you mentioned that when it comes to the government incentives, especially for the new, there is that element of the government probably wanting to push the construction industry too so it may be the motivation there perhaps isn’t to sell the property. It’s to also stimulate business to work and to create employment, whereas you as a buyer you just want to buy, it’s not necessarily you’re not really fast if there are concretise that have jobs and all that sort of stuff, it’s more about you finding the best asset for yourself, I imagine so can understand when you think about it like that, it can create a little bit of a concern, I guess, in one’s mind. And other downsides. You’ve just mentioned there of this free money is negative capital growth, I think you just referred to.

Veronica Morgan 20:19
How does that occur? Okay, so negative or compressed? So, and this is what a lot of people in property they get are rising tide lifts all ships as if every property goes up in value at the same rate. And you could be forgiven for thinking that when you look at the headlines that saying, Oh, 15% price falls, like where what you know, like, across the board, it’s like every single house in Australia just market down by 50%. It doesn’t work that way. Some properties go up when the rest of the market is going down. And some properties actually lose money, believe it or not, when the rest of the market is going up. And there’s a lot of data around to support a lot of oversupplied units in Melbourne in particular, certainly Brisbane, and even in parts of Sydney, where the property prices for those units has fallen, even though the rest of the market was going up. So that means that people who’ve purchased if they go to sell, they owe the bank more money. At some times the negative equity means that what they owe the bank is more than they would get if they sold it. Now, that’s a horrible, horrible place to be. But it happens.

Michael Nasser 21:23
You can imagine these types of sales potentially might have been accompanied with some free money, as you’d mentioned. And that’s the risk of all of it.

Veronica Morgan 21:30
100%. There’s a lot of free money that’s gone into that a lot of very hopeful first home buyers that they’ve gone and bought these properties with all the best intentions and thinking the government has their back. And that’s the hardest thing. And then 10 years later, honestly, it’s not just apartments, a lot of house and land package purchases, I’ve heard this same story. We’ve got one student in our course, actually, they’re not really a first ho buyer, they’re a second home buyer. And the first time around, they bought a house and land package and just didn’t get any of these principles about scarcity. But not only scarcity. And scarcity means, Are there lots of other properties just like that, and anytime you go to sell it is going to be a lot just like that in the market. Because when there’s a lot available that keeps a lid on prices, it’s the cheapest that sells, there’s nothing to push prices up and you want the elements to be right to push the price of whatever you buy up over time, right? Whereas these people get stuck. So they’re just living in a house that they know they can’t sell, they can’t upgrade, they can’t move. And if you’ve got to move interstate or if you get divorced, or if there’s some reason that you need to move, you need to sell, you’re in a really horrible situation. And this isn’t just a rare occurrence. I just have heard this story so many times. That is one of the reasons is so passionate to help first home buyers to avoid this.

Michael Nasser 22:53
And I guess that comes back down to education. And that’s a big thing you talk about with first home buyers the importance of education and educating themselves. So how would you suggest a first home buyer go about doing that?

Veronica Morgan 23:03
Well, obviously recommend that they listen to your first home buyer podcast as a starting point. And this, obviously listen to this, they’re doing the right thing. And that’s the starting point. So we have a whole program, we’ve got the 10 module program that people can do. But there’s actually a little $39 tutorial we offer in that website, which is called the “Where to buy”.

Michael Nasser 23:23
And there’ll be links to that as well in the show notes.

Veronica Morgan 23:26
This is a really interesting exercise because the problem is it is really difficult to work out where you get the best bang for your buck, as a first home buyer, like where can I buy so that I can get everything that I need in one property. So that’s we call it the three P’s as the price, there’s the property, there’s the position, so one of those will have to budge, no one gets everything they want in one package. So it’s like either your price goes up or your property requirements go down or potentially you move position. But you need to come from a point of well, what are your needs, and then what’s been selling in the marketplace. So you need to come from point of reality rather than trying to chase unicorns, or also trying to fend off all this well-meaning advice from other people that will always have opinions when it comes to property. The entire property purchase exercise is a process. And the whole point is getting it right everything in the right order and looking for the right property in the right place with the right budget in mind. And you would know Michael, how many times do people come to you and they don’t want to spend a certain amount of money like they could, but they don’t want to, you know, it’s that fear of debt. And then if they can realise sooner rather than later that actually if they could buy a better asset or buy in a better location or buy a home that’s a little bit bigger, that will actually serve them longer. There are more than one way to skin a cat and there’s more than one way that’s going to cost you money and buying the wrong property in the wrong position where you’re always going to be unhappy is actually not a good outcome. You know what I mean? So there’s always a process for everybody to work out the answer that question, where should I buy? And it’s just getting people thinking, thinking this through planning this through educating yourself as to what the possibilities are in the marketplace. And that whole process is so powerful.

Michael Nasser 25:13
I guess it points that mindset as well. And people that are fearful of the debt concept, perhaps, and just focusing on that, as opposed to what am I actually acquiring with this debt, and then understanding the power of what you’re actually buying with that asset, if it’s the right asset, obviously, and what that can actually mean for you long term and stepping stones, because again, for your first home, you generally don’t stay there forever, that it is a stepping stone to your next property. And I think if you think of it like that, then you might end up buying something that perhaps is going to suit you more, not just now but also for the future. With that next property purchase.

Veronica Morgan 25:45
It’s funny is that we do have a stepping stone tutorial as well. And that is because for exactly that, most people are not buying their dream home, their first home is not going to be their forever home. So it’s like in order to make sure that that stepping stone gets you it does its job of actually leveraging you up that property ladder so that you can at some point upgrade to get your forever home. And it might be the next one or the one after that. But if you stop it and buy a really poor first property, if you think about it as a ladder, that’s a rung is really close to the ground, the next one’s too far away, you never reach it. There’s three different categories of buyers. And there’s a different stepping stones strategy that each category needs to think about would work best for them. But it’s also understanding what type of property is most likely going to help you up the ladder rather than the type of property it’s going to keep you stuck on the bottom rung.

Michael Nasser 26:35
I think for any first home buyer a take home from this is if you’re thinking about that next property, then it’s going to serve you better for your first property purchase. And if that’s just one take home from listening to this episode today, I think keep that in mind. Think about what you’re doing next, not just this purchase, and is it going to help you or is it not going to help you? And if you’re not sure then jump online, First Home Buyer Academy, check it out, look at the courses, see what you guys offering and then that might help them make that decision as well in terms of is this the right one or not?

We have two questions that we ask all of our guests on the podcast. And the first one is one I know you actually refuse to answer. It’s if you had a million dollars to buy a property in Sydney, where would you buy? Now? I know you hate the question. Why is that?

Veronica Morgan 27:15
Because people always ask Where should I buy as I’ve said before I said there’s a tutorial, you go through the process, right? And where would I buy? It’s like there are so many other inputs that are important. Where you are in your life stage, what you want that property to do for you like does it need to be a stepping stone? Or is this going to be a forever home? Or are you retiring? Or you know, I’m sure first home buyers not necessarily listen to this podcast when thinking about retiring. But however, we’ve actually had people do the courses that are about to retire. And it’s the first property because they’ve got an inheritance. So you never know you might have some first homebuyers who are a bit older. But the problem is that it’s a question that is always asked, and everyone has an opinion, and everyone gives that opinion. And yet the answers are always misleading. You really do have to go and do the work and work out what is going to give you the best bang for your buck? And is a million enough. And if it isn’t, you might need to look in other cities if you’re an investor. And if you’re not an investor, you might need to think okay, well, what am I going to do? Should I be working harder and wait longer to get onto the property market? Does that work for me? A good broker will help you work out the answer to that because it’s all about your earning capacity. It’s a whole bunch of factors that go into that, or should I be buying now or should I be rentvesting? Or should I? What should I compromise? So there’s a lot of things that need to be considered and thought through before you make a decision to buy. And a lot of people particularly in the investor side, I know this is not for investors, but a lot of first home buyers are also thinking about rent vesting, and there’s this sort of mentality as soon as I’ve got a certain amount of money, I’m gonna get into the market without thinking about what I got to make sure I’m buying a good asset. And is that enough to buy a good asset?

Michael Nasser 28:55
So it’s safe to say you’re not going to answer that question? In terms of what can we buy?

Veronica Morgan 28:59
Yeah, I think did a waffle on enough to you know that I’m not going to answer?

Michael Nasser 29:03
Yeah, okay. I might have tried, but I don’t think I’m gonna get fast. So, no, no all good. Now, one thing we can close the conversation out on is without other regular question, and that is, what’s your number one tip for a first home buyer trying to get into the market.

Veronica Morgan 29:17
My number one tip is it goes to step one and our what we call our pay system, which is our 10 Step System. Number one tip is to go and talk to a mortgage broker. You didn’t pay me to say this, but I’m saying it, go and talk to a mortgage broker sooner rather than later. Don’t wait. And if they’re one of those ones who starts trying to pitch to you about the first home buyer grants, run and find another one. If it’s one that says I won’t talk to you now because you’re not ready, run and find another one. And so the earlier that you can find a mortgage broker that is going to give you good guidance, not property advice. Be careful because most of them don’t know anything about property, but they’re helpful. And if you ask them the question, they’ll try and answer to be helpful for you. So just be mindful that they are not property experts, but what they are is lending experts, right? So you want to get really good advice around the pros and cons of buying with different amounts of deposit, all that sort of stuff. So someone is going to take the time with you to give you guidance at that early stage whilst you’re preparing. That is my number one tip.

Michael Nasser 29:47
Yeah and that is something that we spend a lot of time doing is creating a plan or creating a strategy if we can’t buy now so as speaking as a broker. How we going to map out your journey so that you can buy and when that can it be? and there are other mechanisms for first home buyers like guarantor loans and different you-know ways and strategies and is about understanding the full circumstances and then you can suggest that but more often than that for us when dealing for first buyers it’s not something that we transact on instantly it’s generally in between 6 to 18 months of planning, organising and it’s at that point we can execute that strategy but having that clear part way for the first home buyers at least allows them to create the goals create what they need and understand what they need to do from now until then and now to buy so I totally agree with what you are saying then.

Veronica Morgan 29:17
Thought you might ask. It’s an exciting time and it’s challenging there’s no doubt about it but it is exciting and so the way to continue that excitement through the execution of it is to get good guidance, good advice, good education, and then might good decisions.

Michael Nasser 29:29
Yeah, totally agree. Veronica if people want to get in touch with you what’s the best way that they can get in touch with you?

Veronica Morgan 29:36
I recommend just go to homebuyeracademy.com.au or you can look up your First Home Buyer Guide podcast on your favourite podcast platform.

Michael Nasser 29:40
Fantastic and on that note Veronica I think that’s been great so thank you so much for all your insights and sharing all your tips there we really appreciate it and I’m sure our audience got a lot from that.

Veronica Morgan 29:46
No, my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

Michael Nasser 29:47
You’ve been listening to The Home Run, your guide for buying your first home in Australia. This podcast was produced by Lendstreet. Lendstreet is a mortgage broker and home loan specialists that helps first home buyers find the right loan to meet their needs. We know applying for a loan can be overwhelming and complex. So we help guide and support first homebuyers through the process from start to finish. To find out more, head to our website, Lendstreet.com.au. We’ve also put a link in the show notes. To make sure you don’t miss an episode of the home run. Be sure to subscribe to or follow the show in your podcast app. And while you’re there, please leave us a five-star review. It really helps others find the show. I’m Michael Nasser, and we’ll be back next episode covering another step on the journey to owning your first home.