That’s the question, isn’t it? How did I get here? How did I end up being a 38-year-old first home buyer in Auburn, Sydney?

I could blame it all on economics and the Sydney property bubble, but I won’t. It’s all my fault. I made some bad decisions (an aside: I’m not upset about buying in Auburn. Just how late I have done this. Auburn has a bad reputation but seriously, have you been there? The suburb is packed with great features and amenities, if you are in the “right part”, which is most of the suburb south of the rail line).

A long time ago, I made plans with someone. The long-term plan was to live happily ever after. The short-term plan was to move to Western Sydney for 18 months, move back to our hometown of Newcastle, both of us be working, buy a house and start a family. Before we moved, we borrowed some money, went on a charity trip to South East Asia, and started looking to the future. What could go wrong? Because we had a plan! A plan for a great future!

A future that never came.

18 months become two years. Two years became four, and the reason we moved here in the first place was never finished. Then the property we were renting was sold for redevelopment. We had lived on one less than average income and had to borrow more so we could move again. Four became eight. In the end, it was too much. Just as we had saved enough money to be able to pay off our debt, it was over. We split the savings, and the debt. She paid for her half of the debt by leaving me with the car. I was many years of my life down, with a reasonable sized debt and no job prospects back in Newcastle as there is no IT industry in Newcastle, not for my level. I was in Sydney for the long haul.

What could go wrong? Because we had a plan! A plan for a great future! A future that never came.

I could be all bitter and jaded, and trying to buy a property does that to you, especially with Mr Lotto (who we will get to at some point) on the scene in our first choice suburb. But I wasn’t. I didn’t allow myself to be. In fact, a lot of it felt like a massive relief. So I kept on keeping on. I nearly bought an apartment in the Thornton estate at one point until they hiked the price up 25%. I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I put it all on the back burner.

Then I met Amos. Here was someone much more akin to myself. I’ll spare you all the gushy romantic details as frankly that is more private than I’m willing to share, but lets just say this: it is good. It is very good. So good we decided we should move in together. We started looking at rentals, but we both came to the realisation that what we could pay in rent combined was well and truly enough to cover a mortgage. And we both want to get in before it is too late. More importantly, we both feel this is a good, solid adult relationship where if it does go wrong we can handle the outcome civilly and still both be financially ahead. So we decided to be brave, skip the rental world and go straight for the mortgage. Not once so far have I had an ounce of doubt in this decision, and I am extremely excited to be on this path with someone as amazing as Amos.

We started looking at rentals, but we both came to the realisation that what we could pay in rent combined was well and truly enough to cover a mortgage.

How did we pick Auburn you ask? I’ll talk about that my next post but I am proud to say it was my suggestion. All you need to know now is that there is a great adventure unfolding, starring yours truly, Wookie, the amazing Amos, and my (or is that our? Yep. Definitely our) cat, The Boss.