For first-time investors
Start with the finance, not the suburb. We turn your income, savings and borrowing power into a clear brief, then find a property that fits it. And if an investment purchase made on our advice misses the targets we agree on, we pay you $5,000.
Book a free consultationFree, no obligation, no hard sell. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so.
Sound familiar?
You’ve done the saving, or you’ve got family willing to help. The deposit exists. What doesn’t exist is a straight answer on where to put it. The internet hands you twenty “best suburb” lists, a broker says one thing, and everyone at the barbecue has an opinion.
Meanwhile the suburb you actually want to live in is out of reach, and the headlines have been talking about a collapse since the May tax changes. So the deposit sits in a savings account, going backwards against inflation, while you wait to feel certain.
Here’s the reframe: you don’t have to buy where you live. Plenty of our clients rent where life works and buy where the numbers work. The first purchase matters most because it sets up your borrowing power for the next one, which is exactly why it shouldn’t be a guess.
Google reviews
Who you’d be talking to
This is Jake Milne, the person on the other end of the call. In the clip he runs through what still has to be checked after a suburb passes: the street, the layout, how much of the price is land, who buys the property from you later, and whether the cash flow survives a few weeks empty.
The suburb starts the search. Everything after it is the part most first-time buyers skip, and it’s the part we spend the call on.
The free consultation
How much you can borrow, how much you should borrow, and what happens if rates stay higher or the property sits vacant for a few weeks. Property is a finance game before it’s a property game.
Growth or cashflow, budget, how much weekly pressure you can comfortably carry. Once that’s clear, suburb research finally becomes useful, because you know what you’re asking the property to do.
A straight view of what’s realistic for your numbers, whether that involves us or not. No obligation and no follow-up pressure. If you’re not ready yet, we’ll tell you what would change that.
Why trust us with this
Jake Milne has been buying through market cycles since 2008 and won Buyers’ Agent of the Year. We publish every purchase we make, including the ones that underperform, and we’re paid only by our clients. No commissions from anyone selling you something.
Client reviews
“Thanks for everything you've done, from initial consultation to asset selection to organising all of the people involved with settlement. I've recently spoken with some mates who have asked who I used as they are impressed with your Buyers Agent research from Jake.”
“Jake understood my investment brief well and did a great job in assisting me with finding a property that was within this criteria. Jake's knowledge and education was fantastic in the property negotiation process and he assisted in securing the property at great value.”
“Working with Jake to find an investment property made the whole process fun and painless. The properties presented in the shortlists were all suitable, and we secured our property within 2 weeks of it being presented to us at a reasonable price.”
Case study
This client came to us with one property already under their belt and a clear goal: use it as the springboard for a second, faster. That meant an aggressive growth brief rather than a defensive one, with a budget of $725,000 to $750,000.
We pressure tested the brief, then ran the numbers through our Suburb Analyzer, weighing more than 20 factors against budget and yield. Darwin came out on top for growth potential, and our client went with the growth call with eyes open about the trade-offs: cyclone exposure in the NT, which we manage by favouring modern, well-built homes.
This wasn’t a buy-anything-under-budget brief. The property had to earn its place as step one of a two-property plan: enough yield and growth to support a fast follow-up purchase, without compromising the due diligence standards we hold every property to.
Three properties, one standard
Our client was ready to offer close to asking. We weren’t. The master bedroom measured 2.7m wide, narrow enough to shrink the pool of future buyers when it’s eventually time to sell. That detail doesn’t show up in a floorplan at a glance, but it decides who wants the place down the track. We recommended pulling out. Our client agreed on the spot.
A comparable home by the same builder had sold nearby a month earlier for $650k. We worked out the fair premium for this one’s condition and land size, set $710k to $725k as the ceiling, and offered $711k. It wasn’t enough; the seller had a stronger offer, and we were fine with that. Paying up for fresh paint is what owner-occupiers do, not what we do.
A home with a legally separate second dwelling: a main house plus a self-contained space that rents independently. That structure made the numbers work, with solid positive cash flow from settlement. It also suited how the client was buying: through an entity structure on their accountant’s advice, where the extra income stream fits cleanly.
What due diligence turned up
The building and pest inspection wasn’t clean. We treated that as useful information rather than a reason to panic, and we got trade quotes on the bigger items before going back to the seller, so every request was backed by real numbers rather than guesswork.
All up, we budgeted $10,000 to $15,000 to bring the property to the standard we expect before a tenant moves in. The termite and electrical items were addressed before we signed off. No surprises after settlement, because they were dealt with before it.
Our client walked away from two properties most buyers would have chased, bought with eyes open to real defects, and owns a result that’s paying for itself. The standard doesn’t change: back every number with real comparable sales, back every decision with real due diligence, and never let time pressure talk you into skipping either.
This case study reflects one client’s experience and decisions made at a specific point in time. It isn’t a guarantee of outcomes for any other property or client, and nothing here is financial advice. Property values referenced are appraisals and settled prices only, not indicators of future performance. Photos are illustrative, not the property purchased.
At a minimum you’d want $70,000 in savings or equity and a household income of $70,000 or more. Our approved investment properties start from $300,000, so there’s room to match a first budget.
A family guarantor can change the picture. Bring it up on the call and we’ll give you a straight answer on whether it works for you.
Yes. Renting where you want to live and buying where the numbers work is a strategy plenty of our clients use, and for many first-time investors it beats stretching to buy in a suburb you can barely afford. The consultation works out whether it fits your situation.
Prices have softened since the May tax changes and the headlines talk of collapse. Australia isn’t one market, though. It’s dozens of markets moving at different speeds, and our job is finding the areas where supply, demand and demographics still line up, then modelling them conservatively.
For a disciplined buyer, a quiet market means less competition and more room to negotiate. And if we can’t find a purchase that stacks up for you, we’ll say so.
Nothing. It’s free, there’s no obligation, and there’s no hard sell at the end. If we do end up working together, fees are fixed and known upfront; no percentages, and no hidden charges.
One free call. Straight answers about your numbers, and a clear next step either way.
Book a free consultationBook your consultation
Fill in the short form and you’ll go straight through to the calendar to choose a time that suits you. The call is free and there’s no obligation on either side.
