For Melbourne first home buyers
Your first home starts with understanding it
Free learning modules, honest calculators and straight answers. No jargon, no judgement, and nothing you have to buy.
No card, no cost. The first lesson of every module is open to everyone.
5 modules, 18 lessons
About 2 hours, at your own pace
6 calculators
Save your results and come back to them
8 guides & checklists
Downloadable, printable, actually useful
Three things that move you forward
Most people get stuck because nobody has laid it out in order. This is the order.
Learn
Five short modules that take you from 'thinking about it' to 'ready to buy'. Written for Melbourne, in plain English, with nothing to sell you.
Start the courseCalculate
Six calculators that show their working — borrowing power, stamp duty, deposit and LMI, upfront costs, repayments, and which schemes you qualify for.
Try a calculatorGet ready
Checklists, guides and templates to take to your first inspection, your first auction, and your first conversation with a lender.
Browse the libraryMost used tool
What could you actually borrow?
Not a guess based on a multiple of your salary. This runs the same shape of calculation a lender does — take-home pay, living costs, existing debts, and the assessment buffer they're required to add on top.
- Shows its working, line by line
- Flags the credit card limits quietly costing you
- Free to use, no account needed
The First Home Buyer Course
Five modules, short lessons, and a clear next step at the end of each one. The first lesson of every module is free — an account unlocks the rest.
- 01
Are you ready?
Before the numbers, the honest questions. What buying actually costs, what it demands of you, and how far away you really are.
3 lessons · 18 min
- 02
Your deposit & savings plan
The deposit is the biggest hurdle for most first home buyers — and the one where the rules have changed most. Here's what's actually required now.
4 lessons · 27 min
- 03
Borrowing power & credit
How lenders decide what you can borrow, and the specific things quietly reducing your number right now.
4 lessons · 28 min
- 04
Grants & schemes decoded
Four overlapping schemes with different rules, caps and eligibility. Which ones are actually yours.
3 lessons · 22 min
- 05
Finding & buying the home
The Melbourne buying process step by step — including the bits that are genuinely unforgiving if you get them wrong.
4 lessons · 29 min
The questions couples ask first
How much can we borrow on two incomes?
Put both incomes in and see what a lender would look at.
Read itThe 5% deposit scheme for couples in Victoria
No LMI, no income cap, and how it stacks with Victorian savings.
Read itHow much deposit do we need to buy in Werribee?
Typical prices, the 5% deposit, and the schemes that fit.
Read it
Built by someone who does this every day
Jacob Williams is a mortgage broker in Melbourne's west. This site exists because the same questions came up in every first conversation — so the answers may as well be free and public.
Latest from the blog
All articlesSuburb Analysis
What the New Reserve Rule Means in Melbourne’s West
Victorian auctions now show the reserve. Here’s what that means for first home buyers in Melbourne’s west, and why it still isn’t the sale price.
Buying Education
What Happens When an Auction Passes In
Your auction passed in. Here’s how Victoria’s rules work, who gets first go at the seller, and why there’s no cooling-off if you sign that day.
Scheme Updates
The reserve isn’t the price your schemes check
The reserve is the vendor’s number. Your stamp duty, grant and 5% deposit scheme are tested on the price you sign at. Here’s where the lines sit.
Ready to find out where you actually stand?
Create a free account to save your calculations, track your progress through the course, and unlock the member-only guides. Or book a chat and skip straight to the conversation.