"Without HomeSeeker SA we wouldn’t have been able to afford a new home."
45-year-old Amanda and her partner were having trouble finding a home they could afford and organising finance until they discovered the HomeSeeker SA website.
First home buyers Amanda and Rashan’s new affordable home at Woodville Gardens is under construction and should be ready before March 2025. Amanda has been regularly visiting the building site to track its progress and take photos.
She says several things were causing them some trouble when they first started looking for a home.
“We’d been looking for about six months, and we were having trouble with several things. The banks didn’t like us because we both had our own businesses, and it was hard to find a mortgage.
“Also, most of the houses we visited that were advertised in our price range ended up selling for more – as much as $50,000,” says Amanda.
“We had spoken to a lot of real estate agents, and one of them rang me one day to tell me about the HomeSeeker SA program – he thought it would be of interest because we were having trouble finding a place within our budget, and we seemed to tick all the boxes.
“HomeSeeker SA proved to be extremely helpful. Without it we wouldn’t have been able to afford a new home. Nowhere else provides that kind of fixed price contract – you know exactly how much you’ll be paying and then you can budget for it.
“We also used a private mortgage consultant to take advantage of some of the support for first home buyers, such as the first home owner’s grant and stamp duty relief,” she says.
Amanda says several issues were at the forefront of their thinking when they were moving through the homebuying process.
“We were flexible on location, but we couldn’t move too far away from where we work. We also needed a three-bedroom home because I have kids, and we needed somewhere for them.
“Budget, of course, was probably our biggest factor. We did consider going further out but it was just the whole idea of the commute and things like that.”
Amanda and Rashan, who works in the fitness industry, have made some sacrifices to make sure they can manage their mortgage.
“We’re being a lot more careful at the moment because we need to make sure we have enough money to pay for the home, so we’re being more careful about expenses and going out – budgeting and living as comfortable as we can but on a budget,” says Amanda.
