Buying your first home isn’t just about price. It’s about risk, lifestyle, timing, and understanding which compromises are smart—and which ones can cost you for years.

In this Q&A episode, we answer real questions from our Facebook group, including whether water damage in apartments is always a deal breaker, what to consider when buying your first home at 50, and how to weigh lifestyle walkability against better-value properties further out.

We break down how to assess water ingress properly, what to look for in strata records, why some compromises are safe and others are dangerous, and how lenders view buyers later in life. We also unpack the emotional side of buying—especially when location, loneliness, and community matter just as much as numbers on a spreadsheet.

If you’ve been wondering whether you’re being realistic or selling yourself short, this episode will help you think clearly, ask better questions, and move forward with confidence instead of fear.

Episode Highlights

00:00 — The Real Trade-Offs in First Home Buying

01:36 — Water Ingress in Apartments: Risk or Deal Breaker?

06:23 — Buying Your First Home at 50: Smart Strategy

12:00 — Walkability vs Better Value: What Matters More?

18:46 — Off-Market Deals: Smart Buy or Risky Shortcut?

23:00 — How to Research a Suburb Properly

27:16 — Key Takeaways for Smarter Property Decisions

Mentions

1. Episode 26: How to Avoid the 3 Most Common Mistakes Apartment Buyers Make #26

Course Details:

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If you enjoyed today’s podcast, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share the show! There’s more to come, so we hope to have you along with us on this journey!

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HBA 271

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Meighan: Now if you are stuck wondering whether you are being realistic or selling yourself short, stay with us because the wrong compromise can cost you far more than waiting ever will.

~Down, ~

Speaker: Welcome to your first home buyer. Guide the podcast for first home buyers who want to feel confident, smart, and totally in control of their property journey. I'm Veronica, and that was Megan. And yes, we are probably old enough to be your mom's, which is a good thing because between us, we've got decades of experience and we've got your back every step of the way.

Speaker: You'll wanna hear this episode. I.

​

Veronica: Today we're answering more of your questions. These questions have been put to us in our Facebook group, and they talk to many of your common dilemmas. Stick around because if you've ever had questions, which I'm sure you have, you may find some gems in these answers.

Meighan: Let's kick off with the first question. Looking for an apartment in the A CT and finding a lot with water related issues. Leaking balconies, water in underground garages. Are all apartments with leaks a no-go or should I consider minor water ingress?

and even any buildings.

Meighan: very old apartments.

Veronica: And old houses and new houses, water is an issue. So I guess, let's be clear, upfront, water ingress, as it's called, that's when water gets into the dwelling, is serious. Uh, but it's not automatically a deal breaker. leaks are Very, unfortunately, very common in apartment buildings, particularly older ones that are, you know, poorly maintained or buildings that are poorly designed in the first place.

balconies, underground garages, two of the most frequent problem areas. We see windows even just with, you know, high wind areas and pushing water in. So, I guess what we have to understand though, is not all water issues are created equal.

but it could actually mean a whole replacement of the bathroom. Or it could just need the grout redoing and resealing. So it's actually about understanding the context, not just feeling fear and thinking, oh God, I've gotta run that. You know, there's water issues here.

Veronica: I think too, you know, if it's an isolated issue. Like me was saying there, that's an isolated issue. It can be diagnosed pretty easily. you can find out what the cause is. You can find a specialist to fix it. But some of them aren't fully identified. Some of them aren't properly repaired.

Some of them are evident, but not backed by expert reports or warranties or, clear documentation. And, particularly with strata, you don't have a lot of control, you know, and these things take a long time to get to the bottom up.

Veronica: You know what, it's funny because, um, one of my team was recently looking at an apartment for a client. We could see that in the building, one of the apartments was basically uninhabitable because of the water. Now, even though the apartment we were looking at was not affected, the whole building is affected when somebody can't live in their apartment.

and so, you know, it's not, you don't just think, oh, it's all right, this one's not. This one doesn't have a problem.

Meighan: Mine's fine. Yeah. Doesn't worry me.

Veronica: So it's the sort of, the problems that we look at are if, is it ongoing, is it widespread, is it poorly? Understood? That's a big one. If they really don't understand it, then I, I would run. and if it's ignored or not taken that seriously by the onus corporation, then that's pretty scary.

Big issues. And also if it's a newer building, you know, what's the developer, what's the builder doing? Is it still under warranty? Are they actually meeting the expectations in terms of, of fixing these sorts of problems or have they just wiped their hands of it?

Veronica: And look, so you really want answers to questions like, well, has the full extent of the problem been identified by experts? Are there engineering or building reports? Are there quotes, accurate costings for all of the remediation, not just stage one, right? Is there enough money in the sinking funnel, the capital works fund, or is there gonna be.

Special levies coming and if contracts being awarded, awarded, and timelines locked in, you know, how far down the road is it? Because I think really red flags are vague explanations, sketchy documentation, disputes within the owners corporation or committees dragging their feet on serious defects. You gotta be really careful about that.

Meighan: Much so, and if apartments are on your shortlist, this is exactly the kind of due diligence we break down step by step in the first home buyer course because most buyers simply don't know what to ask or how to read a strata report properly. Now, if you wanna go deeper, check out, our podcast episode Veronica 26, where we cover common apartment mistakes that buyers make.

That's a really good one to review.

Veronica: So we got another question, and this one is from Donna. Is it realistic to think that buying my first home at age 50 on my own won't gimme much time to step up later? So should I buy the best I can afford now and accept that that might be it.

Meighan: Wow. You know, we're both in our fifties. I'm probably a bit closer to Donna than maybe you are. So we, understand where this question might come. and realistically in our buyer's agency business, we are doing a lot more work with people starting over or starting later. so this is a real, I think this is.

So having that thought of, of what could I do? Yes, it's realistic and no, it's not a bad thing to start out later if that's where you are at this point in time.

Veronica: Now, as Megan was saying, we've got plenty of. Are first home buyers who listen to the podcast and also do the course for many of them, the smartest movie is exactly what you said. You buy the best you can afford right now. Not something that relies on future upgrades or perfect timing. 'cause let's face it, we don't.

Meighan: All looking for the end of that.

Veronica: Yeah, so maybe there's that like, you know, but, this is the thing that usually when you're sort of at the beginning of your, career trajectory, if you like, you know, that's when you can sort of think, well, I'm gonna be earning more money. I am gonna be able to build equity in this property. I've got decades to pay it back.

You know, that's why you sort of look at an upgrading. Strategy, you know, your stepping stone. Whereas when you are closer to retirement than you are to the beginning of your career, you don't have that runway. So unless you've got, you know, an inheritance coming in or something that is going to make a significant difference to the property you can afford to buy and to hold and pay for transaction costs on the rest of it, yes you, it is very realistic to think that you need to buy some the best you can now.

So it may mean that potentially, the length of the loan might be shorter, as you get older. So, so certainly being, getting yourself in a position to stretch and do the best that you can is probably the right way. 'cause if you're trying to upgrade at 60,~ um,~ the bank's gonna view you very differently from a risk point of view.

Veronica: you know, I guess. We talk about imperfectly perfect all the time. so some buyers can get tripped off on this idea of thinking best is perfect. And often this means making conscious compromises, you know, often between property type and location, you know, or property size and location.

Meighan: And in, Camp five, Veronica, this is. One of the things that people tell us is this was one of the most valuable parts of the getting ready, sort of the preparation side,~ um,~ as part of planning, because it actually helps them define like what matters to them,~ um,~ what compromises are acceptable and where their budget genuinely works and doesn't work.

Veronica: And it's not emotionally here. I mean, look, your emotions are part of this. It's, it's not hypothetically, it's actually built in reality. It's like, because you buy once, well, if. Beats buying hopefully twice. but also, you know, I think the thing is that when you do that where to buy tutorial, it does take you through a stage process.

And I've gone every open up the Soul tab, what? I said, have you looked at the sold tab? What do you mean sold tab? I said, guess what? that's where you find what has sold for what price as opposed to what's been marketed for less. It's probably gonna sell for. And so that is just one tiny little tip that we give you that is in the where device tutorial.

Not only that, we teach you how to use the information in that Soul tab to educate yourself and give you that clarity. So it's so important. And that's for, you know, Donna's answer here. Yes, in your fifties it's a challenge because you're thinking, you know, what I'm buying now is probably gonna serve me for most of the rest of my life.

So how do I do that in a way that I'm gonna be happy with? And that's, process will help you answer that question.

And Georgia asks, so I wanna buy somewhere where I can walk into the city. Everything in my price range has issues, compliance problems, high strata fees, major renos. Further out, the properties are better, but I'm worried about lifestyle and loneliness. Should I keep looking or accept the property I want might not exist.

Veronica: Yeah. And because it hits on something that buyers massively underestimate, and that is how important lifestyle is, you know, it's not a bonus. It's foundational to how you, your experience and whether you really do enjoy living in the property, you know, and, and especially when you're single, your, your home isn't just where you sleep, it's your connection to people, routine energy, mental wellbeing.

There's so much, right.

You can, you know, ~um. ~But you can't change the essence of its location. So if location is really important, the trick isn't to lower your standards across the board. It's to be actually quite ruthless about which compromises are safe and which ones are are dangerous or really uncomfortable and going to lead to you thinking, what have I done?

I've bought the wrong place.

Veronica: Yeah, because you know, we gotta be careful about a lot of, you know, if you're buying an apartment, she talked about high levies, high or rising strata levees that make the property unaffordable in the long term. And you, do really have to be very careful in looking at every building that you're considering if you're looking at buying an apartment.

Meighan: and that might not just be in the complex. We have heard of people who have, ~um. ~Either got out of it when they realized or purchased properties where someone's done a renovation internally and they haven't had body corporate approval and they've had to undo whatever it is. And floorboards is a, is a classic example of that.

There's a lot of soundproofing that needs to go in and acoustic,~ um,~ measures that need, need to be done. And most body corporates, if you do that and you haven't got that approval, then you might have to take that out and put the carpet back in. ~Uh, ~so doing that due diligence, of course, is very important.

Veronica: Yeah. And look, we are always ~sort of~ banging on about various things. Lots of things actually. But one of them is if you can't fix it, you can't fix it. It's, yeah, it's never gonna be fixed. Right. But Compromises it can make sense. You know? An outdated interior, right?

Like why do you feel like you have to? And I think some people do think when they look at property that, I've gotta be able to renovate it to add value to it. Otherwise, it's a bad property to buy sometimes if you can actually afford something that's decent and just needs a little bit of cosmetic improvement, hallelujah.

Run for it. Cute. Run to it.

Meighan: Yeah.

Veronica: Go for it.

Meighan: Or do you know? Do you know? I find a little bit. Sometimes, and I do have hard conversations with clients around, this is where they say, look, this is renovated and I know I'm gonna have to have a pay a price for the renovation, but I really don't like the tiles in the bathroom. Now, that might be one of those things where you look at everything else and say.

If this is not the compromise, it's the right one. So whilst that might not be a quick, easy change and you might be paying for the renovation that you don't necessarily love, it actually might be a compromise that you choose is the right one for you. and at the end of the day, it's. Not just about buying a property, it's about choosing a home that supports the life you wanna live now, not the one you want to tolerate.

Now, tolerating the tiles might be okay, but maybe tolerating not being able to walk to anything when that's part of your lifestyle, that might not be the right one.

Veronica: It's funny. Last week in Campfire, um,~ um,~ one of our students brought to me this apartment. And it had a triangle balcony. And she's like, you know, I think that'll just bother me because I wouldn't be able to lounge out there, or, you know, and I said, okay, let's get this in context. Because in this particular situation, the fact that it was triangular meant that it was actually bigger than normal for that age of building.

So I was like, it's all about looking at it differently, you know? She's like, oh, hadn't thought of it like that. I just sort of being annoying 'cause it's triangular and it's not good enough. And I'm like, it's actually slightly better.

Meighan: Yes. Well, if it's got that extra width, yeah. How hard is it to put a a table and chairs on a one meter wild wide balcony?

Totally got over themselves. And I think that that's that thing before you buy a property, it's such a bit, a lot of money and it just feels like you should get everything you want for that amount of money in a 30 year mortgage that you know so with sometimes you just have to get that into perspective and there's plenty of compromises that you can make and it still be a good decision.

Meighan: It's funny that you say that because we had a client, it was maybe two years ago. Sold to move to Perth and we purchased maybe 11 or 12 years ago for them, and they were adamant they were going to do the renovation straightaway 'cause I couldn't stand the kitchen. Well, they hadn't done it. And they'd learn to live with the kitchen and they were off.

They were to the next adventure.

Veronica: Classic.

Veronica: Although it is the same idea behind this question, right? It's the idea is how am I gonna get a bargain? that's the idea behind this question, and I'm gonna be super blunt here. Chasing, distressed, or repossessed property as a strategy is usually a mistake, and every buyer should be, you know, focused on buying the right property.

Sometimes that right property happens to be distress. And same with off market, right? This I whole idea that off market means I'm gonna get access to something and nobody else has got access to, and that's the only way I'm gonna get into the market. it's wishful thinking or hopeful thinking on steroids.

Now, I'm not saying

that.

Meighan: just another lot of property to access. It's not a replacement. For looking at what's on the market too.

Meighan: Yeah, well, you actually are, you're excluding the, as you say, the motivated sellers and the motivated sellers. and we teach this in the course, understanding the seller's motivation is a. is An important thing because you can structure your offer, your settlement terms and so forth to meet the seller's needs that might not just relate to money.

Now, in a, a distressed situation,~ um,~ you know, there's a, a obviously a very,~ uh,~ pressing need. ~Um, ~but that can overshadow the ability to negotiate or, put forth an offer and conditions that, you know, might actually get you a good deal on a non-distressed. Sale. And what I mean by that is, let's take two examples.

Veronica: When I first started as a buyer's agent, I thought. That's exactly what I thought. I thought I'm gonna go and find distress sales. I thought they'll be the bargains. I don't wanna have to compete with people. It really didn't take me long to realize most of what came through these channels was absolutely crap.

because the thing is to get to that point where it needs to go through that channel, that means they haven't had an easy sale through a regular channel. Right. So if a property's gonna sell easily through the normal sales channel, even if it's a distressed sale, which plenty do, right? Plenty will go to auction or they'll be advertised at a price in a normal market.

But if it's easy to buy, IE, nobody else wants it. It's a distressed sale and you can go in there and basically give them this bargain basement price and they're gonna have to take it 'cause no one else wants it. What's gonna happen when you gotta sell that property? So it took me pretty, I don't know how long it took me, not long to work out that I wouldn't be buying that sort of crap from my clients.

And with the off markets often that's. Massively overpriced. 'cause the owner isn't motivated unless she can come to some agreement on terms, like Megan was saying. So there's opportunities that can lie under all sorts of,~ um,~ sales circumstances. You wanna look at all of it, not

just.

Meighan: do not wanna cut out the on markets, that's for sure. Nope. Because there is motivation absolutely there, and it can be the right property. So if you want a deeper explanation about quality, so we talk about quality. As opposed to cheap,~ um,~ check out podcast episode 40 on a, b and C grade property because buying cheap is very different from buying.

Veronica: All right. Now our final question for this episode, which is from Chloe, we had a lot of women making,~ um,~ setting the questions in,~ uh,~ what due diligence can I do to make sure I like an area? Before buying. So it's not so much about the property, it's about the area. I'm considering the central coast after living in Sydney, so, just to put this in context, that's living in a big city versus in a sort of a sleepier area.

If you're gonna do a commute, you're gonna probably commuting at one half hours each way or two hours even. So yeah, that sort of thing.

Meighan: ~ um,~ I don't know if you remember,~ uh,~ people who have listened for a very long time. We did a, an episode on doing a virtual. Road trip for,~ um,~ um, some people who didn't like they were completely open to where they lived. And we gave a lot of really good ideas about what to do and what to look at and what to research.

Veronica: Yeah, because living somewhere teaches you things that no spreadsheet ever will, right. Transport realities. Like you might look at a map and go, oh, it's really close to transport. Then you realize that train line is the all stops takes forever. ~Um, ~or that road that looks really wide is congested.

Every peak hour, you know, like you just don't know until you live there. There's a school run that basically everyone, or on a Saturday it's a nightmare 'cause everyone's playing sport, whatever it is. The things that are local to that area. ~Um.~

Meighan: You can't know them until you spend time there.

Veronica: And microclimates. That's a huge one. You know, particularly at the Central coast, for example, I speak to some buyer's agents stuff there. We're talking about wind and which areas are particularly windy, and of course wind isn't the same all year round. There are prevailing winds that are seasonal. So you might go out there and wind tur go not very windy up here, and in summer it will blow the furniture off your balcony.

Meighan: Interesting. There's also the community vibe and you really can't know that. I mean, you can get onto Facebook groups and, and you can get a feel for the type of people there, but often the noisiest people aren't necessarily, ~um. ~The majority, they can just make the most amount of noise in those sorts of areas.

So that vibe of, of what, what are the markets like and what are the cafes like, and what's the pub like, and what's the shopping center like, and what's the local,~ um,~ coffee place that I can just duck into? ~Uh, ~Uh, you know, and then, then there's also in central coast. Quite like the Gold Coast and, and Sunshine Coast is weekend behavior versus weekday behavior and, other people around and, and how busy and congested it gets when other people come in.

Veronica: At Melbourne

and Sydney. Yeah.

Meighan: it's like little Brisbane off in Noosa. It's a really different vibe to living there just on a normal weekday. ~Um, ~so you really need to get to know those patterns.

Veronica: And you might like the busyness. You might like the quietness. They both exist there. It's not just the wicked versus wig D but you've got seasonal behaviors. Well, you've got summer versus winter and ~um, ~you know, holidays versus non holidays. So, you know, you really do need to, to get around and experience the fullness of an area, not just,~ um,~ a little bit of it.

So, and look, I tell you what, this type of groundwork feels slow, but it really does prevent expensive regret.

Meighan: That's what you don't wanna be doing is going, oh my God, what have I done? And having just. Sell something. At least if you rent, you haven't spent the money on the, you know, stamp duty. The, yes, you've got moving costs, but there's sales commissions that are involved and all sorts of other things. So, ~um, ~yeah, put the time in.

Veronica: All right, so if today's episodes hit a nerve or many nerves, that's a sign you are asking the right questions and getting clarity before you commit. It's very important, and if you want help making these decisions with confidence, that's why we designed the first home buyer course We will. Walk you through property selection and location strategy, strata risk, long-term planning so that you don't have to guess your way through the biggest purchase of your life.

So we appreciate that you've been listening and tune in for next episode.

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We hope to see you there soon.