We recently sold a house to a hard working family who never thought it was possible to own their own property. No-one that they could think of owned their own house and so in their minds, they couldn’t either. They thought it was “out of their reach” and for “rich people” so they were content to rent. That is until we sat down with them and discussed the possibility of them owning their own house. It turns out, that they had no idea how to purchase a house, what steps to take, who to approach and how to physically do it so we simply taught them a number of ways that they could buy and helped them along the way with practical advice.
Now it took a good 2 years from when we first seeded the idea with them to initial acceptance that it was possible, to them being the proud owners of their own home (for which they are paying slightly more per week than they were as tenants due to the current low interest rates). The only difference between them being home owners and renters was education about buying property in a language and a way that they could easily understand. They were not taught how to do this in school and the information was not easily comprehensible to them (English is their second language), but now that they have been through the process, gained a valuable education through having the courage to try and eventually succeeded, they are keen to educate others in their community.
That’s why, education needs to be relevant to real life so that people have choices and can take advantage of opportunities such as low interest rates, first home buyer deals and so on. This information can easily be integrated into a school curriculum and we can really start helping people become independent rather than relying on government for handouts. This family are really grateful for our help and we are really grateful that they are passing this information on to others in their community and helped us by buying a property that was surplus to our needs. That’s a win-win situation.
