From Struggling To Find A Home To A Four-Bed House: How One Family Beat The Property Price Horror

From struggling to find a home to a four-bed house: How one family beat the property price horror – and it’s something everyone has thought about

A family-of-six have escaped Sydney’s property horror by moving to Gold Coast

Derek and Marie Styles rented for 11 years hoping they’d one day afford a home

This year the couple – who have four kids – realised it was an unrealistic dream

They bought a large home for $660,000 which is a palace in comparison

It’s a thought that’s crossed the minds of all home owners in Sydney and Melbourne.

Why stay in two of the world’s most expensive cities when there’s a more affordable (and sunnier) metro centre just a few hours up the coast?

With cheaper houses and rent prices, moving to the Gold Coast is quickly becoming not just a dream but a necessity for people looking to get ahead in property.

And leading the way is the Styles family, who after a decade in Sydney ditched their small apartment for a shift north – moving into a $660,000 four-bedroom home that feels like a palace in comparison, realestate.com.au reports.

‘We talked about buying for years in Sydney and actively looked, but it’s too difficult, especially when you have four children,’ Derek Styles said.

In 2004, when Mr Styles and his wife Marie made the move to Australia from the UK, the couple planned to enter the housing market.

But upon arriving in the Harbour city the pair were left shocked by the price of living, and were left with no choice but to begin renting.

For the next 11-and-a-half years the Styles family lived in a small apartment, hoping it would allow them to save enough to one day purchase a place of their own.

But when a three-bedroom home next to their apartment sold for $1.6 million, the couple realised that dream was unlikely to ever become a reality.

That was until Mr Styles’ work opened a new office on the Gold Coast.

Knowing they could wait around for years and still never see the Sydney ‘bubble’ burst, the couple saw a new horizon in the city best known for its theme parks.

‘We had already realised the market (in Sydney) was way over what we could afford, but when my company announced the Gold Coast office, I was given a push,’ Mr Styles said.

‘There were initial concerns from my wife about how the kids were going to cope and about the day-to-day stuff, such as finding a new local dentist, school drop-offs, etc.’

In November the family made a trip north to assess their potential new home and soon realised it made sense on a number of levels.

Today, in their new Robina home, the Styles are just 10 minutes from Mermaid Beach and enjoy an incredible tropical lifestyle.

But something far more important also happened when they left Sydney behind.

‘We are setting ourselves up financially,’ Mr Styles said.

Source: The Daily Mail 29 January 2017

 

 

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