Buying Property in Australia Under $700k: What Nobody Tells You (But Should)

By Molly Benjamin, Founder of Ladies Finance Club

Listen to the full podcast here.

There's a particular kind of overwhelm that hits when you decide you want to buy a property. You've got your loan pre-approved, you're scrolling Domain at midnight, and suddenly you realise you have absolutely no idea what you're doing. The contracts, the clauses, the negotiations, the building reports; it's a lot, and nobody hands you a manual.

In this episode of Get Rich, guest host Brionny Benjamin sits down with Jade Fitzgerald, Brisbane-based buyer's agent and founder of Ideal Buyer's Agency, to talk honestly about what the property buying process actually looks like, what a $700,000 budget can realistically get you today, and why more women should be doing this on their own terms. Whether you're a first-time buyer, a curious renter, or someone who's been circling the property market for years without pulling the trigger, this one's for you.

So, What Does a Buyer's Agent Actually Do?

Here's the thing most people don't realise when they walk into an open home and start chatting to the agent: that person is not on your side. Selling agents are highly skilled negotiators whose entire job is to get the best possible price for the vendor. They do it all day, every day. You, meanwhile, might do this once or twice in your lifetime.

A buyer's agent flips the script. Jade's role is to represent you, the buyer, with the same level of negotiation skill and market knowledge that selling agents bring to the table. She buys properties every single day. She knows the data, the local market dynamics, the red flags in contracts, and how to hold her position when an agent tries to push an unconditional sale.

But negotiation is only part of it. There's the due diligence, the contract clauses, the emotional support when buyer fatigue kicks in (and it always does), and the process guidance that most people don't realise they need until they're deep in the weeds. As Jade puts it, most buyers get their loan approved and then get thrown to the wolves, expected to suddenly become experts in one of the most complex and high-stakes transactions of their lives. Her job is to make sure that doesn't happen.

Who Actually Benefits From Having One?

Jade works with a broad cross-section of buyers; investors, families looking for a home, first-time buyers nervously taking their first steps, and women getting onto the property ladder solo. That last group is one she's particularly passionate about. The property investment world has historically felt like it wasn't designed for single women, but Jade sees that changing fast, and she's doing her part to accelerate it.

She shares the story of a Ladies Finance Club member who reached out two and a half years ago after attending a webinar Jade ran on buying a house for under $500,000. At the time, this woman didn't have her deposit saved. She spent the intervening years working with mortgage brokers, building her savings, and planning; and now Jade is actively searching for her first investment property in the $450,000 range in regional New South Wales. A property this woman may never physically visit, but one that will quietly begin building long-term wealth for her in the background.

That story matters. Because it shows that home buying isn't only for couples with double incomes and decades of property knowledge. It's available to anyone who has a plan, a deposit, and the right support crew.

What Does It Cost, And Is It Worth It?

This is the question most people have swirling in their heads before they reach out to a buyer's agent, and Jade is refreshingly direct about it. Ideal Buyer's Agency operates on a fixed fees model, no ambiguity, no big bill arriving at the end that you weren't expecting. You know exactly what you're paying from the start, and the level of service scales depending on what you actually need.

At one end, there's a leaner support package where you're still doing the open home visits yourself, while Jade handles the pricing analysis, due diligence, negotiation, and settlement process in the background. At the other end, there's a full concierge service for high-budget buyers, typically in the $2.5 to $3 million range where she does everything, only introducing a property to the client once it's already cleared her own rigorous filter. Both ends of the spectrum, and everything in between, come with the same transparent pricing commitment.

What's worth noting is the timeline: Jade's average turnaround from sign-up to purchase is around 21 days. In a market where property values are rising, that speed and the confidence that comes with it often means the fee pays for itself before settlement even lands. There are also buyer's agents in the market charging $20,000 to $25,000. Ideal sits well below that, which reflects Jade's broader mission of making professional buying support accessible rather than a luxury reserved for the wealthy.

So What Does $700,000 Actually Buy Right Now?

With Brisbane's median house price now sitting around $1.1 million and Sydney not far behind, $700,000 might feel like it barely gets you a foot in the door of a capital city market. But that's exactly the kind of thinking Jade pushes back on because when you're investing rather than owner-occupying, the conversation shifts entirely.

At $700,000, you can still access four-bedroom, two-bathroom brick homes on land in the right areas, and Brisbane's apartment and townhouse market in particular has been a sleeping giant, offering genuine growth potential that many interstate buyers have been slow to recognise. Townhouses in Brisbane have tracked at the same growth rate as houses, and with the city gearing up to host the Olympics, the long-term investment strategy case for the area is hard to argue with.

Beyond Brisbane, $700,000 opens up a lot more when you think regionally rather than remotely. The old logic of needing to be close to a CBD is largely obsolete for investment purposes; what matters is what's driving growth in a particular area. For Jade, that means following government spending: hospital upgrades, renewable energy projects, roads and infrastructure. These aren't glamorous headlines, but they're reliable signals of ongoing employment, population growth, and the kind of long-term momentum that turns a good purchase into a great one.

The Mistakes That Can Cost You (And How to Avoid Them)

Jade sees the same mistakes play out repeatedly, and they're entirely preventable with the right guidance.

The first is signing a contract without a finance clause and a building and pest inspection. These are non-negotiable protections, and yet plenty of buyers get talked out of them by agents who frame it as the deal moving faster or the property being "fine." Your finance clause exists because pre-approval doesn't guarantee the bank will lend on a specific property, they'll commission an independent valuation, and if it comes in low, you could find yourself short. A building and pest inspection, meanwhile, is the thing that stands between you and a five-figure repair bill you never saw coming. Six or seven hundred dollars is a small price for that kind of certainty.

The second, and this one surprises a lot of people is sharing your pre-approval documentation with a real estate agent. You are under no obligation to do this. The only people who need to see it are you, your mortgage broker, and potentially your buyer's agent. The moment an agent knows your maximum borrowing capacity, you've handed them an enormous advantage at the negotiation table. Jade's advice is clean and simple: if an agent asks what your budget is, ask them what the property is selling for.

And the third? Wearing your heart on your sleeve at an open home. Walking through a property telling the agent it's your dream home and you're definitely buying it is the fastest way to lose your negotiation skills leverage before the conversation has even started. Play it cool. Keep your enthusiasm for the car ride home.

What to Look For Beyond the Building Itself

One of the most genuinely fascinating parts of this conversation is Jade's approach to neighbourhood insights, the due diligence that goes well beyond the property's walls. In Brisbane, flood mapping is critical. The river has flooded three times in the last five years, and being in a flood zone doesn't just affect your peace of mind; it can push your annual insurance premium to $47,000, versus a typical $3,000 to $3,500. That difference alone can change the financial viability of an investment entirely.

Then there's the neighbourhood itself. Jade spends serious time on satellite mapping, looking at neighbouring properties, the state of hedges and gardens, whether people have put in swimming pools (a reliable sign of gentrification and rising values), and whether there are any hoarding situations nearby. It might sound quirky, but it's the kind of local intelligence that's genuinely hard to develop without years of experience, and it's exactly the sort of thing that turns hidden gems into long-term wins.

Fire zones, climate risk, social housing distribution, all of it feeds into the picture. And all of it matters more than most first-time buyers realise when they're standing in a beautifully styled open home on a Saturday morning.

The Building Report: What It's Actually For

A building and pest report can run to a hundred pages, and a lot of first-time buyers read it in a state of quiet panic. Jade's approach is to read it first, summarise the key points, and then walk her clients through it, because context is everything. A flexi hose under the sink flagged as a "major concern" is, in practice, a $5 plumbing part that needs replacing. Without guidance, that kind of language can derail an otherwise excellent purchase.

What the report is actually looking for are major structural defects and pest infestations that will meaningfully affect the property's value or livability. Most other items that come up; rusted gutters, a misplaced AC hose, peeling paint are simply your future maintenance list. Knowing the difference between "this is a dealbreaker" and "this is a Tuesday" is an enormous part of what makes buying with an experienced professional so much less stressful.

The Advice Every Woman Sitting on the Fence Needs to Hear

When Brionny asks Jade for her final words of wisdom, her answer is characteristically direct: start. Don't let the overwhelm become a reason to stay still. Talk to a mortgage broker, find out where you actually stand, and build the plan from there. The property market isn't going to wait, and every year you delay is a year of compounding growth that someone else's portfolio is capturing instead of yours.

There's a particular mindset Jade observes in a lot of women, this sense that you need to know everything, understand everything, and be completely ready before you take a single step. It's a tendency that comes from a good place, but it can quietly become the thing that holds you back for years. You don't need to be the expert. You need to find the right experts, ask the right questions, and trust that the rest will follow.

Market confidence isn't something you build before you start. It's something you build by starting. And with a buyer's agent like Jade in your corner, checking the contracts, running the data, knowing the neighbourhood, negotiating on your behalf; you're not walking into the property market alone. You're walking in with someone who does this every single day.

Because when women get onto the property ladder, they don't just change their own financial future. They change what's possible for the generation that comes after them.

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