Latest news with #CoreyLe
Daily Mail
7 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Corey and his wife finally bought their dream family home... but it came at a grueling cost that too many Aussies can relate to
A hardworking father has shared the drastic lengths he had to go to in order to buy his first home, revealing he worked two jobs and more than 16 hours a day. Corey Le, 34, and his wife Anna, were working full-time jobs, but had been unable to save for a deposit until they took on extra cleaning tasks, and in just over a year, they saved $60,000 and bought their first property in Pakenham, in regional Victoria. Mr Le was a machine operator while his wife was a factory worker and the couple's combined salary of $100,000 didn't give them the option to save for a deposit while paying $600 a week in rent. He told Daily Mail Australia he quickly realised if he wanted to fulfil his dream of owning his own home for his children to grow up in, he would have to find another source of income. Mr Le decided to start advertising his cleaning services on Facebook and began working extremely long days to fit his new business around his existing factory job. He began his day at 3.30am for a commercial client, headed to the factory, and then completed cleaning jobs in the evening. Mr Le said he was grateful to get 'very busy, very quickly', but this meant that sometimes he would work from 3:30am until 10pm, completing eight-hour end-of-lease cleans after working in the factory. 'It's crazy, but I didn't know what else I could do I couldn't say no because then I'd lose that work so I kept going and then we got heaps of work,' he said. Mr Le then turned to Airtasker, crediting the app with 'opening a lot of doors' and helping him to grow in confidence with his business. After establishing a customer base, he and his wife set up their own business, Sparkling Clean. For the first time in his life, Mr Le was able to consistently save money each month and in just over a year he'd racked up $60,000. The father purchased his first home in regional Victoria for $547,000, and after months of working over 16 hours a day, both he and his wife quit their factory jobs. 'I could've quit earlier because I knew how good the cleaning was going, but if I didn't have a consistent income it would have made it harder to buy a house,' Mr Le said. The father said he's now looking to pay off his house and one day purchase a bigger family home for his 14-year-old stepdaughter and four-year-old son. When asked if he ever imagined being in this financial position last year, he said: 'No way, not a chance.' 'But, now I have a small team that help me out and I feel like I've turned the cleaning jobs me and my wife were doing into a really good business, which we're actually enjoying,' he said. Mr Le said it's really hard for families to find a way to buy their first home, and unless you have a 'really high-paying job it's impossible'. 'Rent, food and childcare is so expensive,' he stressed. 'I never would have been able to buy my home without two jobs.' The average price of a home in Australia has hit $1million for the first time. Alarming figures also showed new buyers needed to earn more than $170,000 a year to afford the repayments on an average house in Australia's five major capitals.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tough way Aussie couple saved $60,000 to buy first property: 'Started with nothing'
An Australian dad has shared the tough way he and his wife were able to buy their first home and finally feel more on top of their finances. The rising cost of living, lagging wages and skyrocketing property prices are making it harder for many people to get ahead. Corey Le was working full-time as a machine operator but found he was only just making ends meet. The 34-year-old and his wife Anna dreamed of buying their first home for their young family but realised they had to find a way to boost their combined $100,000 a year income if they wanted to make it a reality. 'We started with really nothing. We had $10,000 in savings back then but it was not going up, it was just being at the $10,000 limit all the time,' Le told Yahoo Finance. RELATED Young Aussie reveals $390,000 property regret after falling into common trap Centrelink payment alert for 58,000 Aussies in caravans ATO $1,519 cash boost heading for Aussies in weeks: 'Tax-time windfall' The couple decided to start their own cleaning business on the side in March last year. They began posting ads on Facebook and later found marketplace Airtasker. The platform helped Le build up a customer base and eventually they started getting more work through word of mouth. He said the couple would work on their business before and after their regular jobs, with days sometimes starting at 3:30am and not finishing until 10pm. 'So some days could go up to 16, 18-hour days,' he said. 'I was really exhausted but I was making good money. I felt that was probably what we needed.' Le said the couple were earning between $5,000 and $6,000 a week through both their cleaning business and 9 to 5 jobs, with his wife a full-time factory worker. They found they were making more cleaning than in their regular jobs. While it was a tough slog, the couple were able to save up $60,000 within about a year and eventually purchased their first home in Melbourne's Packenham with a 10 per cent couple's experience reveals the grim reality facing many Australians hoping to get a foot on the increasingly expensive property ladder. CoreLogic data found it would take 10.6 years to save up a 20 per cent deposit for an Australian home. That's assuming a household can save 15 per cent of their income, which can be extremely challenging given the current cost of living and rental prices. Finder research found 40 per cent of first home buyers needed five years or more to save a deposit in 2025 if they received no help from their parents. Stretched affordability and the high cost of living are causing some Aussies to work multiple jobs. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data found there were 963,100 multiple job holders in March, or 6.5 per cent of all employed people. Le said it was becoming harder for people to buy a home if they didn't take steps like taking on extra work. He said this was the only way he and his wife were able to buy. 'It's hard. People have kids and childcare is not cheap, shopping is not cheap, nothing's cheap. You can't really make much,' he told Yahoo Finance. 'The more you work, the more money you are gonna get. It's hard to buy a house even if they give you a 5 per cent or 10 per cent deposit, not many people out there are going to have $60,000, it's hard to save that much.' Le and his wife waited until they had bought their property and then quit their full-time jobs a few months ago to focus on their cleaning business, Sparkling Cleaning. They are now in the process of training a few workers to help out with the business. 'I like giving a good service to people. Having your own business, you can be your own boss and also it's yours,' he said. 'You can do your own calls, I can do my own rosters.' Le said the business was currently bringing in about $6,000 a week in revenue. While this doesn't take into account expenses like petrol, cleaning products and now staff wages, he said they were still making more money than their previous jobs. The couple is now hoping to pay off their mortgage as quickly as possible and continue to grow their business. 'It's been hard, to be honest. It's been really hard to keep on top. Now, I'm not comfortable, but I'm not too bad,' he in to access your portfolio
News.com.au
10 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘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 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.
