My Property Journey so far...

My name is Michael Goodison. I am married to my wife, Sarah, and we have three young kids. William, Olivia, and Thomas.

I am a Mortgage Broker and I own a finance company called Mike’s Finance Australia, based in the Whitsundays, QLD. I specialise in helping people just like you - aspiring First Home Buyers and owner occupiers. In my time as a Mortgage Broker, I have helped hundreds of Australians to achieve greatness in that regard, by guiding people through the successful implementation of the steps in this guide and ultimately to a point where they are being handed the keys to their first home. In my capacity as a Mortgage Broker and finance specialist, I have been granted access to hundreds of personal balance sheets, financial positions, lifestyle expectations, and various other challenging scenarios that life can throw at us in this day and age. Unforeseen medical bills, school and childcare zones, redundancies, unplanned pregnancies, family pressures and expectations, gambling debts, you name it!Sarah and I have had our own property buying journey too! We have purchased two homes now, in two different states, and we are following the steps in our plan to be mortgage free within the next 18 months - to go to the next level. 

Our first home purchase was incredibly stressful. I was 27 years old at the time. It was 2020, right in the middle of the uncertainty that surrounded the COVID pandemic. Despite all of that, we bought our house in regional Victoria, with the support of a Mortgage Broker. That whole experience was terrible.

Our Mortgage Broker was recommended to us by someone that I trust. He was supposed to be excellent! I didn’t know any different at that time, so we went with this Mortgage Broker to help us enter the property market. Our Mortgage Broker specialised in what I came to call the “blank stare.” I’ve come to learn that this is actually extremely common in Mortgage Broking. Sure, he’d help us prepare our application and he’d help us lodge it with an appropriate lender, but don’t expect any kind of helpful advice or guidance. His attitude was - you’re the buyer, I’m just the Mortgage Broker, you tell me what to do and I’ll do it, no worries. 

It was my job as the buyer to drive everything forwards. 

Fair enough, I suppose.This all amounted to a very stressful experience as I waded into a transaction process that I didn’t understand and was inexperienced in. I worried that legal pitfalls or mistakes were lurking around every corner, just waiting to take our hard earned deposit and dump Sarah and I into a life-shattering situation. I found myself having to research eligibility for Government grants. I was on the phone constantly to the Real Estate Agent and the Mortgage Broker, trying to communicate updates. I ended up attempting to bypass the Mortgage Broker and going directly to the lender to get updates on how our loan application was proceeding - the lender said to speak to my Mortgage Broker instead.Nobody told me that you need a Property Lawyer - a conveyancer. I seem incredibly naive now, with the benefit of hindsight, but at that time, I learned this piece of information via google. In a rush, I got in touch with a property conveyancer who helped provide me with some guidance. The best thing I heard were words of reassurance. We had done everything right up to that point, and we were on the right track. But this was COVID times, and the banks were moving at a glacial pace. Our finance approval was delayed, not for any fault of our own. The banks just hadn’t gotten to it yet. Our Real Estate Agent was applying pressure. The vendor was ready to move on if we couldn’t get our act together. 

We had a precarious living situation at that time. We NEEDED to get this home settled or we would be in a tricky spot. 

Finally, we got the finance approval sorted. 

We were headed to a settlement date. 

We breathed a sigh of relief… The Real Estate Agent and the vendor called off the hounds and everyone accepted that this transaction was going to proceed as planned. 

And then the settlement date got pushed back. Again, it was the bank. They just couldn’t get to it on time. 

It got pushed back 2 days. 

And then another 2 days. 

And then another 2 days…

The Real Estate Agent was hot on my heels once again, wanting updates and assurances. The threat of penalties and vendor fees was hung over our heads constantly. Despite us doing everything right that was within our power, we were living day to day in a highly uncertain situation.

Our Mortgage Broker was MIA in all of this. I was talking to the lender, the conveyancer, and the Real Estate Agent. Those were my people - I knew they would talk to me and that, together, we could communicate openly and effectively to get this deal done. 

So that’s what we did.

And finally, at 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon. I got a call from our conveyancer informing me that the property exchange had proceeded without any problems and had settled. 

Sarah and I were home owners!We met the Real Estate Agent at the house and were handed the keys to our own home.

And wow, how much of a difference that made to our lives… 

I cannot overstate how much different life feels as a home owner. In a good way! All of a sudden, you have options, you have equity, you have certainty, the banks are on your side now, not against you, starting a business becomes a far more attractive prospect once you own your own home. Doors start opening, strategies start forming, your dream future starts charging forwards to meet you.

That whole experience inspired me to get qualified to become a Mortgage Broker. 

In 2023, after nearly 3 years of living in that house in Victoria, Sarah and I had two young children. We hadn’t messed about! After buying our first house, the next order of business was raising a family, and we were well underway on that front. 

But Victoria was all wrong for us. 

The politics were ugly at that time, the weather was bad, the childhood we wanted for our kids wasn’t panning out, and then, worst of all, we got hit with a record 13 consecutive interest rate rises at a time when we were down to a single household income. We had a lot of friends in Victoria - people that we still love and visit often - but we were ready for a change.So we started exploring options. 

And we had a lot of options… 

The Whitsundays was the answer that we landed on. We had equity built up from 3 years of home ownership, we were in a strong position in that regard. And house prices in North Queensland were significantly more affordable. We could buy a much bigger house on a quarter acre block with the extra bedroom to support a growing family, AND we could drastically reduce our mortgage in the process. It was old school arbitrage, only it was our family home. 

We bit the bullet and we purchased the new place. 

We sold our home in Victoria at the same time. 

This time around, we used a Real Estate Agent who was a friend of ours. We handled the finance ourselves - a simple substitution of asset loan with a sizable cashout into an offset account. And we used a conveyancer that I knew and trusted. This time, we had the expertise and the right team of people in our corner, and it made the world of difference. 

It was a same day settlement, and it all came together on time and without a hitch. 

Our house sold and we settled on our new house all in the space of 30minutes. During that 30 minutes, we were on the Hume Highway, somewhere near Canberra, driving from Victoria to Queensland, whilst I was on the phone getting updates. It was a lot of fun. 

We pulled over on the side of the road to celebrate the newest chapter in our story as a young family. William and Olivia and the family pets were with us to share in a wonderful moment. 

Given our experience at that point with all things related to finance, property and Mortgage Broking, our second home purchase was a breeze. It was truly - easy. We cruised into the Whitsundays feeling like winners.

The difference between our first and second home purchases couldn’t have been more stark. The difference was expertise, experience, and having the support of the right people. 

Fast forward to today, and we are still living in our house in the beautiful Whitsundays, and our family has grown again to include baby Thomas!

I start each day filled with a mission and a passion to support other people to live the life of their dreams. Being the owner of a finance company has placed me in the best possible position to live out that mission daily. Because home ownership, investment, tax deductions, forced appreciation, lines of credit, re-finances, debt recycling, trusts and companies, offsets and re-draws… These are all tools that Australians have access to which help them to live their dream life.

I help people to buy homes and structure their loans, yes… But to me, it’s a great deal more than that. 

I help people to build the lives of their dreams. 

I help people to achieve greatness. 

I build a community of people who all want the best for themselves and for each other, and are prepared to work hard and support each other to get there.

I love what I do, and I’m not slowing down.

I don’t want people to have that same experience that I had when buying their first property. You’ll never get a “blank stare” from me or anyone on my team. I provide guidance, experience, tailored solutions and expert advice - I talk to the lenders and the Real Estate Agents and the conveyancers with you, I help you build your team of professionals, so that you can rest assured and feel that there is no place for any doubt or uncertainty.

I wrote this guide because this is EXACTLY what I needed when I was buying my first property. Instead of googling things and hoping like hell I hadn’t missed something obvious. I needed a GUIDE on what steps to follow. 

So please, read on - this one is for you.