Doing anything alone can be daunting and uncertain. Buying a house or investing in property on your own can be even scarier because you know the bank is looking solely at you and what you bring to the table, rather than the supplementation that comes with a partnership.

So, imagine being a single woman who wants to secure herself a piece of the property pie, knowing that you get paid less and the possibility of having a future family counts against you, coupled with being self-employed, how on earth are you expected to convince a bank to give you a loan?

Meet Jessica:

Jessica is self-employed woman running her own psychology practice and is a registered house sitter. She wanted to begin building wealth through property investment and discussed her plan with her accountant. The accountant’s in-house broker could not foresee how Jessica was going to be approved for a loan with her self-employed status without a permanent residential address.

Jessica lamented her frustration and disappointment to a friend who recommended Barry, knowing that he was excellent at thinking outside the box and is dedicated to helping everyone get the best loan for their needs, including single women. Thankfully Jessica, with the encouragement of her friend, enlisted the help of Barry and Clever Finance Solutions to begin to secure her financial future.

With the aid of a buyers’ agent, Jessica found a land and construction deal that fit the bill. She had diligently saved a 20% deposit, but her latest tax return income was much higher than the previous year. This makes banks suspicious as they like a stable income even though they like to average tax returns out. Also, trying to find a lender who did not discriminate against a self-employed woman with no substantial financial output history was a major challenge.

The final hurdle came with the results of the valuation. The valuation showed that the land and build value was lower than what was contracted. This meant that Barry had to appeal the valuation. Even though Barry showed the value comparisons with other similar property/build scenarios, the appeal was only partially successful with the valuation increased but not to the full amount that the land and construction was contracted for. Unfortunately, this necessitated Jessica to save more money but not as much as if the appeal had been completely unsuccessful.

What Barry had to do was convince the lender that Jessica’s house sitting was effectively another income stream, and lack of permanent residential address was not a hindrance to her servicing her loan. The increase in her tax return was due to overall business growth, which again was an advantage. Barry successfully showed the lender that the positives outweighed any perceived disadvantages.

Jessica now happily continues babysitting houses and running her sports psychology business. Her duplexes’ rents cover her loan and provide a little ready cash as well. The land continues to increase in value, meaning that Jessica has the opportunity to buy another property in the near future.

Note: Client’s name intentionally changed for privacy reasons. Image is for illustration purposes only.