‘Too hard': Couple's drastic plan to become homeowners
When Corey Le and his wife tried to buy a house in Melbourne two years ago, they quickly realised they couldn't afford it.
Mr Le was a machine operator, and his wife was a factory worker. The pair earned just over $100,000 combined, but even two years ago, the average price for a home in Melbourne surpassed $900,000.
Despite both working full-time, they couldn't save enough for a deposit while paying $600 weekly in rent.
The couple was determined to fight to buy a home for their children to grow up in.
Mr Le, 34, said it dawned on him that two full-time wages weren't enough to break into the property market.
'When I started to try and buy a house, it was too hard, and then I thought I need to do something extra,' he told news.com.au.
The young couple isn't alone in their struggle.
Financial comparison website Finder found that 87 per cent of first-time home buyers say it has gotten harder to save for a deposit in the last three years.
The average time for first-home buyers to save for a deposit is just over 5 years.
The report found that 27 per cent of Aussies will take 5-10 years, and 11 per cent will take a decade or more to save enough money for a house deposit.
Over 90 per cent of first-time buyers had to sacrifice something or rely on a handout to save the required deposit.
Mr Le took drastic action to get into the property market and started a cleaning business by posting a few ads on Facebook. He built up a little bit of business, but he needed to find more customers.
From there, he found Airtasker, an app that matches workers with people who need tasks completed, and his business took off.
'Even if they do take a big cut, it got me out there, and it got me a lot more work,' he said.
The app allowed him to build a dependable customer base, and he and his wife built up their business, Sparkling Clean.
The couple kept their full-time jobs, and crammed in cleaning properties whenever they could.
'We did one job in the morning, then worked, then after work we did a few other jobs,' he said.
Mr Le sometimes would start his working day from 3.30am and work till 10pm, practically working two full-time jobs.
Within a year and a half, Mr Le and his wife had saved up $60,000.
The couple immediately attempted to buy a family home in Melbourne - but it wasn't straightforward.
'It was hard. At the start, some of the houses were quite bad and in a bad state, but we thought maybe we could fix it up,' he said.
Eventually, the couple found a house in South East Melbourne that they fell in love with and tried to buy.
Mr Le ended up heartbroken when they missed out on the house by just $2000. People were putting in offers and the couple just missed out.
'It was the worst. You know, I had that feeling like 'this is my house,' and then we lost it, and you're like sh*t. I have to start again,' he said.
The couple then spent weeks looking for a new home, and every weekend was crammed with inspections, but eventually, they purchased their home for $547,000.
'It was amazing! It is my first home. It was the best. Even though it is a bit far away, it is still good,' he said.
The 33-year-old family man is still ecstatic that he was able to save up and buy a home, but he also pointed out that he doesn't believe Aussies are able to crack into the property market these days without getting creative.
'Before, you could do it with one wage. Now, you can't,' he said.
Mr Le said there's no denying that it is really tough right now for families, and the housing crisis makes it even tougher.
'Childcare is expensive, food is expensive, it is hard to keep on top of all that, and then when you rent we were like paying $600 a week,' he said.
Mr Le stressed that working another job outside his main work was the only way he could buy.
It's been such a huge win for the young family, and their mortgage is only $100 more expensive than their rent.
His side hustle has also turned into a full-blown business, and he quit his job three months ago to focus on it.
'I've got a good cliental base and a good word of mouth,' he said.
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