Upgrading to get more space for the kids

Rich and Tara lived in Bronte for about six years and brought up their two young children there. They loved it: living by the sea, the nature and the coastal walks, the kids in local schools, local friends.

Wherever they've lived in Australia, weekends have often meant a drive to find some space, and the drive kept ending in Avalon, a small, surfy, laid-back village on Sydney's northern beaches, right on the sea and close to Pittwater. “We'd come up here for the day, lounge around, have an ice cream, and then go back home to Bronte.”

Test the asset, not just the house. Chris lives nearby and knows the area well. He used his property philosophy to give guidance on whether this was a good asset: north-facing, near good local schools, a short walk to Pittwater, the beach and town, on a 1,000 m² block.

Think about who buys it next. Chris got them thinking about who might buy the house from them one day, whether that would be a family, and whether it would deliver the capital growth they hoped for. He brought his years as a financial adviser, his local knowledge and his views on property to it, and he challenged them on a few points.

Explain it until it is clear. They had never had an offset account. Chris and Ben walked them through what one is, why it might suit them, why borrowing against your home is relatively easy and cheap, and why a buffer for rainy days helps at this stage of life. Ben built spreadsheets comparing loan structures and answered the same questions as many times as Rich asked them, at any time of day.

Set up the new home properly. Ben set up the offset structure: how much to hold and why, where the salaries should go, how the repayments work, how principal and interest are paid down and over what period, even what to name each bank account.

Buy first, and carry the pressure behind the scenes. They bought first, with a settlement period long enough to sell Bronte. Ben's relationships with the banks, his understanding of their policies and his judgement on when to ask a lender for an exception kept the deal on track.

Bronte sold at the price they wanted, and the Avalon purchase went through. Five years on, the family is settled in a five-bedroom home with a few living spaces and a pool, and everyone has a room of their own. The kids ride their bikes, surf and go camping, with an independence that would have been harder to find in the eastern suburbs.

Looking back, Rich can see the risk in buying first. “Both ways of doing it are risky.” Ben has since told him how stressful it was behind the scenes. “It's testament to Ben that I didn't feel any of it.” They're confident the house will grow as the market does, and they plan to come back to Alcove when the next property decision is on the agenda.