Belluccio Property Group

GEN Y buyers can have their coffee and still get into the property market despite rocketing prices.

Property advisory firm managing director Ayda Shabanz, 32, of Grow Property Group said it was a matter of navigating the infrastructure around lending and the property market cycle.

“Buying a property doesn’t mean sacrificing travel. You don’t have to go without your daily coffee. And, each Friday and Saturday night won’t be spent bored at home for the rest of your life,” according to Ms Shabanz who has built her own multi-million dollar property portfolio over the past decade.

She said as long as Gen Y property investors were “realistic about what they could afford”, concerns about sacrificing lifestyle were unwarranted.

“We all have different lifestyles but owning a home doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stop taking holidays, eating out or catching up with friends for a drink.

“Successful property investment’s all about following a strategy to reach a goal and if buyers do that they’ll still be able to live the life they love but have the security of homeownership.”

Ms Shabanz, who hosts Gen Y event The Road to Property Ownership in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, has built a multi-million dollar personal property portfolio.

Gen Y buyers Nick Wlodarczyk and Nathanael Marhaba live in inner-city Ashgrove but have already put money down on an investment property.

The pair went with an off-the-plan investment at Le Bain on Wyandra Street in Newstead, with settlement scheduled for 2018.

Their plan was to be rentvestors for now, buying affordable investment properties before they could afford the home purchase they want.

Mr Wlodarczyk said it was possible to have the Gen Y favoured lifestyle and still get into property.

“Definitely,” he said, “we are investing in something we can afford first up and looking in the areas we desire for future home purchase.

“This is a while off (home purchase) so we are getting into the market now in a suburb that is affordable.”

Their strategy to build up a deposit for their property investments were not as extreme as some.

“You just have to pull back a little bit,” Mr Wlodarczyk said.

“Don’t go out for the dinner, stay home and have friends over, make coffee in the office, take your lunch to work.

“We only have one car as well which has helped a lot.”

Ms Shabanz’s top tips for Gen Y to save to buy a property start with taking a good look at current spending habits.

Top three tips for Gen Y savings:

1). “At an absolute minimum, everyone should be looking to save 10 per cent of their weekly income. By setting up a budget and committing to it, this is the first step towards saving enough money to achieve your property goals.”

2). “Everyone looking to enter the property market should follow a strategy that makes buying property more affordable. For example, one smart tactic is to rent where you want to live and invest where you can afford to buy.”

3). “There’s such a thing as good debt and bad debt. Understand your debt situation and learn how credit cards and personal loans can negatively impact your ability to secure future loans. Excluding emergencies, acknowledge that if you don’t have the cash you probably can’t afford it.”

(Source: realestate.com.au)