Don’t believe the hype, home ownership is not the bees knees

BEING a homeowner is overrated. I know, because I saved to buy a house and now I’m living a nightmare of my own making.

An actual photo of Rashell Habib after her first mortgage repayment.

OPINION

THERE is no way around it. Being a first homebuyer in Sydney sucks.

I am 32, I bought my first home last year and it has been hell. I had no financial help from my parents or anyone for that matter. I saved my arse off, moved back in with my parents, gave up travel, coffee and avocado on toast for four years to afford just the deposit. And I can’t even afford to live in it.

Growing up we didn’t have much, my parents are immigrants and worked 15-hour days in hospitality my entire life to give my three sisters and I a chance at the Australian dream.

We knew they were laying the foundation for our future, giving us a chance.

Little did they know that a chance would require a hell of a lot more than the $20,000 they spent on their house when they first moved to Sydney.

Now fast forward to me hitting my 30s and getting into a mad panic about not owning a Sydney property.

My friends were getting married, buying their second properties, and I was renting and spending too much money on clothes.

I had been saving but what came into my account seemed to go out as quickly, on tax, travel, food and rent.

But I forged ahead, I saved and saved and spent a good year looking for a house that would not fall down around me and not force me to sell a liver on the black market to afford.

Do you want the truth? It really does not seem worth it. It has been rented out. I am paying a mortgage that will see me living with my parents for the rest of my natural born life and if I want to go on a holiday or buy a new pair of shoes I need to seriously consider the aforementioned liver trade.

Don’t do it, it’s a trap, throw the keys back in his face.

The rent I receive from my house doesn’t cover the mortgage payments, so a lot of my income goes towards paying that.

The sad part being I am in a position a majority of average Australians are in, and or will be in if they buy their own home.

Firstly having to borrow a large amount from a bank because the median house price in Sydney grows every day. Paying not only your mortgage, but all the insidious other charges you don’t factor in when you think about living the dream.

Think stamp duty and land rates, not to mention repairs and insurance.

If you are looking at buying your first home in Sydney, please heed my warning. REALLY think about it. Think about the pay-offs now. Not everything has to be looked at through ‘future glasses’.

I’m in it now. I am paying a mortgage that is too high and living half the life I want to live as a result of my ‘but I have to think about my future’ anxiety.

In thinking about my future I have completely traded my present.

The other day I was crossing the road and was lost in a daze of how much I had just spent on Lebanese cucumbers, when I was almost hit by a car.

It occurred to me that had I been killed that very moment I would have died in debt, hungry and wishing I had bought that smashed avocado on toast with my coffee that morning.

You can tweet the author at @Rashellha