I scored a rental on Billionaires' Row for under $500 - as a single mum

EXCLUSIVE: "There's a secret to how I nabbed the cheapest apartment on Sydney's most expensive street."

I always 'joke' that I'm the poorest person to ever live on Billionaires' Row, but it's actually the truth.

Because you won't believe how much I used to pay for rent when I first moved here (only five years ago).

My tale is not a brag - otherwise I wouldn't share it anonymously, right? It could actually help you, as rental prices and cost-of-living pressures increase - especially if you're a sole parent family like I am (one of the groups struggling the most). 

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"My budget was a max of $500/week"

I was living in another state with the child of my first marriage (yes, that's a Paul Simon reference, I am middle-aged), and decided to shake up everything.

My secure and comfortable life. My son being in a top private school. The career I'd built. All the things I thought were important.

Because after my divorce, I couldn't get rid of this feeling that the timing was right to go for my real dreams in the city where I'd always wanted to live: Sydney.

I changed careers, emailed the boss of the company I wanted to work for, and harassed them into giving me a job.

I just had to set us up in a home.

On the first night I'd locked down the job, I downloaded a real estate app, lying in bed. It was such a quiet moment... but my life was about to explode.

I put in all locations that were 5km within my new workplace, and set my budget.

My budget was a max $500.

Hundreds of options appeared. 

Our backyard on Billionaire's Row. Not bad for a single mum. Image: Supplied

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"Wolseley Road, Point Piper"

The third property on the list was on a street called Wolseley Road, in a suburb called Point Piper.

I googled that and discovered it's also called Billionaires' Row, because literally nine billionaires own homes here.  

It had been renovated about a decade prior, and was in a building that was built in the late 1800s and had been split up... and had a name. The unit I was looking at was the grand home's former library, with five metre pressed metal ceilings and full-length mahogany book shelving.

Way fancier than what I was looking for; I immediately felt uncomfortable and unworthy.

To put it bluntly, I was so weirded out. It felt surreal. It was too good to be true.

But as I spent more time Googling everything about the property, looking at every photos from every angle, I realised it was the real deal. So I went to check it out for myself.

This home on Wolseley Road is famous for the direct view of the Bridge and Opera House, so it's popular with tourists at sunset. Image: supplied

"Why was it affordable for a single mum?"

When I walked in, the apartment was a disgusting shambles. The current tenants were... domestically challenged, and being evicted because of it.

But the unit itself was as promised. A bit of wear and tear, but not falling apart. The agent, a single mum herself, showed me around the rest of the property... which has rambling gardens all the way to the private Seven Schillings Beach, which we would have a key to.

The neighbours on the same block right on the beach were selling their home for $70 million.

It was mind-blowing.

As we stood overlooking the sparkling harbour, as it stretched all the way to the Opera House and the Bridge, I asked the agent what the catch was.

She told me it was mostly owner-occupied, and someone came to take the bins out and maintain the gardens every week. 

But why on earth was it affordable for an average earning single mum like me?

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"I searched right"

It turns out, it was the way I had searched that fateful night. 

"Technically, it's not two bedrooms," the agent said. "It's one-bedroom and a fully enclosed sunroom - which means we can't charge you for a two-bedroom property."

"That's why it's only $475."

I remembered that indeed, I had put 'at least one bedroom' as a filter. I had been prepared to sleep on our sofa in the living room. Or on the kitchen bench.

Like so many others, I would have made it work. And like so many others, I was determined to grab my dream.

Yet, it was beyond my wildest dreams. It was just perfect for me and my 10-year-old. I snapped it up immediately.

This is the tale I've told only other single mums I've met - until now. 

We often don't believe good things like this can happen to us, but I say: Give it a go. You are worth it and you deserve it.

I knew moving to Sydney I would need to make sacrifices. We didn't need a garden, or a study, or a guest room, or a driveway - the standard things most homes had in the small city we came from. I laugh when I think about it now.

Years later, we've left that apartment but are lucky enough to still live in the same building. 

Living on Billionaires' Row has been a fascinating experience. We've met so many interesting, down-to-earth people who live in mansions worth millions and millions. And seen a lot of super cars worth more than what most non-billionaires earn in a lifetime.

But that's a story for another day.

So how did the sunroom situation work out? Well, being a new city, my 10-year-old slept in my bed for the first year, anyway. 

As it turned out, two real bedrooms would have been a total waste of money.

Originally published as I scored a rental on Billionaires' Row for under $500 - as a single mum