While you may not have control over the sagging economy, you do have control over how well you can manage your finances.

One Aussie couple, Jasmyn Prestt and Mitchell Wilson, revealed how they managed to acquire their humble abode that’s worth $780,000, while simultaneously struggling to get into the property market and battling setbacks caused by the pandemic.

Jasmyn and Mitchell’s farmhouse. Image Credit: Daily Mail​

The pair from Drouin secured a 1.4-acre property on June 16, 2020 during the pandemic. Jasmyn disclosed that they had to save hard for three consecutive years – working long hours even on weekends to boost their incomes and save a 20 percent deposit of $102,000.

“We got incredibly lucky on the land and paid $390,000 (each) and the block is 5524 square meters,” Jasmyn said.

“We really weighed up the pros and cons of buying an established property or starting from scratch, but I already had a particular style I was going for. The best option for us to achieve that was to build instead of buy an already built home,” she continued.

Jasmyn explained that she has been ‘obsessed’ with farmhouses for a while now but wanted to incorporate a minimalistic touch to them.

The phenomenal ‘modern farmhouse’ was fully completed by January 24, 2021, and it features four bedrooms, two lounge rooms, two bathrooms, and a powder room. They are currently waiting for the furniture to arrive to complete the last missing puzzle pieces of their home.

“It was super hard to find the balance of being social and working to save more money, especially the year leading up to purchasing the block,” Jasmyn said.

Fortunately, the pair also had access to a first homeowner grant, giving them $20,000 to cover a part of the house deposit along with $15,000 for a builder grant at the time of the purchase.

It took them a total of 8 months to build the entire house, with a few setbacks due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although they do admire the finished look, Jasmyn shared that dealing with the property market and uncertain economic times was ‘stressful from start to finish’.

“Covid had just hit Australia – I was losing my job and prices for everything were rising. It was a scary time and I was initially worried whether or not any of this would be possible,” she recalled.

“We missed out on most stages due to lockdowns and I was out of a job, so it was super stressful to not know what the future held for us,”

Image Credit: Daily Mail​

“We definitely got the block we were after. We hit the jackpot and feel extremely lucky.”

Jasmyn shared her three money-saving tips for others who are looking to build a home as well.

1. Do your own research - Dedicate time to learning and understanding the basics when buying a house and knowing the costs.

2. Ask every single question you have - There are no dumb questions and you’ll pick definitely pick up something new to learn every time you find the courage to ask.

3. Learn how to budget - Resist the urge to spend on unnecessary things. The $6 large cups of coffee do add up in the long run.

We guess the next trip to the cafe has to go on hold for the time being… Got any personal money-saving tips up your sleeve for buying, building, or renovating a home? Share them with us in the comments!

If you’re looking for more good ways to manage your finances, we’ve got another great read for you here.

 

[KatKop]

'Humble' abode

 

[Ricci]

We used our mortgage account as our "home account". Any spare cash we had went into the mortgage to ensure we were always in advance of where we needed to be. That way every time something substantial needed to be repaired, replaced or improved the money was there in the account. That way we never had bill shock and the extra we had paid into the account meant the interest due on the mortgage was reduced, It is a little known fact that any extra paid into your mortgage legally still belongs to you up until the point it is needed for a mortgage repayment.

 

[leanneh]

I would just remind young home buyers that the current amazingly low interest rates may not last. My hubby and I were trying to pay off a $110,000 mortgage in 1987 when we had four kids at school and the interest rate was 18.5%. Believe me there was not much money left to buy food after you'd paid a $1,780 mortgage repayment each fortnight. Fortunately both of us had good jobs but it still took almost all our combined wages just to pay our mortgage repayment. So if you borrow at a very low interest rate and you're struggling add up what it will cost every time the interest rate goes up one percentage point. The RBA is already forecasting an interest rate in June.