In 2019, Emily Simpson took the plunge and purchased her first property: a three-bedroom unit in a relatively new development on the outskirts of the regional Victorian town of Horsham.
Priced out of the Melbourne market, where she lives and works as a property manager at Little Real Estate in Hawthorn, Simpson settled on the idea of an investment property as the right option to help her get a foot on the ladder.
“I had some savings that I didn’t know what to do with and my parents had just bought a property in Horsham, so they mentioned that I should have a look around and see what I could do,” she says. “They looked at a couple of properties for me and actually found the one that I ended up buying, so it all just fell into place really quickly.”
Reflecting on her decision five years on, Simpson says that it was the right move – not only from a financial perspective, but because of the possibilities it could unlock for her down the track.
“It was definitely a good idea. I bought it for $295,000 but now it’s worth at least $450,000. It’s also positively geared at the moment, so the rent pays for the mortgage and on top of that I think it generates about $100-$200 of extra income for me each month, which is great. I still can’t buy where I want to in Melbourne, but if my partner and I look to purchase a place in the future it could definitely be good to help me step up and buy something else.”
