Last time I was at an auction with my son Felix it was 1994, and he was in my stomach. Fast-forward the videotape, and he has an advertising job, finance pre-approval and a kerbside spot in front of the bloke auctioning a 1930s flat on Inkerman Street, St Kilda East.
Our winning bid of $172,500 on a fixer upper in Williamstown was just under double our combined income. Yeah, interest rates were higher and the house needed two renos, but the value still seems miraculous compared to what my kids and yours need to spend versus what they earn if they want to buy a place now.
Felix is all about buying. “The Australian dream Mum, haven’t you heard? Although it’s hard to know if it’s your dream or what society says you should want. But it is what I want.”Two years ago, Lix got real after a determined spending frenzy that included a tattoo gun and multiple motorbikes. He and Pip created a spreadsheet to map projected and actual savings for a deposit that was more than the total price of our first home.