What's your BST (blood, sweat,tears) story for getting your very first property?

I thought it be interesting to see if most folks faced similar challenges when getting their first one.

So my first one was at around 18, a 1 bedder in Sydney's Rose Bay. From 10 I remember loving to make money by selling all kinds of stuff to friends for their pocket money. I'd worked in McDonald's, KFC and my local corner food shop. I saved every cent. I even started a neighbhood lawn mowing business which was fantastic . My slogan was ' I'll mow and hack to save your back' . Haha.... those were the days....

Anyway was still short some deposit so my parents loaned me a small amount which I had to pay back with some interest.

But that's how I entered the market with my first property. I had no idea what I wanted to do with all my savings until 17 I think it was. I thought RE might be cool. I eventually met another friend of the family who became a big mentor to me round about that time. In hindsight I think it was fate meeting opportunity and a healthy dose of some luck.

So, what's your first story leading to you getting your first property??

 

Not the smartest story, but I was young and wanted to get a property.
From 16-22 I loved cars and eventually got a personal loan to buy a car (head slap). I was living regionally for work and wanted to buy a property to live in then rent out when I moved away. Around the same time I realised I was being stupid with spending my money on cars. I worked hard and paid down the personal loan quickly, then went to the bank and got a 95% loan by withdrawing my extra loan repayments as a deposit. Payed off the loan again shortly after and promised myself I won't get a personal loan again and now drive a modest vehicle while still investing.

 

For our first we were a few thousand short of the funds to complete the purchase when we signed the contract. We decided we could save the difference in 60 days.

We cut our budget everywhere we could. My grandmother got sick and my wife wanted to send flowers. I argued that it would cost $60 for flowers, but we could spend $10 on fuel and go visit her (and 'harvest' some flowers from someones garden).

We ended up going well past the savings goal and had enough for some quick renovations after we settled.

 

When I was 18 I'd saved enough for a 24sqm studio in Potts Point (was $105k at the time) from working at Wendy's & a newsagency and every cent of allowance since I was 6. After I moved out I hired the local property managers who stuffed up and I ended up firing them and representing myself at tribunal when I was 19. That was the start of my property management journey.

I fell in love with property, got a small loan from my parents and bought my 2nd property a year later in Brissy.

 

Humble beginnings in a small rental property in Yamba in the early eighties. Had partnered with a local lad in a carpet and upholstery cleaning business and worked tirelessly to make it a success.
Fortunately, met a lovely local girl who later became my wife. She was a school teacher working at one of the high schools in the area.
Two years later , with Tax assessment notices and wage slips we were able to purchase our first home (modest 3 BDR) on a fair sized block (800 sq.m). Did the place up to the best of our ability and sold it three years later to upsize to a 4 BDR property with pool, due to our first child on the way. Raised our family in this home before reluctantly selling it in 2015 after my wife passed away.
I downsized and purchased 2 Torrens titled villas, one of which I reside in today while the other is one of my IP's.
I must add, that approximately 11 years prior to retirement we branched out into mould remediation as a sideline avenue to couple with our well established carpet cleaning gig. We were lucky enough to head up a much sought after industry and went on to acquire several Government contracts within the agricultural sector along with hospitality venues. Made some serious coin over those 11 years which assisted no end to being in a comfortable position now in retirement.

 

That's the best thing I read all day!! Takes budgeting to a whole new level...

That's going to be my 'go to' budgeting story to other newbies

 

On the whole, I think a visit did her more good than the flowers might have. The look on her face when we showed up at the hospital was far more valuable than any amount I could have spent.

 

Our first home was a rundown Californian Bungalow in Willoughby, Sydney.

We purchased in March 1994 for $280K at auction on a Saturday morning without necessarily all of the required DD.

The next morning there was a picture of the house on the front page of the Sunday Sydney Morning Herald as an example of the craziness of the Sydney property market.

The previous owner had purchase in May 1993 for $220K and had done nothing to the place.

Moved in after settlement a week later and only then comprehended what a dump it was - we were sitting on the front steps cursing ourselves when the neighbours turned up we some champers to celebrate. They had a good laugh thanked us for lifting the value of the street.

There was a similar thanks when we sold in June 2002 for $825K - we wanted to phone the papers to get it back on the front page again.

The estimates for that place is now $2.2M.

 

On a completely unrelated note, as I understand it the Californian Bungalow is, as the name suggests, inspired by the bungalow's that were built in California during the 1920's. An article I read said everyone wanted to live the Hollywood style life. Does that mean if I drove around certain parts of Cali it would kind of look like Sydney, since both cities are nice and sunny? I've always been curious about that...

 

I need to tell 2 stories, one for the 1st property ever (overseas) and next for first property in Aus. LONG POST ALERT.

TL;DR I scrambled and borrowed money from friends to make up deposit for first property.
AND
I set a target budget to ensure the FHOG grants and benefits to buy the one in Australia.

Story 1:
Grew up in a very modest 1 room (similar to a studio with a nook for shower but a communal toilet outside) apartment along with my 3 siblings. I remember my dad buying a proper 1 bedroom apartment when I was 8ish and always wanted to buy my own when I grew up.

Fast forward to adulthood where I fall in love with this beautiful girl and and proposed her. Those days, love marriage (this is where your parents have not chosen and DECIDED the one for you) in my hometown was a taboo and love marriage with person from different caste even more so. To top it up, I did not have any savings as I used to give my entire salary at home and borrowed for expenses
I had to convince her parents that I am capable enough to take care of their daughter and to do that I NEED to have to my own property.
My girlfriend (now wife) could not borrow from her parents obviously. I could not borrow from my parents as they had not approved of the marriage yet.
I had only a 6-7 months to arrange the full deposit to buy an off-the-plan apartment that I paid initial deposit on. I saved every penny for next 6 months and my wife withdrew her term deposit before maturity. We were still short of money, so we borrowed from friends.
We were able to pay the deposit and get a loan at 13% interest to buy my first 2 bedroom apartment 17 years ago!
P.S: We were able to convince our parents and till date they

Story 2:
Came to Australia in 2007 on a student visa with my wife and $11k in student loan debt. I could only work part time during my Uni until late 2008, so wife was the main bread winner. We paid off our student loan and the home loan in India.
We started looking to buy a house in 2010 when we had our first baby. It was when NSW has doubled the FHOG from $7k to $14k and no stamp duty under $500k purchase.
We ensured we stay under budget and buy a house with decent backyard and frontyard.
After going to open homes on weekends and getting offers rejected, wife took matter in her hands and went to a midweek open home that was open for the first time. She put a verbal offer and once accepted, made me leave from work early to finish the formalities.

 

When I first moved to Queensland in 2002 I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t have any family here. I didn’t have much money either so I rented one bedroom in a share house for $80/week in Magregor, near Westfield Garden City. I was impressed by the landlords set up -there were eight ‘bedrooms’ in that highset house, all rented separately for cash. It was completely illegal no doubt, mine was underneath, no window, not legal height, but I just saw the dollar signs! I heard he ripped all the downstairs wall out shortly after I left, I think the council or the ATO or both were after him!

Anyway, I was Inspired. I couldn’t afford to buy in that area, but I scrimped and saved and within a year picked up my first home - an old highset in Underwood for $240k in 2003 at age 22. My wage at the time was $32k/yr (note 7xDTI) I could barely afford the repayments on my own so my first improvement of course was putting in extra bedrooms underneath! I couldn’t afford a proper renovation so I went up to Bunnings to buy the materials. I think the Bunnings shop assistant picked up I had no idea what I was doing and said he would do the whole thing for $2K cash in hand. True to his word him and his mate came out and within a weekend, put up all the walls. I put key locks on each door and rented out 4 bedrooms separately while taking one for myself.

I had minimal privacy, a revolving door of tenants, issues with non-payment, difficulty evicting people, angry neighbours, but also met some great people, learned a lot and I paid that house off in 6 years. I have never looked back.

 

Nah, it was a breeze.

First property was a 2 bedroom unit in St Kilda East. Purchase price was $26,000 and interest rate was 3% P&I (staff loan).

So loan repayments were $25 per week. I rented out the other bedroom for $32 per week.

So, it was a total breeze, no BST. Should have brought the while block of 11 units.

Sold it a couple of years later for $42,000. i thought I was a genius.

Now worth $700,000+. Not such a genius after all.

Imagine owning a $700,000 IP with a $26,000 debt.

 

You're focus too much on reality. Harry Dent says: think about the 10,000 ways it could have gone wrong!

 

Sorry!! I will try to be more negative in future!!!

With a bit of practice, I am positive that I can.

Bugger, I failed on my first attempt .

 

I was working at a bank, and eventually got a loan for the top dollar I could afford. It was the ugliest, most run down place I'd ever seen. It was weatherboard, clad in chickenwire & then had been rendered. It had holes in walls, carpet on the loungeroom wall, old bus windows in the front, and the bathroom was the ugliest thing I've ever seen (and I've seen some shockers in my day) but it was MY ugly, run down place. The plan was to rent out a room to help with the mortgage, but plans change because I met Hubby soon after.

 

I was in my early 20s and wanted to buy a shiny new unit as my first property. My parents convinced me that this was a bad move and promised to help me renovate a house. So I found the cheapest house I could (that wasn’t on a main road) within 10km of Brisbane city. This was during the pre-GFC boom so places were selling like hot cakes. I was able to secure this one as it was tenanted and the tenants were filthy and has trashed the place. People were walking away and dry reaching at the home open. I thought great, less competition! Nothing that a few days of solid cleaning can’t fix. The owners had the place all cleaned up before settlement so it was a non-issue in the end. Replaced the kitchen with a clean fresh cheapie from ikea and redid the bathroom with supplies from Bunnings. Painted the place inside and out. Built a huge timber deck. Renos cost me about $20k all up and then the place was very comfortable.

 

This was my first place, I spent every cent I earned from starting work at 13 until 18 years of age. I Woke up one day and decided I wanted to buy a house, for the next two years I saved every dollar I could, lucky I was still living at home which helped.

I managed to save $46,000 over that period which was enough for my first home, the FHB grant at the time had just dropped to $7k along with no stamp duty.

My parents friend told me to buy buy the most expensive house as close to the beach as the bank would allow me to buy, I ended up spending $385,000, the loan approval was for $390,000 .

I had a friend move in paying $100 a week, at the time the interest rate was 7.10%, the $100 a week allowed me to rotate between Aldi Pizza’s and Alfredo pasta each night I was a 3rd apprentice on around $700 a week. I didn’t know about I.O so I think my repayments were nearly my whole wage.

https://www.realestate.com.au/property/4-third-st-adamstown-nsw-2289

 

Looks like there's a few folks who started at 18 on this thread.