First Home Buyers in 2026: How to Get Into the Australian Property Market

Is it actually still impossible to buy your first home in Australia or is that just what the headlines want you to think? 

This week Molly sits down with Rachelle and Glen, the duo behind a brand new book on first home buying, to break down exactly what it takes to get into the property market right now. No jargon, no scare tactics, just clear, practical advice for women who want a real roadmap to homeownership. 

Whether you've been putting off buying because you think you need a bigger deposit, you're overwhelmed by government schemes and grants, or you're not sure if buying to live in or buying to invest is the right first move for you, this episode is for you. In this episode, you'll learn:

• The biggest misconceptions Australians have about buying their first home
• How recent housing policy and budget changes actually affect first home buyers
• What the First Home Super Saver Scheme is and how it could save you thousands in tax
• How parental guarantees and rentvesting can get you into the market sooner
• The property mistake Rachelle made in her twenties that she'll never repeat
• What to look for (and watch out for) when buying an apartment or unit
• Whether a buyer's agent is worth it, and when it's not
• What to consider before buying property with a sibling or friend
• Why the fundamentals of buying a home haven't changed, even with recent budget announcements
• The one mindset shift that separates people who become homeowners from those who just talk about it

Perfect for: Australian women thinking about buying their first home, first-time investors weighing up their options, and anyone who feels like the property market has left them behind. 

The biggest takeaway from this episode? It might not happen today, but with the right plan, it doesn't have to feel impossible. 🎧

CHAPTERS

00:00 - Introduction: Molly's Update from Thailand & Why Private Travel Insurance Matters
01:08 - Free Property Workshop & Online Wealth Summit: How to Sign Up
01:51 - Meet Rachelle & Glen: Why They Wrote a First Home Buyer's Guide
03:56 - Do Budget Changes Affect First Home Buyers? What's Actually Changed
04:59 - Are Recent Housing Policy Changes Enough to Level the Playing Field?
06:43 - The Biggest Misconceptions Australians Have About Buying Property
07:34 - "If You Want It Bad Enough": The Mindset Shift Behind Buying Your First Home
09:00 - Real First Home Buyer Success Stories: From "Impossible" to Homeowner
09:21 - What Is a Parental Guarantee and How Does It Work?
10:44 - The Most Underused First Home Buyer Strategies in Australia
10:57 - First Home Super Saver Scheme Explained: Save Thousands in Tax
13:00 - Rentvesting & Living With Parents: Is It Worth It?
13:27 - Buying Property With Siblings or Friends: What to Consider First
14:18 - Rachelle's Biggest Property Mistake: Cost to Purchase vs Cost to Hold
15:02 - Apartment Red Flags: Why You Need a Strata Report Before Buying
16:52 - Is a Buyer's Agent Worth It for First Home Buyers?
17:56 - Why Confidence Drops the More You Know: The Dunning-Kruger Effect in Property
18:58 - The One Key Message Rachelle & Glen Want Readers to Take Away
20:50 - Where to Buy The Quickstart Guide to Your First Property

RESOURCES FROM THE EPISODE

📖 Book
The Quick-Start Guide to Your First Property: Pick Up Your Keys Simpler, Smarter and Sooner
Available at all major bookstores, online book retailers, and airport bookstores.

CONNECT WITH SARAH MEGGINSON GLEN JAMES & RACHELLE KROON

Podcast links: https://www.moneypodcast.com.au/
Glen James LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenjames/
Rachelle Kroon LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelle-kroon-2b534461/

CONNECT WITH LADIES FINANCE CLUB

Buying a property? Need Financial Advice? Time to sort the Will? Let us help connect you with an awesome woman in finance! https://directory.ladiesfinanceclub.com/
Join our free Facebook group - Ladies Finance Club Money Chat
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ladies-finance-club/
Newsletter: https://www.ladiesfinanceclub.com/newsletter23

TAKEAWAYS

SOUND BITES

"I'll just do a clap for your team."

"This book is a roadmap for first home buyers."

"The first home super saver scheme is underutilized."

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] All right. We are back with another episode, and I'm actually joining you from Chiang Mai in Thailand, and I'm literally r-recording this introduction from a h-hospital room because my little girl contracted RSV while we're in Thailand, and we've been in this private hospital in Chiang Mai for the last three days.

[00:00:23] But she's doing really well, and she's looking really good. But it's also just a really important note to always have private travel insurance when you are traveling. If you can afford to travel, you can afford to get travel insurance because, my gosh, it's been so easy with travel insurance. They've been calling us up, checking on how we're doing.

[00:00:42] They've been communicating directly with the hospital. They're helping us book the flights we missed. It's amazing. So shout-out to travel insurance. Now, in this episode, I sat down with Glenn James and Rachel Croon, who are the co-authors of The Quick Start Guide to Your First Property, to break down what the latest government initiatives actually mean for first-home buyers and whether it will make it easier to get onto the property ladder.

[00:01:08] But what we've already seen is property prices finally starting to ease in parts of Australia. So yeah, if you're thinking, "Is now the right time to buy?" that's what we unpack in this episode. So if you are interested in property ownership and you wanna buy your first home, we've got a free online property workshop coming up with Grace Bo, the wonderful mortgage broker.

[00:01:30] So you can head onto our website and sign up to that for free. And very excitingly, we've got our online wealth summit coming up. This is one day full of Australia's leading money and investing experts. They'll be sharing all their practical strategies. Every year it's so good. People learn so much. And it's totally free for you to attend.

[00:01:51] So make sure, again, you go and sign up for that. Again, you can do that via our Instagram page, @ladiesfinanceclub, or our website, ladiesfinanceclub.com. All right. Let's get into this week's episode. Well, Rachel and Glen, welcome to the Get Rich podcast. Super excited to have you both on today. Now, anytime someone brings out a book, my first question is always why this book and why now?

[00:02:16] So maybe, G- Rachel, do you wanna take it away for us? Where did this book come from?

[00:02:22] It really came from wanting to create a resource for first-home buyers. But I guess whether people are wanting to buy to live in or wanting to buy to invest or trying to figure out which one of the two is gonna suit them better, we really want it to be, I guess, a, a roadmap for people to get into property, and yeah, just demystify all of the things that they might come up against along the way.

[00:02:41] And Glen, what about

[00:02:42] yourself?

[00:02:43] Yeah, I think what we had noticed with our podcast listeners, and particularly around the particular audience, a lot of time when we do stuff, and it'd be like your own type of community, Molly, is like, you do something because you see a need with your audience and your community.

[00:03:00] And we just wanted to be like, "Hey, we still think it is possible to buy your first home, whether it's a house or an investment property, and here's what we think is a really good practical start to get you thinking." Because there's a lot of pendulum swinging with first-home buyers, where it's like, "Oh, I wanna buy a new home to live in, but I can't live there.

[00:03:19] Well, I could buy an investment property, but I'll lose my first homeowner grants. What do I do?" So we just wanted to bring some clarity to that whole process for people.

[00:03:27] I love that. And I also just find when it comes to property buying, people just need to, they love to, like, know a lot before they do it.

[00:03:36] It's very rare someone just jumps straight in. They're like, they like to do the research, they like to read the books, they like to also do that mindset work as well. But I'm interested to know, since writing the book, we've seen housing policy changes, budget announcements. Did that change the direction of the book at all, or did it kind of just reinforce what you were already saying?

[00:03:56] Well, I think that the fundamentals of buying property hasn't changed. Um, there's a few little tweaks in, you know, negative gearing and things that might have changed, but buying a home hasn't changed, and I guess the tools and the resources that people know about, I guess the buying process, but also how to get financially prepared to buy a home before you even start that journey, that hasn't changed.

[00:04:15] So I don't think it's made any changes to the book, which is, um, great for us.

[00:04:19] Yeah, because that's right, because none of the recent budget changes that have been announced in May or June impact someone buying their first home or their principal place of residence. So the concepts still 100% stack up.

[00:04:35] One thing it has given first-home buyers though, which is very time-critical, is an opportunity.

[00:04:40] So it's, um, it's very timely that the book is coming out at a time that is such a great, you know, opportunity for first-home buyers.

[00:04:46] Absolutely. And with the changes, just one last question on this, do you think we needed to see, needed to see a change like this to kind of level out the playing field a little bit more for those first property owners?

[00:04:59] I mean, I'll jump in because I'm a bit vocal on this. I think out there in Australia property land, I don't know if it could have got any worse for first home buyers. So we know one thing, if these changes don't work, if the populace is not happy with it, I think we could probably be confident that there might be some tweaks if the population actually are not happy with it and throw out the government to put someone else in who will make the changes back.

[00:05:26] I don't think that will happen, though. I think life does go on, and I don't think it'd get any worse for the first home buyer, so I'm, I'm okay to see how this plays out.

[00:05:35] Look, it is a particularly hard time for first home buyers, and I don't think that has changed with the budget. But I think people need to be encouraged at times like this that, you know, you can still buy a home and the fundamentals haven't changed, and you may need to start getting organized to buy a home earlier than you did before.

[00:05:50] It might be a two or three or four-year process to be ready to buy a home, and we want people to pick up this book well before they're ready and help them go along that journey to make sure they can buy a home. Uh, if it's not today, maybe it is in five years' time, but let's start that preparation.

[00:06:04] Absolutely. And I always see two types of people. I see the people who are like, "I'm gonna become a property owner no matter what." And then I see the people who go, "It would be nice to own a property, but we'll see." And it's always, like, the person who takes action, they see the mortgage broker even when they have-- they're starting out with zero.

[00:06:22] They start looking at what government schemes are available. They really believe that they can do it. Um, I always see them actually go through and buy that property. But I would love to know, what do you think is the biggest misconceptions Australians have about buying their first property? And I'd love to hear both of your thoughts on this.

[00:06:40] All right. Dealer's choice. Go, Rach.

[00:06:43] I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that it's impossible now. I think that the media has put a lot of thoughts into people's heads about it being impossible, and we're dealing with, you know, 22-year-olds every day that are buying their first home. And I think there are people that are doing it every day, and there's people that are getting caught up in that it's impossible, and I think mindset is such an important part of the process.

[00:07:05] So if you can't do it in what you're looking at, how can you do it? What are the other options if you can't get in? So I think one of the misconceptions is that it's impossible. But another misconception is that you have to buy a house to live in, and I think that, you know, people think, "Well, I can't afford to buy to live in" And we've been seeing this for a very long time, long before these changes and long before the prices have been where they are.

[00:07:25] "So I will just rent." Well, there's other options. So getting into the property market is so important, so I'd hate people to be discouraged by that, um, you know, misconception.

[00:07:34] Yeah, it's funny. As-- When we threw to Rach first, I was like, "I'm gonna write down my notes because I'm an adult and I plan." And the first row, I wrote, I wrote the word impossible down, and Rach said it.

[00:07:45] But I think one of the misconceptions, and this is a bit of a high horse of mine, is people think I can't do it, which that is a bit of an iteration of impossible. But let's unpack this. If you want something bad enough, you will put systems in place, you will go after it. And if you want that first home sooner than later, we're not doing consumer debt.

[00:08:08] We're not having car loans. We're not having personal loans. We're not doing Uber Eats. There, I said it. Sue me. Like, we are getting very intentional of putting a plan in place to achieve our goal. Anyone who ever done anything of significance sacrificed, coupled that sacrifice with time, and also one thing we talk about in the book is the underlying why So I think it is possible, and this isn't just don't have avocado toast and get a better job.

[00:08:37] It's about this mindset shift that this is something that I or we wanna move towards, so let's put a plan in place. Let's get up to speed with the s- steps that are involved.

[00:08:47] Absolutely. Where there's a will, there is a way. Rachel, have you seen any first-hand experiences that you can share of maybe customers you've helped where y- they've gone from going like, "It's impossible," to becoming a homeowner?

[00:09:00] Oh, the, the most common one that we see are people where we meet somebody who's at the start of their journey. They might reach out as a client to say, "Look, w- we wanna be put on a savings plan for the next two or three years to get into the market." And then we all have a meeting, and we find out that there's another way for them to get in, and that might be something like a government scheme or incentive that they weren't aware of.

[00:09:21] Popular, popular is, you know, the parental guarantee, which we do cover in the book, and I think parents wanna help their children into property, but a lot of the time they don't understand how or h- you know- Yeah ... if they're able to do it. So I think people, you know, first-hand is, you know, people coming thinking that they're starting this big journey, but then they're managing to get into the property market earlier than they thought.

[00:09:40] So I always think to first-home buyers that are starting their journey, I always say meet, reach out to a mortgage broker and start to get a plan in place. There's no point in having this goal that you're reaching for if you don't understand what are the guidelines, what do I need to get? So it's a lot of, i- all goals, if they're measurable, are so much easier to achieve.

[00:09:57] Absolutely, and you don't know what you don't know. So there might be schemes out there if you're a, a single mother, if you're a first-home buyer, if, yeah, there's so many different ways, as you said. Oh. When I was buying my first property, they're like, "Oh, your parents could go as guarantors. You only need 10%."

[00:10:15] And I was like, "What? I've got 10%. I can do that." And I was, like, shocked at how quickly I could actually get on the property ladder. But again, I didn't know about that until I spoke to a mortgage broker. So I absolutely echo what you said. I always say reach out to a mortgage broker and have a chat with them.

[00:10:32] You know, in that parental guarantee instance, I mean, there, there are people that borrow 100%. They don't need any deposit using a parental guarantee. So, you know, if your parents are willing and able to help, I think this is a, a good resource to read together.

[00:10:44] Yeah. So you talk about laying some strategies, like the government schemes, guarantors, rent vesting.

[00:10:50] What's one strategy you think is most underused in Australia at the moment? Oh, I'm gonna throw to Glen for that one. He

[00:10:57] knows it. Yeah, th- this is probably my hobby horse, and it's probably the First Home Super Saver scheme. Like-

[00:11:04] Oh, yeah. Okay ...

[00:11:05] because, okay, let's unpack this, as I do with my psychologist often We need to work out what our strategy is.

[00:11:13] So at first, the strategy, it could be, yes, we live three hours out of a capital city. We can get our first home. It's not crazy, crazy and all that. We've ... Could be a nurse in Geelong or a plumber in Bendigo or insert somewhere outside of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne that's reasonable and all that. So it's like, okay, well, we do wanna buy our first property to live in, so we know that we can look now at some options available.

[00:11:42] And the First Home Super Saver Scheme, it's really cool because you can effectively save $15,000 per year inside your superannuation fund, and it's effectively a tax flush strategy. So you can put up to $50,000 into that scheme, and you can do it, your partner can do it, and you may save, I would say, 'cause it's all based on your tax rate, but most people if they use the full scheme could save 5 to $7,000 in tax just using that scheme.

[00:12:14] So there's some free money on the table there for those who want to look at buying a home to live in. And then off the back of all the changes to CGT and whatnot, people are like, "Oh, I can't invest in shares to save for my first home." Mm, sad. Well, if only there was a scheme that you could invest in shares and still get the CGT benefits, and that's the First Home Super Saver Scheme.

[00:12:39] So that is a, a great scheme for those buying their first home to live in, and the best part is it can also be layered with state-based stuff, parental guarantees, LMI. Like, this is a cake, and we wanted to use this book as the recipe book of how to layer your ... And don't jump in the kitchen while I'm baking, all right?

[00:13:00] I would say the most underutilized, I'm a little bit less patient than Glenn, and it can take three to four years to use a First Home Super Saver Scheme, which is a great scheme for those people that are prepared and that understand how that works well in advance. I would still say the rent vesting parental guarantee or free vesting.

[00:13:17] Living at home with mom and dad and using a parental guarantee to get into the market before you're ready to buy your home.

[00:13:23] That's scandalous, Rach. I know. So scandalous

[00:13:27] Yeah, and we do actually have a, a, a chapter about buying with friends and siblings in the book because it is becoming a lot more common, and there are things that people need to really consider before they do that.

[00:13:37] So I think it's a great option for people if they understand all of the pros and cons, and they have a roadmap together before they start. So if people are thinking about buying with a sibling, there's a lot of questions that you'd ask first, like what's the plan if somebody gets partnered? What's the plan if somebody wants their partner to move in?

[00:13:56] And what happens if one person wants to sell and another person's not ready? Because with these first home, you know, stamp duty concessions, you get one bite at the cherry, so if somebody doesn't get enough equity out of that property to go again, it can actually really negatively impact them. So we encourage that that's a really good way into the market, but we also encourage to understand everything and explore that before you start.

[00:14:18] I think if you're mo- and I'm, I'm very public about this. So I bought my first investment property when I was very young, and I th- I didn't consider ... So you look at two things. You look at cost to purchase, and you look at cost to hold, and I made the mistake of buying a lower cost to purchase, but it turned out to be a higher cost to hold.

[00:14:37] So, you know, we sometimes the lower property, especially I was rent vesting through my 20s, so there's a lot of ducking and weaving when you're going through that strategy. But the first lesson I learned is cheaper property does not mean cheaper cost to hold, and it was a long time ago, but I'll never forget that.

[00:14:52] I will never forget that lesson. It's going to be one of this in 10 years' time.

[00:14:58] I generally do, yes. But-

[00:15:00] I'm his mortgage broker, I can confirm.

[00:15:02] Yes. Rach has seen... Well, to be fair, I don't know, like, I'm not as capitalist property mogul as Rach, right? I So in my strike rate of property purchases compared to Rach, obviously there's a lower percentage chance of mistake 'cause I've had less goes of buying property.

[00:15:21] Now, I don't know if I've made any major whoopsies, but I do know one thing that comes to mind, particularly if you are a first home buyer and you want to live in it, and you both touched on it before, and it's particularly around the apartments, and I've seen this. We get house fever, and we've all had house fever, right?

[00:15:44] And like you just need to know when you're looking at a, a property or a strata complex or whatever to buy to live in, that's totally fine. But if you fall in love to o- with one and there's a big but, like as, well, there's an extra five grand a year for these works and half the building, the sinking fund of the strata thing, it's almost there's so many Rees in the building, there's a lot of investors, you've just gotta move on.

[00:16:08] There's plenty more apartments. And what I would say is request a strata report or as much detail as you can get from the strata manager or the agent. Now, this could cost a couple hundred dollars each time. If you're like, "Yeah, we can send you a report," ru- it could be a 500-page report. Run it through AI and be like, "What are the red flags most recently with this scheme?

[00:16:32] What do I need to look for?" And if you cannot genuinely get a discounted buying, because if it was 600 grand for a two-bedroom unit and there was 50 grand over the next five years per person If you can't get at least that 50 grand discount, 'cause you're gonna pay it anyway, you've gotta walk away. There are apartments everywhere.

[00:16:52] And that's just what we have learned. We asked our, um, Money Money Money community about what they wish they'd known before- Mm ... they bought their first home, and that did shape a lot of the book, and we published that in there, which is, that was one of my favorite parts. Uh, I think people that have bought a buyer's agent, and we, we talked to them about it, generally see great value in having used a buyer's agent, and I see that more often than not.

[00:17:13] Obviously, there's buyer's agents and buyer's agents, but if y- as long as you're using someone that's really been highly recommended to you and they're a great buyer's agent, I see so much value. I used one myself when I bought an investment in a different state. Even being in the industry, I wouldn't buy not in my state not using a buyer's agent.

[00:17:29] But the reality is, a lot of first-time buyers, when we're struggling to save a deposit, and they're going in with, uh, you know, that minimum amount, having a buyer's agent and the fees for one isn't a possibility for them. So I think that, I think a buyer's agent is great, but we've written, uh, the book assuming that you aren't using a buyer's agent, but also covering a little bit, a chapter on buyer's agents if you're able to use one, because I see so much value, but it's just a sad reality that not everybody can afford that.

[00:17:56] Glen,

[00:17:57] anything to add on that

[00:17:58] one?

[00:17:58] Yeah, I think it is ... Yeah, I, I think it is a luxury, and that's okay. Yeah, I think as you grow in your financial vibe, like, I reckon next property I purchase, like, I'm not choosing it myself, whether it's a home to live in or an investment property. Because if everyone Googles the Dunning-Kruger effect, the more you do stuff, the less confident you are in making the right decision.

[00:18:21] 'Cause, like, every time I go get my hair cut or at the barber or whatever, the dentist, like, "Oh, where should we buy a good property around here?" And I'm like Oh, uh, oh, oh, oh, anyways, so like-

[00:18:34] Yeah ...

[00:18:35] that was the dentist sucker thing in my mouth, and I can't talk to them. But like, I'm like, I don't know. I don't- I'm too scared to even worry myself.

[00:18:43] I'm not in the property world every day like a buyer's advocate. Hey, apologies to your audience for my-

[00:18:50] Well ... bad dentist I was gonna say, I'm sad for people who are listening to this and they're not gonna get to see the video footage of you being in a dentist chair. Definitely 10 out of 10 for charades.

[00:18:58] Mm-hmm. I would love to know, someone picks up this book and then they put it down, they've read it all. What's that one key message you want them to take away with them?

[00:19:10] Mm.

[00:19:11] I would say that if somebody felt encouraged and informed and ultimately made a better decision for their own property journey having read the book, that would be our goal achieved.

[00:19:23] That's really... And when I think about what I would like to see when somebody puts down this book, I also think about when I'd like them to pick it up. So my dream is that maybe a parent were to buy this book for somebody when they're going through university or when they're first starting their journey.

[00:19:36] They read it, and then they come back to this book when their knowledge and their confidence and, you know, their journey continues. I think as long as they're making confident and informed decisions, that would be our goal.

[00:19:47] I reckon I want people, and I know this book will deliver this, full-on clarity with their strategy, their why, and the actual asset type and what they're about.

[00:20:01] Because part of when we buy a property, it's like, yes, buying a property's one part, but the next part, 'cause life changes, right? Well, what happens if I buy this property and in 12 months' time my life changes? Do we wait before we buy? I don't know. I just wanna provide, and I think the book does give people clarity and certainty about their own strategy, and also encourage them that there are things that they will learn that will ultimately enable them to get into their first or next property sooner.

[00:20:33] So if you've already got a home and you've never bought an investment property, this will scratch that itch because I'm even like, when we read the audiobook, I'm chatting away. I'm thinking, "Oh, this is encouraging me to buy a property." Like, it's a good little read.

[00:20:45] This stuff is so good. Who wrote this?

[00:20:48] Yeah.

[00:20:49] Exactly.

[00:20:50] Well, thank you so much. So it's the Quickstart Guide To Your First Property. It's out now. You can buy it, I'm assuming, at all good bookshops, at airports, online. So thank you so much for making such a helpful resource for Australians. You guys do such good work. Such big fans here at Ladies Finance Club, and I really appreciate you taking out the time and coming on the podcast.

[00:21:14] Oh, thank you for having us.

[00:21:16] Thank you so much, Molly, and to all your listeners.

KEYWORDS
property, first home buyers, Australian real estate, government schemes, property investment, homeownership strategies