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Saving for a home deposit: Mortgage Broker gives insider tips

Announcement posted by Smartline 13 Mar 2017

It’s the early years that hurt the most. Your salary isn’t crash hot, you’ve got to adjust to full time work and the full on expenses that go with it. Rent. Food. Electricity. Insurance. The list goes on.

So, how in the world do people afford to buy a home before they’re 30? Even a $300,000 home requires a $60,000 deposit (unless you want to be charged Lender’s Mortgage Insurance).


That’s a huge number for first home buyers.


Justin Smith, Principal of Smartline Rockingham Mortgage Brokers, is always surprised when young, first time property buyers walk into his office with BIG savings accounts. How do they do it? Well, Justin asked them – and here’s the things first home buyers do to save up a deposit and get their foot on the property market.


  1. Sell unwanted/unused items around the home on sites like eBay and Gumtree. There’s also the added bonus of less stuff to pack and shift when you move into your new house. Think about old gaming consoles, clothes and electronics – you could make hundreds from selling these in a matter of hours.

  2. Automate your savings: set up an automatic transfer so that when you get paid a portion of that money automatically goes into your high interest savings account.

  3. Make your own lunch for work instead of buying it, potential saving of $30-50 per work week.

  4. Try to cut out the number of coffees/other drinks that you buy each week, potential saving $20+ per week. (over $1,000 per year!)

  5. Try to entertain at home with friends instead of going to bars/clubs/restaurants, much lower cost for food/drinks.

  6. Put ALL your spare money into a higher interest yielding account and don't touch it. Also, check Term Deposits.

  7. Put a NO JUNK MAIL sign on your letterbox so you're not tempted by the sales!

  8. If it's your birthday/Christmas/wedding/engagement ask for no gifts. Instead, request money towards your home ownership dream.

  9. Never give up! What could be a few years of knuckling down will lead you to owning a home you love.


If you’re not sure how much you need to save, it’s best to ask one of the experts at Smartline Rockingham to run the numbers and check your borrowing power. By checking with the team they may be able to give you the good news that you’ve already saved up a big enough deposit. Fingers crossed!