Brisbane first homebuyers spend overseas relocation savings to buy home at auction

Tarni and Robert saved enough to fund their dream to live overseas. Then when the pandemic hit they completely changed direction.

If everything had gone to plan, Tarni and Robert Duff would be living overseas in London right now.

The Brisbane couple saved hard to make their dream of living and working overseas happen – and then COVID hit and like many people their plans got cancelled.

The pair managed to tie the knot just before Queensland’s first COVID lockdown in March last year and with the drastic change of plans, they decided to use the relocation money towards buying a home instead.

“We were planning to move overseas late last year and when that got scrapped we thought maybe we would use the funds towards a house instead,” Tarni said.

“We had our savings for a goal to move overseas and the goal was no longer achievable so we pivoted to use it for a different objective,” Robert added.

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Tarni and Robert Duff bought their first home with savings meant for an overseas relocation. Picture: REA

The couple had sold off most of their possessions with the full intention of moving overseas and are now driving around in Tarni’s old car which they hadn’t sold yet – but they see this as a fresh start.

As first homebuyers, they’re happy to not be paying rent anymore.

“It has been a crazy weekend but we have no regrets at all,” Robert added. “We’re really happy with what we’ve ended up with.”

But with real estate prices increasing dramatically rising and fierce competition in the housing market, it took the couple almost 12 months to lock in a property.

They told news.com.au it wasn’t an easy process to buy a house in the current competitive market. They even had a buffer of $40,000-$60,000 to try to compete with other buyers.

The couple were meant to move to London but were forced to change their plans. Picture: REA

“We’re glad we’re out of the market,” Tarni laughed. “It’s been almost 12 months that we’d been looking. It was very competitive.”

They spent every weekend looking at properties up and down the coast and all over Brisbane and were overwhelmed with the numbers of people turning up to viewings.

“We never thought it would take so long and be such a crazy process,” Tarni said.

“You’d see the house with so many other people and you’d have to put your offer in by 5pm,” she explained.

“There was one offer we put in and it was months later that we found out we were only $5K off what it was sold and we didn’t get a call or anything,” Robert said.

The couple had hep from a friend who put in bids at the auction. Picture: REA

It was so competitive they had to fight against the 83 other groups that attended the auction on the weekend and they even instructed a friend put in bids for them and had spent time researching the tactics of the auctioneer.

With bids starting from $600,000 at the auction, which lasted only three minutes, they managed to snag the property for $925,000 as the auctioneer quickly added $25,000 at a time.

Ray White Bulimba agent Madi Roche said it was one of the shortest auction campaigns she’s seen, with the campaign reduced to two weeks. It was pulled ahead by a week because of an overwhelming response and a “huge amount of interest”.

Brisbane is a more affordable city to live in than Sydney and Melbourne. Picture: REA

“We had 84 groups inspect the property which is unheard of,” she told news.com.au.

There were 16 registered bidders at the auction, mainly owner occupiers, with more than half first home buyers.

The $925,000 sale “exceeded expectations” of the owners John and Mandy Felicissimo, a couple in their 50s who bought the 405-square-metre property as an investment for $700,000 in 2014.

“We didn’t think it would get to that price,” Ms Roche said.

But the buyers think the price was spot on after doing thorough market research before they bought, saying they were “well educated on the market”.

Robert had done a property valuation of the place they bought, estimating between $913,000 and $931,000 for the property that landed right in the middle at $925,000.

“It would be hard to find another couple that were as prepared as we were,” Robert said.

The auction attracted 84 groups of people and 16 registered bidders. Picture: REA

The real estate boom coincides with changing working situations and more people moving out of bigger city hubs while relocating back to their home cities or to regional areas, while Australians have been forced out of their overseas holidays or plans to relocate.

Originally from Cairns, Tarni and Robert lived in Sydney for six years before returning to Brisbane to be close to their families.

“People are migrating from Sydney and Melbourne to Brisbane with employment and flexibility, many are coming back home. Brisbane is a lot more affordable city to live in compared to Sydney and Melbourne,” Ms Roche explained.

“Also, people would normally spend on overseas travel which now they can’t so they’re saving a significant amount of money,” she added.