Mortgage broker’s maths that left 25yo shocked during first homebuying journey

Getting onto the property market isn’t easy, but one Gen Zer said there’s a common mistake people her age are making that is making the process even harder.

Getting onto the property market in Australia right now in isn’t easy, but one Gen Zer believes there is a common mistake people her age keep making that is making the process harder.

How does she know that? Because she made it.

When Zali Gillings went to buy her first home, she quickly realised she needed to stop living “above her means”.

The 25-year-old bought her first home in 2022. At the time, she worked in retail and her partner was a farmer.

Ms Gillings said she’s not discounting the cost-of-living crisis, noting rent and mortgages are “ridiculous” now.

But she also thinks people her age aren’t getting onto the property ladder because they do not realise they’re living a luxury lifestyle.

“I’m not excusing that there is a cost of living crisis, but there are a lot of people living outside of their income range,” she told news.com.au.

Zali said the cost of living crisis is ‘ridiculous’. Picture: TikTok/zali.gillings

Zali and her partner bought while paying rent. Picture: TikTok/zali.gillings

In Ms Gillings’ case, she and her partner managed to save up a deposit on regular wages while still paying rent.

“When our broker went through our statements, she added up our spending and said, ‘Do you know how much you’re paying on food, takeaway and beauty stuff?’” she said.

The answer was no.

Ms Gillings didn’t realise how much money she was spending on beauty treatments. For instance, she was spending around $140 a fortnight getting her nails and lashes done, which was costing just shy of $300 per month.

It was a big wake-up call.

“We just didn’t realise how much money we were wasting until our broker showed us what we were spending over three months,” she said.

The total amounts were enough to make Ms Gillings reconsider how she spent her money and axe her regular beauty appointments.

Zali and her partner went to a broker to help them buy a home. Picture: TikTok/zali.gillings

She hadn’t realised how much she was spending. Picture: TikTok/zali.gillings

The young Aussie also stopped using buy-now-pay-later services like Afterpay and ZipPay because she found they made her feel like “you’re not spending the money, but you are”.

Instead of spending money passively and without thinking, she started to examine her reasoning behind every purchase.

“I don’t spend unless I need it. I go back to the mentality of ‘Do I actually need this? Do I need this skincare, jumper, or fifth eye shadow pallet?’” she said.

Nine times out of ten, she’s found the answer is a solid no, and she’s also started asking herself, “would I rather invest this money or have this jumper?”

Thinking about how she was spending helped the couple save up more for a deposit, as well as helping them get approved for a loan by the bank to buy a three-bedroom home in Adelaide.

The couple changed their spending for almost 12 months and, by the time the broker took their information to the banks to get loan approval, their accounts looked “clean”.

When they went for the loan, they looked like a “safe” bet because the couple had drastically changed their spending.

“All we paid for was rent, our bills and groceries,” she said.

She changed the way she spent in order to buy her first home. Picture: Supplied

Zali said going to a mortgage broker was helpful. Picture: TikTok/zali.gillings

For anyone wanting to buy a home, Ms Gillings said she’d recommend going to a mortgage broker or for people to start adding up where their money is going because she thinks a lot of people would be “surprised” by “how much they spend” on certain things.

Of course, the young Aussie doesn’t think it is as simple as not going to a nail appointment to save up for a deposit.

“I’m not saying every single person is overspending, or if you don’t do your lashes for a year, you’ll have a house deposit,” she said.

She does think that many Gen Zers don’t realise they could be in a position to buy if they cut back on some things.

“I think, not the majority, but a lot of my generation are worried about looking good and pleasing other people more than how much money they have in the bank,” she said.

She’s also found that when she speaks to people her age, they tell her what they can’t afford, like, “I can’t go out for dinner this weekend”, but they don’t admit to what they are spending money on.

“Like ‘I just bought a new pair of shoes’ or ‘I just got my lashes done’. Those are luxuries,” Ms Gillings said.

“My mum wasn’t getting hair done or going to pilates. I know these things shouldn’t have to be luxuries. But if you do these things you can’t then complain you have no money.”

Ultimately, the young homeowner is not pretending it isn’t hard to buy right now, but changing her spending habits was the key to helping her and her partner get approved for a loan and set-up for the future.