Hey all, looking for some grounded perspectives.

29M, software engineer. $200k base plus a $20k bonus. Permanent, fully remote.

Where things are at

I've been trying to buy a first home in Newcastle. The last house I went for fell through. The building and pest turned up issues, the vendor wouldn't move on price, and then pulled it off the market.

My sharehouse ends at the end of October. My plan was to move back into my off-grid van while I kept looking, but my girlfriend suggested I move in with her instead. She owns her place, in a much better area than I'd ever be able to afford. She's on a similar income, so rent genuinely isn't something she needs from me, and she feels weird charging it, so she's insisted we just split the bills. My cost of living is about to drop to close to nothing.

We've been together about 4 months and we both want a family long term. I wouldn't have kids with anyone until we'd lived together for at least a year, so that's a fair way off. If it does go that way, either place could work. Hers is a townhouse, and what I'd be buying is my idea of the ideal house to raise a family in, but I don't see it as one or the other.

Finances

$160k in ETFs (mostly NDQ)

FHSS maxed out

$100k in super

$40k cash savings

Van, owned outright

No HECS, no other debt

I'm not counting ~$200k of vested options in private companies, since they only turn into money if those businesses sell.

Pre-approved with total borrowing power of $1.2M, but I don't want to spend more than $900k.

Why I'm rethinking the rush

Most of the last year I was pushing to buy because prices were rising faster than I could save. With the market cooling, that feels like it's flipped. With near-zero living costs I'd be saving far faster than prices are moving, so waiting doesn't seem to cost what it used to.

What's actually driving this

The old line that you can't live in shares. Almost all of my net worth is in a single US tech ETF. If things change, that portfolio doesn't give me a home, and if it happens during a market drop I'm selling at the worst time to get one. A house in my name is the one asset that covers that risk directly, which is why I keep coming back to buying even when the numbers say wait.

The options

Buy now, up to $900k, and fill the spare rooms with housemates to carry a chunk of the mortgage. Diversifies me out of US tech and gives me housing security in my own name. The catch is that FHSS and the First Home Guarantee mean I have to live in it, so I'd be giving up near-zero living costs even with housemates. Converting it to an IP before 80% LVR means losing the Guarantee and likely paying LMI.

Wait and keep saving. Stack cash and investments while living cheaply, and only buy when a place comes up that ticks every box, one I'd want to live in for years. Bigger deposit, more information, and no pressure to settle for a compromise.

Don't buy, keep investing. Push the savings rate up hard and let the portfolio do the work. The catch is staying almost entirely in equities with no property of my own.

The question

For those who've had cheap or free housing while building wealth: did you still buy a PPOR, or keep investing and buy later? How did it play out?

When prices flatten and your savings rate jumps, has waiting for the right property generally worked out better than buying the first decent one?

And is 'you can't live in shares' a good enough reason to give up free housing, or is it a feeling the numbers don't back up?

Hey all, looking for some grounded perspectives.

29M, software engineer. $200k base plus a $20k bonus. Permanent, fully remote. Location genuinely doesn't matter for my work, which is relevant to the rest of this.

I've been living out of a fully converted off-grid van for years. Cost of living has been extremely low, the van is owned outright, and I'm used to unconventional setups.

Right now I'm in a sharehouse at $200 a week until the end of October, when the owners come back. I'm maximising that while it lasts, so I've got a natural deadline on sorting out where I'm living either way.

I've also started seriously dating someone. She already owns a house. We're both at the age where kids in the next year or two is a real conversation rather than a hypothetical, which is the only reason it's relevant to the numbers.

On top of that, I wouldn't have kids with anyone until I'd lived with them for at least a year. That's a hard rule for me. So even in the version of this where the relationship goes the distance, kids are a fair way off, and the next year or two of my living situation is mine to decide.

Important framing though: the relationship is less than 6 months old. I'm not making an $850k decision on the assumption it lasts. If it works out, great, plans can change later. If it doesn't, I want to be standing on my own setup either way. So everything below is deliberately structured as if I'm single, and I'd rather be told I'm being too cautious than find out the other way.

Finances

$150k in ETFs

$50k in FHSS

$100k in super

$25k cash savings

Fully converted off-grid van, owned outright

No HECS, no other debt

I've also got about $200k of vested options in private companies. I'm not counting any of it. It only turns into money if those businesses sell, and I have no control over whether or when that happens, so it plays no part in the plan below.

The plan

Buy an $850k house in Newcastle, solo, in my name only. Move in and fill the spare rooms with as many housemates as I can to offset the mortgage. Live there at least a year to satisfy the first home scheme requirements.

After that year I keep the options open. If circumstances haven't changed I can rent the whole place out and go back to the van or move in with her, which costs me almost nothing to live in. If they have changed, I've still got my own place to come back to rather than being dependent on someone else's.

I'm keeping the van either way. It's paid for, it costs me nothing to hold, and it's the entire reason the exit strategy works.

What I'm weighing

Buy now as planned. Keeps my first home buyer status and FHSS, starts building equity, housemates carry a chunk of the mortgage, and the van covers my downside. The risk is I'm buying a sharehouse right at the point where my life stops looking like a sharehouse.

Wait 6 to 12 months. Better information about where things land, and I keep stacking cash in the meantime. But prices don't wait for me and I've been ready to buy for a while.

Don't buy at all and eventually move in with her. Keeps me liquid, keeps FHSS parked. Also means no property of my own while relying on someone else's, less than a year in.

The question

Has anyone here bought a place set up for housemates and then had their living situation change inside a year or two? Did converting it to an IP work out cleanly, or did the costs of switching eat most of the benefit of buying early?

More generally, when you've got a purchase ready to go but good reason to think your requirements might change, does it stack up to buy now for the equity and adapt later, or does waiting 12 months usually cost less than people assume?

Hey all, looking for some grounded perspectives.

29M, software engineer. $200k base plus a $20k bonus. Permanent, fully remote. Location genuinely doesn't matter for my work, which is relevant to the rest of this.

I've been living out of a fully converted off-grid van for years. Cost of living has been extremely low, the van is owned outright, and I'm used to unconventional setups.

Right now I'm in a sharehouse at $200 a week until the end of October, when the owners come back. I'm maximising that while it lasts, so I've got a natural deadline on sorting out where I'm living either way.

I've also started seriously dating someone. She already owns a house. We're both at the age where kids in the next year or two is a real conversation rather than a hypothetical, which is the only reason it's relevant to the numbers.

On top of that, I wouldn't have kids with anyone until I'd lived with them for at least a year. That's a hard rule for me. So even in the version of this where the relationship goes the distance, kids are a fair way off, and the next year or two of my living situation is mine to decide.

Important framing though: the relationship is less than 6 months old. I'm not making an $850k decision on the assumption it lasts. If it works out, great, plans can change later. If it doesn't, I want to be standing on my own setup either way. So everything below is deliberately structured as if I'm single, and I'd rather be told I'm being too cautious than find out the other way.

Finances

$150k in ETFs

$50k in FHSS

$100k in super

$25k cash savings

Fully converted off-grid van, owned outright

No HECS, no other debt

I've also got about $200k of vested options in private companies. I'm not counting any of it. It only turns into money if those businesses sell, and I have no control over whether or when that happens, so it plays no part in the plan below.

The plan

Buy an $850k house in Newcastle, solo, in my name only. Move in and fill the spare rooms with as many housemates as I can to offset the mortgage. Live there at least a year to satisfy the first home scheme requirements.

After that year I keep the options open. If circumstances haven't changed I can rent the whole place out and go back to the van or move in with her, which costs me almost nothing to live in. If they have changed, I've still got my own place to come back to rather than being dependent on someone else's.

I'm keeping the van either way. It's paid for, it costs me nothing to hold, and it's the entire reason the exit strategy works.

What I'm weighing

Buy now as planned. Keeps my first home buyer status and FHSS, starts building equity, housemates carry a chunk of the mortgage, and the van covers my downside. The risk is I'm buying a sharehouse right at the point where my life stops looking like a sharehouse.

Wait 6 to 12 months. Better information about where things land, and I keep stacking cash in the meantime. But prices don't wait for me and I've been ready to buy for a while.

Don't buy at all and eventually move in with her. Keeps me liquid, keeps FHSS parked. Also means no property of my own while relying on someone else's, less than a year in.

The question

Has anyone here bought a place set up for housemates and then had their living situation change inside a year or two? Did converting it to an IP work out cleanly, or did the costs of switching eat most of the benefit of buying early?

More generally, when you've got a purchase ready to go but good reason to think your requirements might change, does it stack up to buy now for the equity and adapt later, or does waiting 12 months usually cost less than people assume?