How two Aussies slashed their mortgages by relocating

During Melbourne’s first COVID-induced lockdown in 2020, Roslyn Maree, an estimator in the construction industry, was working from home in a job she detested. 

Inspired by a friend who had bought outside of Melbourne, she began browsing real estate in her hometown of Warrnambool, on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road.

She fell in love with a 120-year-old farmhouse in Southern Cross, a rural crossroads 15 minutes from Warrnambool. On a third of a hectare, it had five bedrooms and bed-and-breakfast potential. More startlingly, and in a touch of fate, it was surrounded by land once owned by Maree’s Scottish relatives 170 years ago. 

Within two weeks of discovering the farmhouse (in May 2020) Maree had made an offer. “I was kind of like, if I wait till I’m 50 or 60 to move back home, I’m not going to have the energy to do what I want,” she recalls thinking. 

Getting a good price for her Melbourne property enabled her to pay off that mortgage and buy her rural home outright. 

“Moving here has made me debt-free with excess for renovation,” she says, adding that, after spending the past 20 years throwing most of her paycheque at a mortgage, living without debt is still a novelty and very liberating. “Knowing I don’t have to work many hours a week to cover my costs is brilliant; so much better on my body.”

Since the move, life has had mixed blessings. Maree’s mother passed away, parts of the renovation have been challenging, and the friendly, border-collie owner says she would like more local friends. 

On the upside, Maree no longer has to sit at a desk for 40 hours a week. “I don’t have to wake up to the alarm every day,” she says. “I’m outside a lot more and so more in touch with the environment. I got down here and it was a total feeling of freedom – and, ‘What’s Corona?’”

With more time for her passions, she’s been setting up a permaculture garden and getting involved in community activities. “Already I’m growing my own food, preserving a lot and sharing that with my family and friends,” she says. “That’s exciting.” She’s also been converting the property (Smailholm Hillview) into a bed and breakfast and has already had paying guests.

Unlike Maree, Peter Horsfield loved his job in the city. But, in 2014, an inspirational sign on a bus started the award-winning financial planner thinking about the kind of life he wanted. “For me, that was to be in an environment that inspired me,” he says. “From there, I basically came up with Cairns. It ticked most of the boxes.”

When a business opportunity came up in Cairns, Horsfield and his wife and business partner Rosalind bought the business using equity from their Sydney home in an offset account attached to the mortgage. “This way we didn’t need to apply for a new loan and were able to access the additional loan repayments we had made secured by our property in Sydney,” he explains.   

In 2015 the couple rented in Cairns for six months and studied the local property market while building a new client base in the area. When a bargain property came up they jumped on it.

Rather than sell their home in Milsons Point, Sydney, they wanted a plan B in case the Cairns move failed. “We wanted to know that we could easily move back to Sydney without having to restart from scratch [and without incurring additional costs and taxes in buying and selling],” he explains. 

Fortunately, the couple have benefited from the continuing rise in Sydney property prices and the greater adoption of communication technology by their clients. 

Renting out their Milsons Point home has enabled them to pay off their debts and the Cairns property within three years. 

“We’ve had free cash flow from our Sydney property for the last three years that we’ve been able to reallocate to achieving financial independence sooner and living our ideal life,” Horsfield says. This includes more time for his passions – snorkelling and enjoying Queensland’s natural attractions. “I don’t have to take a plane trip in order to get here,” he adds. “I’ve saved time accessing things that are important to me.”

Being out of the hyper-competitive, crowded environment of Sydney, Horsfield enjoys improved mental and physical health and relationships. “Everything in Cairns is within about 20 minutes,” he says. “In Sydney, you’re always rushed and pushed. You’re on a short fuse.”