A short YouTube interview (Let’s Chat) where Amanda and mortgage adviser Jane Slacksmith discuss Amanda’s decade-long relationship with the adviser and how property decisions for Amanda’s son Hugo (buying an art‑deco apartment in 2014, later sold) produced significant equity. The sale (after ~3 years of ownership) freed Hugo and his wife to have one parent at home while expecting a baby (due in May) and removed financial pressure during early parenthood.
Chapters
Hello, it's Jane Slacksmith here and I just wanted to share with you a wonderful story. Often at Investors Choice Mortgages, we have the opportunity to share in some amazing life experience with people, be it Amanda to join us today. Hi, Amanda, how are you going?
Hi, Jane. Nice to see you.
Nice to see you too. We've been working together for over 10 years.
It's been a long time. Yeah, we've done lots of projects together.
And we've been through some. We're talking a bit early. We've been through some exciting times and some stressful times as well. I wanted to get you to just share some of those experiences and finally tell us about what's all happening at the moment.
Absolutely. Well, the big, exciting thing that's happened for me is I'm about to become a grandmother for the first time. My son Hugo is living in London and very happily married and they're expecting a baby in May. So that's been big news for us and the culmination of. They've been together for a very long time. And of course, you've been an intrinsic part of that as well.
Well, I guess what's been so exciting about this for me is that we started working together with your situation, and then over 10 years ago, and then Hugo went off to uni and we talked about buying a property in Canberra. And we did that.
Yes, we did that. He went off to university down there and he was in college. And then we thought, well, rather than rent, we'd buy an apartment. And so we did that and you helped us with that. And that was maybe not the best investment, because the camera market, I think, is still maybe struggling. But it gave him security and it gave us security and it gave him responsibility and ownership. So late a lot.
And then, you know, we moved on to Hugo, graduated from college and, you know, obviously got married. Married to Gabby, and they bought a property.
Well, they got engaged in August 2014. And I get the, you know, the endless emails across my desk and I saw this apartment and I said to Hugo, you know, you and Gabby should have a look at this. It'd be maybe a nice apartment for you. And it was down near the water, in Dinner, near the harbour, and it was a lovely art deco apartment. So they went down, he rang me and he said, mum, you've got to come and have a look at this.
It's gorgeous.
And so I went down and had a look and it was gorgeous.
Yeah.
So you came into the picture and we were able to help with some of the deposit and he had some investments that he had been. He and I had sort of worked on over the years. So we'd scraped the deposit together and then we had a budget and we got it on budget, like we got it on the dollar. Yeah. And they bought that in 2014 and they got married in 2015. And yeah, they didn't live in it for very long. They lived in my place for a while while they got married and got on their feet and then they moved in and then the wonder bug, the wanderlust bug hit and they headed off. So it's been rented out for the last couple of years and it's done really well.
They moved to London. They've had, you know, followed some really interesting career choices over there as well and satisfied that one debug. But no, I'm not satisfied.
I think they've made it worse.
But I think when you reached out and told me that the growth of property and choosing to buy in such a great area has actually increased the value of the property so much that they actually have the opportunity for one income for a while whilst they have a baby. So it's actually given them a lot of freedom of choice as well about extending their family.
Well, they're quite young. They got married young and they're only in their, say, late 20s now. So, you know, mostly when you tell people they're in their late 20s, they're married, they're having a baby, often the response is, gosh, they're very young. But because of people like you that I've had in my life, they've got a really good financial setup and they've got their insurance, it's got all their ducks in a row. And so buying this apartment and then selling it now so that they've got their money in the bank and they can have the next 12 months without pressure and then they can decide what they do next because they live in a very simple life in London. But they probably want to come back eventually. I hope one day.
I hope so for you too, to enjoy that new grandbaby granny needs to.
Be considered in all of this. So, yes, has really set them up. You know, they're financially comfortable without us having to give them a large amount of money just by digging in. And we had the property able to take a little bit of capital from for them has really made a huge difference to them. Now, we didn't really discuss them having a baby or they didn't tell us they were planning to have a baby. They just said, we're having a Baby now. So. Okay. But you know, we were able to put the property on the market and with great real estate agent in Sydney, we did really well. We did probably a little better than we'd anticipated. So they were very excited, particularly when I sent them the email and got the price wrong and they thought they'd actually sold it for more than they had. So that was a little bit of a dumb thing.
Oh, well. So what kind of equity gain did they make in that three years?
Oh, gosh, about 270,000.
It's a good, you know, around $300,000. Three years is kind of good. Most people don't make that every year, do they? $100,000? No.
And it's hard to save, you know, and they're frugal the way they live. And with some good accounting advice, they didn't live in it for the first six months, which they should have. But because of the marriage and everything else, they didn't. But with some good accounting advice and some deposits, some contributions to their super funds, we've been able to write off the capital gains tax on it too. So that was quite good. You need good people around you, Jane.
And I think just the lovely thing here is that with your eye for property and your experience as well, looking at that older style unit, the art deco, something with the character not off the plan, not new, something that they can add some value to as well, and being in a great location and identifying where people want to live, proximity to transport, but also to the water, you know, all of those things combined and obviously, you know, the growth that was experienced in Sydney over the last few years, you know, that has really allowed them at such a young age to have money pressures off the head, which is, I mean, you know, my mighty mission is trying to remove money precious people so they can get on and spend time doing what's important to them and what's more important than starting a family.
I couldn't agree anymore. And I think to not have them, to not have financial pressure because we're quite involved as family, it also takes the pressure off from here. You don't feel like, you know, that you worry about them. I don't have to worry about them. I can see that they're happy, they're relaxed and they've got a nice nest egg to go forward and they can plan, they know where they are, they know where they stand. They don't have to worry about what they're going to do next. They can relax while they have the baby. They can relax for the first 12 months and then they can decide what they're going to do next.
Yeah, it's having that freedom of choice is something that I think, you know, we all deserve, but not everyone gets the opportunity to do. And as a parent, not having that extra pressure on yourself and worrying about your kids, knowing they're set up right is just an absolute testament to yourself. And obviously giving Hugo a bit of extra tutorage and investment advice along his shares and things to build up that deposit to start with. So congratulations to you for being such a wonderful mum.
Oh, James. I mean, you've been a great friend to me for such a long time. We've done a lot of projects and hopefully we've got plenty more to do. Sure hope so.
Well, look, I really appreciate you taking the time out and sharing the story because I think it's so inspirational for people to see what can happen when you get things right and that freedom of choice it gives you. So I really appreciate you joining today, Amanda, and sharing that story.
That's a great pleasure, Jane. It's very always very nice to talk to you. Bye for now. Bye. Bye.
Well, guys, that was Amanda just sharing her story. I think it's so important that we share these stories and we celebrate the big wins and the little wins and there's so many important life moments that here at Investors Choice Mortgages we've had a chance to be part of and we're really privileged to do that and we love our clients and love being part of their lives. So for now, that's it. Thank you. And here is to your property success.
