Patience a virtue for one of Maple Grove’s first buyers

Jesse is not a person who makes big financial decisions lightly. So when it came time to consider buying his first home, he didn’t leave a stone unturned… or a spreadsheet field unfilled.

He’s now the owner of a block of land in the northern part of Maple Grove, Satterley’s new community in Pakenham East. But behind him is almost a year of exhaustive research and careful number-crunching, as well as a full decade of conscientious saving.

“I’ve been saving a deposit for ten years. I started working in 2012 when I was still in high school. I set up an account that was specifically for property. It’s been sitting there waiting for a long while.”

The 25-year-old lives in Rowvillle with his parents and says he’s always wanted to build his own home because it’s what his mum and dad did. But he tempered his enthusiasm with an approach to buying that was somewhat cautious and extremely meticulous.

“The big one for me was not succumbing to FOMO [fear of missing out]. There were a couple of other estates I was thinking of buying in.

“I made a really comprehensive spreadsheet. I put in my salary, how much the house was going to cost, and the land and the interest rate and it spits out a number of how much money I’ll spend each month servicing the mortgage and all my bills.”’”

Jesse describes the $10,000 First Home Owners Grant, as well as the stamp duty waiver as “a big benefit”, but says he considered more than money when researching his property options.

“Maple Grove looked like a pretty good spot because it’s near the M1 and Princes Highway but isn’t as congested as other estates, so you don’t have to deal with a bunch of noise. And the location reminds me a lot of where I live at the moment: it’s quite hilly. There are a lot of trees.

“And the station… My best friend is building his place ten minutes down the road in Officer, so if we ever want to go out into the city, we can just walk to the train station, and when we get back we can walk back to my house. That’s definitely a big plus.”

Satterley’s reputation was also a vital factor in Jesse’s research. He says that although he never visited Arcadia, the established Satterley community about fifteen minutes from Maple Grove, a colleague gave him an insight into the experience of buying and living there.

“I didn’t go into Arcadia, however one of the people I worked with bought a place [there]. She’d actually gone through and done a build in 2020.

“The release for Maple Grove was coming up and that gave me a bit of comfort, knowing she’d already purchased a block with Lorraine [Hibl, the Satterley Sales Professional in charge of Maple Grove, having worked at Arcadia previously] and everything had gone smoothly.”

Jesse says that at the moment he expects to receive the title for his block between October and December in 2023.

“I’ll probably have the house priced up by then. And that should be finished by mid- to late-2024, depending on how long the build takes.

“I’m looking forward to having my own place. Inviting my friends over and of course, my parents who are quite proud that I’m about to build my own home”