Julia Groves bought her first home during the coronavirus pandemic

If it sounds daunting to move alone to a place where you don’t know anyone, spare a thought for Julia Groves, who left metro Melbourne for a small town in south-east Victoria just as the state government imposed compulsory wearing of masks across the state.

Groves says walking around her new community of Mirboo North while everyone’s face was covered up was a strange entrance to her new life, made more difficult by Melbourne’s hard lockdown preventing her Melbourne family and friends from visiting her new home. 

Despite the strange times, it was the changes brought by COVID-19 that helped make her move to the country possible. 

The primary school teacher had long wanted to live in country Victoria, but with a job in urban Berwick, she’d stuck it out in a rental property in nearby Pakenham, a short commute from work.  

Then coronavirus hit. Remote learning was introduced, and suddenly Groves was teaching grade five from home, making it clear she could move to an area she loved and hold onto her job without driving to work at all. 

“It’s this bizarre year, but it’s all been perfectly timed for the situation,” she says. 

Groves put in a successful offer on a three-bedroom home in Mirboo North, a small town with a population of 2197, after inspecting it just once, and handed in the keys to her rental. 

“I moved in a rush,” she says. “The day before the stage 4 lockdowns were announced I got quite worried that [restrictions] would be like New Zealand. I moved within 24 hours just because I wanted to be locked down in a house I could enjoy.”

Groves says her new three-bedroom weatherboard home feels like “a collection of all the nostalgic memories of what a home feels like”. Built in the 1950s, it was ready to move straight into but has “the right amount of pre-loved elements” while also having some sustainable additions, such as solar panels.  

“I’m getting real nerdy on factoring in whether I should use my power in the day or night to get the best bang for my buck,” she says.

The property has a much bigger yard than her previous place, with a big shed “that I don’t have enough hobbies for at the moment” and, importantly for the self-confessed “crazy dog lady”, there’s plenty of space for her fur kid, Jack. “I’ve pretty much bought a house so my dog can have a better life.” 

Groves did make sure the town had plenty on offer for herself, too.

“Mirboo North has a gorgeous main street and a real community feel to it. You can see it as soon as you drive in.” 

She’s excited to join in the local “parkrun” when restrictions ease and spend more time out eating and drinking – there are the Grand Ridge Brewery and several cafes serving meals from ingredients grown in the surrounding fertile hills.

“You can’t go past the food,” she says. 

Groves has experienced the kindness of the locals already, despite social distancing restrictions. On moving day her neighbours saw the truck and “came over and asked if I needed a hand with anything”.

“I did,” she says, “because I got my kitchen table pretty stuck in a doorway, wedged in. That was a good laughing moment.” 

They also gave her some firewood to keep her going until she got some delivered. 

Local Stockdale & Leggo real estate agent Emma Evans says she has noticed changes in the market since COVID-19.  “We’ve seen a huge increase in sales compared to last year and I’d definitely say that is due to people planning a tree change post-COVID,” she says. “For many, this pandemic has brought the realisation that they do not need to live close to their work.”

It’s been a relief for Groves, who says while her previous home in Pakenham was convenient, it didn’t meet her lifestyle desires – she spent each weekend “escaping” for bushwalks and exploring quieter areas. “Pakenham’s great for being busy; it’s a little city in itself. It wasn’t somewhere I loved to live.”

Next term her class will begin with remote learning again, and how things will unfold after that is still anyone’s guess. However Groves is already applying for teaching jobs closer to home, and even if Mirboo North was faced with the kind of tough restrictions Melbourne recently faced, it’s possible she would be too content to notice. 

“Moving up here, I’ve loved it. I haven’t left the town. I actually just don’t need to leave the town. It’s amazing.”

This is part of a series looking at how Australians bought their homes. For more advice, read Domain’s ultimate guide to buying your first home.