How single mum finally cracked property market

PHOTO: Elmari Whyte had to wade through Brisbane’s crazy property market by herself. Picture: Supplied

The Brisbane woman was so “disheartened” by her experience trying to buy a home, but is now proud she can be an example for her daughters.

Elmari White said she could feel another “clock ticking” as she approached 40 but it had nothing to do with having children.

The single mum was worried that every passing year left her with less time to pay off a mortgage so it pushed her into entering the “crazy” property market in Brisbane, which recorded an extraordinary 27.8 per cent growth in house prices last year.

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She had spent four years studying so buying a place wasn’t a “feasible option” until 2021, although she had been looking for two to three years prior, she said.

“It was very overwhelming because with any single person or buying alone you know you are competing with people on double incomes or even just one and a half for people working part time,” she told news.com.au.

“Or even the single income of the average guy of my age is going to be more just statistically. “There is also that token pressure that I wanted to secure something for me and the kids but also because I had kids I needed something with a certain amount of space … and every kid you have deducts from what the bank is willing to lend you.”

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The 39-year-old said she spent six months looking at around 20 properties but said the experience was “really stressful” and “unpleasant”.

“I was so disheartened,” she said as she faced the frenzied market.

She had a “traumatic” experience where a tenant inside a home for sale was horrible to her kids, so it even stopped her bringing them along to open homes.

A redundancy payment and money from her divorce helped her to put together a deposit.