If saving hard isn’t working, you need a new property strategy
You’ve done everything right — got a job, cut back on spending, saved consistently — and yet property prices keep pulling further away. Like millions of other young Australians, you feel locked out, watching the dream slip away despite your best efforts. Let’s get real: saving a 20% deposit isn’t practical in today’s market. You need better strategies. That’s where The Quick-Start Guide to Your First Property comes in.
In this essential playbook, personal finance expert Glen James and top mortgage broker Rachelle Kroon share the hacks that are actually getting first-time buyers into the market right now. Drop the outdated advice and discover what’s really working in the 2020s: parental guarantees, rentvesting, government schemes, creative lending structures and more. The Quick-Start Guide to Your First Property translates complex finance jargon into plain language and gives you a clear roadmap to property ownership.
Whether you’re looking for your first home or you want to start investing, you’ll get actionable tips to:
- Clarify your foundations: master your income, debt and money mindset before you buy.
- Enter the market sooner: with as little as a 5% deposit using government schemes and guarantor strategies.
- Tap into strategic investing: live where you want and invest where you can, with rentvesting and shared equity.
- Get clear on everything you need to know: like property cycles, asset types and the whole buying process from start to finish.
- Build your property team: understand what mortgage brokers, buyer’s agents, conveyancers, accountants and negotiators do — and who really works for you.
Full of practical tips and none of the fluff, this book shows readers that buying property is still possible, even in today’s ultracompetitive climate. The market has changed. Your strategy for getting started needs to change with it. How are you going to get started quick?
Interested in other ways to grow your money simpler, smarter and sooner? Check out the awarding-winning The Quick-Start Guide to Investing for everything you need to get started with shares.
Table of Contents:
Hi and Welcome Home! vii
1 Know your ‘why’ 1
2 Setting up your foundations 21
3 Understanding home loans 49
4 Quick-start hacks to enter the market 101
5 Deciding on your strategy: Buying a home to live in 145
6 Deciding on your strategy: Buying an investment property 163
7 Choosing your asset type 187
8 The buying process 221
9 Why you need a dream team 253
10 You now have the keys — what’s next? 273
What I wish I’d known 293
Index 301
About the Author :
GLEN JAMES is a former financial adviser, the award-winning author of The Quick-Start Guide to Investing and the creator of the money money money show.
RACHELLE KROON is the founder of Sphere Home Loans and host of the this is property show. After starting the business in 2013 Rachelle quickly became one of the top mortgage brokers in Australia and is regularly featured in the MPA top 100.
