Opinion: Rethinking the Australian dream

By
Alice Stolz
March 7, 2022
Property purchasing for many is all about compromise.

Alice Stolz, Domain’s National Managing Editor, The Block fixture and resident property aficionado, shares her insights each week as columnist for Nine Property.

We need to rethink the great Australian dream. Undoubtedly, property ownership makes an abundance of sense financially as well as practically, but it is more than that.

It’s the security it brings, today as well as tomorrow. And ultimately, the sense of place and belonging. Every Australian should be able to access that, should they so desire and should they be willing to work for it. But it needn’t be lavish and plush. It needn’t be in a certain postcode and it needn’t be a quarter-acre block.

Property purchasing for many is all about compromise. Whether that be location (worst house, best street), property type (have you seen the gaping distance between the price of a home compared with units?) or the condition of a property (there can be true delight in the back breaking task of renovating).

Alice Stolz rethinking the australian dream
Alice entering her first ‘almost unliveable’ home (L); In her current character-filled Canterbury home in 2022 (R). Photo: Supplied

My husband and I bought our first home late. We were the first-home buyers with three children in tow.

So we entered a market that had risen exponentially and rather than buying a picture-perfect family home, we paid for potential. Unrenovated, unheated and almost unliveable but oozing in charm and a sense of ‘what could be’ – or so the agent kept telling us.

A tight and crimped budget dictated that the work on the house would not be lavish. We had to be considered. We had to be clever and nifty. And in the end, this discipline steered us to make choices that have benefited us as a family.

Alice Stolz property rethinking the Australian dream
Alice’s children playing in their first home, one full of both compromise and family bonding. Photo: Supplied

We hid a huge chimney that would have cost a fortune to remove. We covered up crucial beams that to delete would have cost the price of a new car. And we did simple things like reversing the way doors swung to make rooms work in a more effective way.

We compromised. Again and again. Oh, and we painted (don’t underestimate the magic of colour when something needs a refresh).

Alice stolz rethinking the australian property dream
All together in the first family home, with ‘clever and nifty’ updates on a tight budget. Photo: Supplied

We reconfigured the layout rather than expanding the footprint. There is no super-sized living area. No butler’s pantry. No spa-style bathroom. No kids’ retreat. No parent retreat. No walk in robes. These are luxuries which some people increasingly perceive as standard.

In my case, we realised through necessity that we didn’t need acres of space, we needed a house that would help us to function as a family. A home to act as a nest that we could come together in, not drift further apart.

Alice Stolz property rethinking the Australian dream
Alice says compromising when buying a home doesn’t have to be a bad thing, especially for your first home; Alice with her family in their new home last year. Photo: Supplied
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