Ep 50. Listener Success Story with Helen Ruprecht
In this episode, Michelle chats with Helen Ruprecht, a Buy Your Side podcast listener about her journey from being a long time renter to buying her own home.
Here’s what you’ll learn from today’s episode:
The significant challenges Helen faced in saving for a property deposit and how she achieved her goal
The importance of adjusting expectations when searching for a home
What motivated Helen to pursue home ownership
The importance of finding a reliable broker
Speakers in today’s episode:
Michelle May - Michelle May Buyers Agents
Helen Ruprecht
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This podcast has been produced and edited by Snappystreet Creative
Please note that any views or opinions presented in this podcast are solely those of the speakers, and do not necessarily represent those of any business. These views and opinions are general in nature, and do not take account of your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. Please consider whether it applies in your circumstances and seek professional advice wherever appropriate.
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VIEW TRANSCRIPT
Michelle May: Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Buy Your Side podcast, the property podcast to help you make smarter property buying decisions. Now I have been recording podcasts for quite a number of years previously with Sydney Property Insider and more recently with obviously the Buy Your Side podcast and the reason I've been doing this is because I want to help educate buyers out there to make smarter property buying decisions and it can be hard because as buyers you tend to be at such a major disadvantage in the property transaction. Sometimes I hear feedback from people who have been listening to the podcast over time and have come back and said your episode on strata reviews has really helped me here and you know this and that. Recently someone reached out to me, the lovely Helen Ruprecht, via Linkedin and said thanks to your podcast I was able to buy my first property. So of course I wanted to know more and I'm so excited to have Helen on today, and I want to talk to her about, what was the journey like for her; what did she learn most by listening to the podcast because maybe listening to her story will help you not lose hope and know that actually it is possible to do it by yourself no matter how hard it might seem in the Australian real estate landscape.
So without further ado Helen Ruprecht, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Helen Ruprecht: Thank you so much for having me. It's my pleasure, my honour and actually let me express my appreciation to you and your podcast because listening to it helped me, I wouldn't say guide me through, because there were too many things that probably I never ever experienced before but it supported me and every time I fell down I needed to listen to it and you inspired me to stand up.
Michelle May: That’s great. That's Awesome. So I wanted to get you on the podcast because I wanted to understand more about your property journey. Quite a lot of how people come into owning property has a lot to do with their family history right. So with you, are you from a family of property owners and is it something that is held in high esteem in your family culture if you like.
Helen Ruprecht: I wish, unfortunately it was not so. The problem here was that my parents didn’t purchase any properties, I was renting all my life and when I moved to Australia in 2015 I started renting. I dreamt of my own home. But I'm a single mother, and I've got two kids and with kids and your renting it's, I wouldn't say impossible, but it's close to impossible to start putting away money for the deposit.
Michelle May: Absolutely.
Helen Ruprecht: And even 5% deposit looked unpayable to me, so I kept saying that I want a house, I want a house I want my own property. In 2022 my landlord started to commit very weird actions. First the trees were cut out, and they were fantastic trees, wild beautiful eucalyptus and he just cut them out, and while doing that he actually affected my internet connection and it was COVID then and it was very disappointing. I kept asking my real estate agent what is happening, what is going on. After that when I saw people in my backyard measuring the land, I understood that something is definitely happening, and I was searching in one of the groups for single mums obviously because I was very terrified. I had moved 4 times, my move to my own unit was fifth I hope it at least for the last time.
I am still dreaming of the house, but now I understand what I want. When I was moving it was additional costs and I was terrified that I will have to move quite soon and the property agent was saying no, no, no, so I decided to check what's happening on your podcast. I was listening and you discussed about renting etc. You somehow mentioned that there are two types of contracts. I came and said okay I want a contract for twelve months, and they said no, no, no, we don't want that, and then I understood that they were planning something and this lack of transparency move me further. I decided that I need another rental property, but I am not just a single mother/single parent but I'm also a fur parent I've got 2 dogs and renting with the dogs.
Michelle May: It’s harder. Yeah.
Helen Ruprecht: It makes things almost impossible. If you jump on the real estate site and check what properties are available for rent, you'll see plenty of them on different budgets, but if you check one point, 99% will disappear. So I decided okay, what can I do and while I was listening to your podcasts I learned about this program. I learned that in other states there were for example, an initiative of the government where they paid up to 70% of your property and co own with you. It had some pros. It had some contrast. It hadn't been set up for New South Wales where I was looking for the property, because I am obviously I've got the job here and I didn't want to move and my kids they attended school, a very good one and that was also a challenge and when I discovered that my landlord will definitely rebuild something on the property, I decided to move out. They said no no, no, no, we'll give you one free week if you stay till the new year because yes your landlord want to demolish the property. From one hand it was a terrifying experience but from the other hand it was such a relief, because I finally got the transparency and I understood what is happening. I started to look for what's on market and I learned that there is a new initiative for solo parents, such as I am, and for those parents 5 banks provide mortgage options with just 2% deposit. I calculated, and I understood that 2% is doable and I started to save as much as I could despite all the additional costs arising all the time, and I was able to save this money. But with saving the money, there is the thing, you must show to the bank that it is a genuine saving, that it's your money and not borrowed from someone. They must sit on your account for three months and when I started doing that the rates started to grow from 2% to 5% within less than half a year, and I felt like Alice in Wonderland when you need to run 3 times faster just to stay in the same position. There was a moment when I was having this deposit on my account and the rates increased and my borrowing capacity dropped in one day by a couple of hundreds of thousands, from over $650,000 to $400,000. I have no words to express my feelings back then.
Michelle May: Yeah.
Helen Ruprecht: But I got another job, and I was able to show to the bank that yes I am reliable, I was able to pay the rent, more than I'm paying for the mortgage now, despite the fact it was a unit, it was a house. I own 3-bedroom space and I love it to bits, and again less than I pay in rent. It's a miracle to me.
Michelle May: Yeah.
Helen Ruprecht: It was very very tough just to get to this point and when I got to this point I was trying to look at the properties. Okay, what's on the market but Market was moving so fast, that to the moment when I got to the point that I am, preapproved for the mortgage I can only afford, let's say, miserable places in the very unfriendly communities.
Michelle May: Ah yes, it's an emotional rollercoaster isn't it, because you get conflicting information and whilst you're trying to gain more ground with your savings, the market keeps moving further and further and it gets to a point where you almost think it's unattainable if you don't keep your focus on what is actually achievable.
Helen Ruprecht: I was listening to your podcast and you told us to adjust your expectations. That's exactly what I did. In one of your podcasts you mentioned about inspections, and actually you provided a fantastic checklist, what to look for during inspections. When you go on the house hunting journey, it's actually like a second job
Michelle May: It is, it's a full time job for me, six days a week.
Helen Ruprecht: I was a full-time parent and a full-time employee, and I needed to attend full time for just house hunting for inspections, for all these things and I work in the consulting business.
Michelle May: How long did it take you to get your pre-approval in place, was it weeks, or because you were part of that scheme, how long was it actually, because people need to take that into consideration. Sometimes it is a couple of weeks, but sometimes it takes longer because the broker or the scheme needs more information from you.
How long did that take for you?
Helen Ruprecht: Exactly, so the first thing I did right is to find a good broker, which you recommended in your podcast, that I did right, that was not mistake.
Michelle May: Yes, they're worth their weight in gold as opposed to just popping into a bank branch, and they are only going to offer you their own product.
Helen Ruprecht: There were 5 banks who could help me and we actually applied in 2 banks at the same time because I found this unit which I'm living in now and I was I was terrified that it will disappear prior to my ability to purchase in the end. It was the last, I don't know even how to express that, the last hope to get my own property at all, I was ready to give up, but the agent, the broker, they were fantastic. However, you must get someone from the legal side and I just came shopping for recommendations, as I was trying to save money, I picked the wrong, I cannot pronounce this legal support.
Michelle May: Conveyancer. Yes that it is a tricky word conveyancer or solicitor. So you went for someone who was economical.
Helen Ruprecht: I couldn’t pay for the solicitor because their rates are higher so I decided to go low. However, this, how to say that polite and professional team, they were not dealing ever with this scheme and when I was going through the process, it was the last week before the settlement, their action resulted in extra payment for me. Almost cost me a deal.
Michelle May: Okay, so this is important. So the first one was don't shop without your pre-approval in place, and number 2 is make sure that you get the right people around you, and cheap means sometimes you pay double or more if you if you don't get the right conveyancer.
Helen Ruprecht: Absolutely.
Michelle May: Because Conveyancers aren't necessarily worse than solicitors. It's about picking, because we work with a lot of conveyancers who are excellent at what they do and some solicitors or lawyers are rubbish. So it's really important to pick someone with experience, and who knows how to deal with these schemes and make sure that they communicate with you because you have never done this before and hey Helen we're now getting to the pointy end, this is what we need from you. This is what is going to happen rather than you having to find out after the fact that A. it's going to cost you money, it's going to delay settlement or whatever the case may be, it may cost you the whole deal altogether. It's really important that you find a conveyancer or a solicitor that isn't just a recommendation from a family member or colleague or Patricia down the road because they may have only done it once. So how to find a good conveyancer or solicitor that's tricky without being a professional.
Helen Ruprecht: That's why I'm saying go to the buyer’s agent, to get someone by your side.
Michelle May: I'll put it out here on the podcast today, if you are listening and you want a recommendation for someone in New South Wales, I'd be more than happy to put you in touch. I don't receive or give out any kickbacks, it is purely based on merit who we work with, and who we think will work well, and who always have the best interest of their buyers in mind, because that's super important. Okay, so that was tricky.
What else happened? What's another thing that you would recommend buyers really think about.
Helen Ruprecht: Well, because I had to adjust my expectations and go for the unit instead of the house, strata was another thing.
Michelle May: Yes, it certainly is. It's a whole different beast.
Helen Ruprecht: Yes, it actually taught us how to communicate with Strata, how to look at strata, how to check what's happening with Strata, and what Strata is. From one hand owning a house, is much better because you don't pay strata obviously but if something happens, for example, there was some bastard who vandalized our lights, strata took care of it. We just keep paying strata, it didn't cost us much money because it was covered by the insurance and the insurance was managed by Strata, so I was just checking that our strata is not sinking, that it has good funds, etc, etc. Moreover I was going to thank you because you mentioned somehow that the agent could go and inspect the house for you. The agent can explain to you what's happening with Strata because they have the special people, I don't know how those strata investigators or whatever called, who know how to read this Strata report. When I got this report, this bundle, oh my, I wouldn't probably even understand if I was not from consulting background, and that is another benefit to have a buyers agent by your side.
Michelle May: Yes, absolutely, because I tell you what, even in my experience dealing with agents 99% of selling agents do not actually want to know what is in the Strata report, because if they know they have to you know inform you about it. Strata reports tend to be 200 pages plus on average, so it's not just about understanding, do they have money in the working capital fund and the admin fund but also are they compliant, all that kind of stuff, so it's actually an important part of the process if you're buying into a unit or a townhouse, that you really check that very carefully. Now you also know that apart from buyers agents checking it, and not every buyer's agent will review that report by the way, so if you are going to engage a buyer's agent make sure that this is part of their service, but you know that some conveyances and solicitors will do that as part of their service as well.
Helen Ruprecht: But for that you need to know that they provide this service.
Michelle May: If you don't know, you don't know what you don't know.
Helen Ruprecht: I was so happy to jump in the car, which I had to give up, to get my own unit because I had the car loan, and that was another thing which decreases your borrowing capacity and I was jumping into the car I turn on your podcast. I started from the first and listened because your voice it sounded like, it's actually not like, it sounded like a person who knows what she's doing, and the guidance is the star that led me through this thing and it was really funny because when I was ready to give up, there was something on the next episode. Okay, we've got this unit, for example the ability to purchase with the mates, here is the site, here is information etc, and it was so supporting, I cannot even express how supporting it was.
Michelle May: Ah, Helen that's really wonderful to hear, that is why I do this podcast because quite often I think it's just my mom and dad listening, hi Papa Mama. But this is the whole thing right. You were able to use the episodes, the tools.
Helen Ruprecht: The knowledge which you shared for free.
Michelle May: Well you know it should be knowledge, common knowledge for everybody because I know a lot of people make huge financial mistakes.
Helen Ruprecht: Common knowledge is not that common. The only thing that supported me, I volunteer for Scouts NSW, and I was trained to be a leader and scouts, they've got a magnificent thing which is obviously a commonsense plan, to review. So I started to plan, to dream about the house. I listened to your podcast. I wrote the questions that I might raise along the way, and that I might need to get an answer for, and I was looking at strata. Well what Michelle says about strata is this - okay inspections. A friend of mine came and the process started and I was wondering, okay, you talked about Auctions. Oh My God I've got a very limited budget. Okay, and the budget, just limited budget, shrinked to non-limited budget and this non-limited budget became even less and I was running, I was trying to climb this property journey, and you said about auctions and someone educated someone who knows the thing, someone who can support you, calm you down, see through all their tricks, you may lose.
Michelle May: So tell me how did you end up purchasing your unit, and was that up for auction. Did you have a strategy in place?
Helen Ruprecht: Ah I prayed. I jumped on the phone and I called.
Michelle May: Please tell me you did a bit of research as well about the other sales in the area.
Helen Ruprecht: What I did, I actually limited my choices. I was after a 3-bedroom unit. Unfortunately with my budget a 3 bedroom unit went off the table. It was just not possible to get one, but I saw 2 units in the area. This one was for sale for a very long time and it has a study with a window because studies, often times they just a room without a window. So it didn't have the door but again the study there was bigger than the bedroom at the house I was renting. So I requested the Strata, I checked the recent sales in the area. In this particular house I squeezed a little bit, and went to friends and said guys help, my budget needs to be a little bit improved, and I put the offer, and I started to pray.
Michelle May: I love how you thought outside the box though, because if you had just gone, this says it's a 2 bedroom unit I'm going to dismiss it, you would have missed it, Whereas you actually took a bit of time, discovered that there was actually a study area with a window that could actually work as a bedroom too. So A. it's a missed opportunity of the agent that they didn't put it in the marketing, but for you, this was an opportunity which is fantastic. You got what you needed for your family.
Helen Ruprecht: Exactly. So everyone in our teeny tiny family now has the room which they can do whatever they want.
Michelle May: How old are your kids?
Helen Ruprecht: Teenagers already. So it's very important.
Michelle May: So they need their own space.
Helen Ruprecht: I needed my own space. I never ever had my own room before I moved to Australia and started to rent, and even then kids came to me, mummy, mummy, all the time, and I needed my space, I just needed it and I have dogs. One of the dogs is a rescue. She is very old one, sometimes she gets confused, and I needed a special floor. You know the carpet wouldn't work at all I was looking for the unit which shouldn't be fixed a lot, and it doesn't require repair. I mean when I grow up and I get back to normal because ah I decided that two jobs to run in the long run will be very difficult to maintain, so I gave up one, and still, I am managing the mortgage, all the payments Strata. all additional bills and I decided that I need time to recover because then I might think what to do with the kitchen, what to do with the bathroom. But again, I was listening to your podcast and I was writing the questions, what is important, what is crucial. You remember your yellow street thing.
Michelle May: Don’t buy on yellow roads.
Helen Ruprecht: Exactly. This unit faces to the teeny tiny green area, it's not a park but definitely they won't build anything there, so it doesn't face to the next unit. It's so good I'm so happy with that. You know when I had to give up lots of things. There were things I couldn't give up, such as hard floors preferably be the stone floors, which I have now, not a top level, which I have now, I was not sure that I will be able to pay for the Strata with the elevator because elevators, as you mentioned, and pools and some other things they might incur additional costs. So my Strata is minimal I'm so happy. And they are very good, I mean they fix whatever should be fixed. It is easy to reach them.
Michelle May: So they're proactive which is very important.
Helen Ruprecht: No, they are not proactive. They are reactive, still this in a short period of time which is quite good for me.
Michelle May: That’s good, more than most Stratas are, some of the Stratas that I see are just useless.
Helen Ruprecht: So I was listening to your podcast and I was checking what is crucial, bedroom is absolutely crucial. There are 3 almost adult people in the family, and you know due to costs of rent and rental prices etc. I might think that my kids will still be with me for some time, and it would be not very clever to get a unit with 1 bedroom., and if it is not a separate toilet from the bathroom it would be a total disaster, because when 3 people need to go to the office or whatever or the school, oh my, I don’t want to queue to my bathroom. No. So when I saw that you know a toilet is separate from this thing, it was such a relief and it has a balcony, you told that to have a balcony in the bedroom, it's nice, but probably it won't be that beneficial.
Michelle May: It won't you be used that much now.
Helen Ruprecht: Absolutely, so I have a balcony with the windows from the floor to the ceiling, and I now have a teeny tiny rose Garden on the balcony and it makes me so so so happy, and I just listened I learned, I wrote all the questions, I listened again to find the answer. But again, if I could afford I would be just… because buying property is a project and you are a fantastic fabulous project Mum I would say, because you, are kind of for nervous mums who tried to purchase their property they panic, they need support, they need guidance and I jumped on your site and I saw what you do, you talk to people you help them narrow their expectations and sometimes you show them that what they want is not what they need.
Michelle May: Yes, that's true.
Helen Ruprecht: So I was kind of this mum for me and I was listening and I was learning and adjusting my expectations over and over and over and over.
Michelle May: But even whilst doing that though, you got so much of what you wanted and needed, because you were able to focus.
Helen Ruprecht: Exactly because I was listening carefully to your podcast and I was listening and learning and I learned from you that there are things that you shouldn't give up. For example, I gave up my car to get my property, but it is such a great thing for me, because despite the fact that we live not on a yellow street, we live close to public transport and it's not a problem for me to jump on the train and in an hour I'm in the city in the office. All good.
Michelle May: That's fantastic. So really I mean, thank you, thank you for talking me through your journey. But I think the one thing you've shown me is that even if you don't originally come from Australia, even if you don't have the family support network and the bank of mum and dad helping you out, even if you have dependents and you're a single parent, you can achieve what Helen has achieved and have your own property. As long as you are willing to be really honest about what it is that you need, being willing to make sacrifices, I mean giving up your car is not something that you take too lightly, but it helped you achieve your property owning dream. It really is, it's freaking awesome Helen that you were able to do that and I was able to help you a little bit on your journey with that. So I hope that.
Helen Ruprecht: I wouldn’t say a little bit. You have a lot because I was absolutely, I mean like a blank page, I didn't know anything about it and I needed guidance and that's exactly what you gave me. You provided a guidance. But again, now when I went through all this process, I would probably highly recommend to at least book a consultation with you, because even if I would not able to have you as a buyer agent it would be such a great tremendous help for me just to go to your consultation and because you know, I mean podcasts they're generic information, all Stratas all things, all this all that, but every single parent situation is absolutely different, and I would benefit if I would be brave enough to get probably third job to afford your services. What I would mean more despite that I was able to negotiate with my sales agent and it saved me a little bit teeny tiny bit, but still it was a huge help for me.
Michelle May: But it’s good that you had more confidence. You know that's good. That's great.
Helen Ruprecht: Because I knew what was happening.
Michelle May: Yeah, that knowledge, that little bit of extra knowledge that you were able to glean, that gave you more confidence and therefore more power I'm all for that. I'm all for buyers having more power because most of the time they have none or very little because again, you don't know what you don't know. But if you're able to get that little bit of extra confidence, it's going to stand you in good stead, but also it's going to help you walk away from the wrong properties.
Helen Ruprecht: Absolutely.
Michelle May: More often than not, when I get, for example, new clients and they show me the kind of properties, I always ask what kind of properties have you come close to buying but you didn't for some reason. Usually, it's because they've been priced out, well actually you dodged a bullet there, because you never should have even looked at that property because of X Y Z you know. So that's equally important, you should learn from the properties that they're wrong for you.
Well on that note, thank you so much Helen for sharing your story with me, and for those out there listening. I think if one thing I've learned is that. A. my podcasts are making a difference, and you are able to do it on your own. So thank you very much Helen for giving up your time to come and talk with me.
Now if you are listening and you’ve gone, hey I want to be like Helen and own my own property, and I haven't covered some aspects of property buying, and you want to know certain things, drop me a line at hello@buyyourside.com.au, or hit me up on Instagram, Facebook or even Tiktok. I'd love to hear your questions, and make your property journey a little bit easier to navigate. So thank you for listening and until next time.