When you’ve been in the real estate industry for as long as I have, you pick up a few things. Prior to arriving in Australia, I probably never held a hammer, let alone used one. Now, I frequently fix air-conditioning units, hot water heaters, and other fixtures at my properties. I am certainly no handy-man, but I know enough to be dangerous.
I fix these items myself, not for the satisfaction it brings me, but for the money I can save and use elsewhere. Now I’m certainly not skillful enough to complete major remodels or repairs. However, if small maintenance issues arise, I will consider taking it on myself before passing it to others.
This mentality was borne out of struggle early in my real estate journey. There were times when requesting contractor help wasn’t even an option. However, due to the sacrifices we made early on, we were able to realise our dream of owning a home, without going bankrupt in the process.
My personal experiences with making sacrifices
A lot of the home building process for our first house was foreign to us. I had just started working in the residential building industry and there was much for me to learn. In a way, building a house at the same time helped flatten that learning curve.
Another key consideration was money. We were not replete with cash when building our first home. What’s noteworthy is that we probably wouldn’t have built if not for the attractive first home buyer incentives available at the time. For those looking to purchase their first home, my recommendation is to also research and pursue potential incentives before commencing the process.
We were always looking for opportunities to save money during the building process. One such opportunity came in the form of soakwells. For those uninitiated with the term, a soakwell is an underground container which allows rainwater to collect and slowly seep into the Earth. These can be installed by the building company or contractor, but that requires money. Money we were trying to avoid spending.
Six months prior, I had no idea what a soakwell was, let alone install one. In theory, it seemed a fairly straightforward task. Dig a hole. Load in the polypropylene soakwell. Leave sufficient room for the landscapers to fit the drain-pipe and pave over the open area.
However, theory and practice seldom align perfectly. The task of digging out holes for four soakwells involved two full weekends of back-breaking work. It was also a full family project, requiring shifts from both my wife and then 10-year old son.
Would I have liked those weekends back with my family? Absolutely! I’m sure my wife and son would also have liked to avoid enduring several blisters in the process. However, we all could appreciate what that hard work did for us.
Sacrifices don’t have to be physical in nature
Once our first home was complete, we had the task of furnishing it. It was a substantial size upgrade from our ‘treetop oasis’ (see post for reference), so the additional space demanded more furniture.
However, we had to partially restrain ourselves, as they were still during the early days of my real estate career. Put bluntly, I couldn’t go out and buy what I wanted when I had such a temperamental job. My priority was and had to be on building a safety net for my family.
That required leaving the family room a little bare for the first few months. It meant cutting back on landscaping options in favor of a more minimalist backyard. While not ideal, these were necessary sacrifices.
Why sacrifice has never been more important
Writing this post made me reflect on our western ideals of owning a home. As a society, we strive for bigger, more luxurious homes. We also assume greater amounts of debt, without compunction, to achieve these living goals.
This of course is not sustainable. For example, we’ve recently seen that the Australian Government has expressed concern over the residential construction pipeline. Further, as demand for housing grows, so do materials and labour costs.
What young homeowners should remember is that their budget is finite. This does not mean that they can’t realise their home ownership dreams. However, it does mean that they are required to endure sacrifice and hard work to make those dreams a reality.
The content outlined above was written, edited and published by the Lost Realtor. The author has over 20 years or real estate sales and investing experience in the Australian property market. He has held senior positions in Australian building companies, including being the General Manager of the residential sales division of Collier Homes. His qualifications include a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Graduate Diploma in Building and Construction Law.