‘There’s no way you should be doing this without a property advocate. Melbourne markets are just too aggressive Sal,’ Dad said. He was just trying to help…

I was borderline breakpoint and not really willing to take on more advice,  feeling that my expenses were already through the roof and I didn’t want to pay another soul to do a job that nobody cared about half as much about as me… I’d been looking so long and so hard that I’d lost trust that the right house would come. Real estate agents had lost my trust, every house I went for was miles above the advertised price. The last auction I went to, I left crying.

Dad’s been around the block and he knows the area well. He wants the best for me because he knows how much I’ve fought to save money and stay focused while my friends socialised their finances away.

Later that day, Dad called me and let me know he wanted to pay for an assessment by a Melbourne buyers advocate  to step in and help me find the house if my dreams. There is no way I’d normally let him pay my way, so he proposed that if I wanted, he’d just call it my birthday present. Sometimes I think my being overtly practical drives Dad nuts, but you can’t tell me I’m a wasteful person. I agreed.

I think it’s the best birthday gift I’ve ever had.

 The agent was FANTASTIC. They were really supportive and listened and helped me prioritise, which helped me to understand why I hadn’t been finding what I wanted. We had a great discussion about what I expected my money to buy, about what I was paying for- and essentially, what made a great home worth buying. All this gave me some wiggle room, and let the advocate come through with the goods. The day she called to say she’d found the perfect place was the day I knew I’d found my first home.