A Brisbane couple tells how family warranty helped buy their first home – realestate.com.au

After six years of renting from friends and selling real estate for a while, William Smith knew it was time to get serious about dumping the shared housing.

The adviser and his partner, Alicia Morgan, both 25, are among 29 per cent of Australian homeowners who have received financial help from their parents to get into the property market, research from Compare the Market has found.

In their case, Mrs Morgan’s parents used equity to secure part of the couple’s mortgage, allowing them to buy a flat in Yeerongpilly and avoid the lender’s mortgage insurance.

The couple received a home loan without LMI. photo: Lyndon Mechielsen / Koerierpost

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Mr Smith said the “incredibly generous” family guarantee led to more favorable interest rates on their home loan, while also increasing their borrowing power.

“We were adamant that we didn’t want huge financial gifts or anything like that; we wanted to do it ourselves.

“But we wouldn’t have been able to buy so quickly if we hadn’t been lucky enough to have family members in that situation.

“It would have taken us a lot longer, made a lot more savings and cost us thousands more,” he said.

Eligible for a government grant for first home buyers and stamp duty relief, they paid just under $550,000 for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom top-floor apartment in Brisbane’s leafy suburb in February.

They bought a condo for about $550,000 and qualified for a first-time home buyer grant

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Mr Smith said a previous job as a real estate associate was an eye-opening experience that led to his goal of buying a house as soon as possible.

He paid about $260 a week in rent and lived with four people.

“I worked in the real estate industry for three years and one of the biggest things that occurred to me was the realization that I was paying other people’s mortgages instead of building equity and seeing growth for my future. So we shifted our focus to putting money aside every week to save for a down payment,” he said.

They plan to keep the unit as an investment within two to three years, taking advantage of its proximity to an Olympic venue.

PropTrack data shows unit prices in Yeerongpilly have risen 12.6 percent over the past 12 months to an average of $788,000.

The couple plans to keep the apartment as an investment property in the future. photo: Lyndon Mechielsen / Koerierpost

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