Why Comparing Too Many Home Building Journeys Will Leave You Stuck

Welcome to Home Building Like a Boss, the podcast dedicated to helping first home buyers in Perth build their dream home with ease and excitement. I’m Jaimi, your host and go to building broker. Are you ready to feel empowered, in control, and excited about your building journey? I’ll help guide you with expert advice, insider tips and tricks, and real life stories to help you navigate the confusing world of home building.

Tune in as I take you on the journey to building your home like a boss. And

holy shit I cannot believe how many people actually listened to the podcast launch last week. I think in my head I thought nobody was gonna listen and I really surprised myself with how many people. actually tuned in to the launch and all the episodes last week and all the feedback that I got. So I just wanted to say first off, thank you so much.

If you tuned in, listened, shared, reviewed the podcast, thank you. I, yeah, I’m so grateful and I didn’t realise how much People are going to enjoy it. So, yeah, thank you. And this week, I want to chat to you about a topic. It came up randomly through a client who has started her building journey. And also was chatting with my wife while she was reading a book and that kind of intertwined.

I was like, oh, that kind of makes sense. I’m going to talk about that on the podcast. And it’s all about what opinions you listen to, what advice you take, how much is too much advice. And… Being careful of who you’re taking that advice from, especially in building. Now I have a client starting her building journey.

She’s a single mum going through the process. And she’s very nervous, very scared, as most people are. As a single mum, she’s feeling even more scared and daunting, terrified, those kind of things. And going through the process, she’s been speaking to people at work, colleagues, those kind of things. And one night she was on Facebook, in a Facebook group.

On, I think some single mum’s Facebook group in Perth and somebody’s posted, don’t build blah, blah, blah. Something, something, something. And then that kind of threw her into a little bit of a spiral. And then she was like, I don’t know if I wanna do it anymore. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that sparked my reason to bring up this conversation with you guys to be able to talk about, one, being careful of who you’re listening to, and two.

Not taking advice from strangers on Facebook, okay? Posting in a Facebook group and reading 287 comments below is going to make you more overwhelmed because you’re asking too many people. Now, if you ask too many people their opinions or their advice, you’re going to get overwhelmed with the amount of information you’ve just received and been given and probably hurt everyone’s…

opinion and experience is so different and two, on the other hand, if you only ask one person, that person is probably going to be overloaded and overwhelmed and maybe not equipped to give you the right tools and information. An opinion of what you need. This is how it kind of came up. I was chatting to my wife the other day and that’s what came up in her book.

And I was like, oh my god, that is so true. I need to talk about this. If you go and you ask too many people for too much information and advice, you’re going to get overloaded and overwhelmed. If you only rely on one person, that person might not be equipped to give you the right information or they’re going to get overwhelmed and overloaded with you asking all the information.

That’s why it’s so important to speak to a handful of people in your close circle who have your best interests at heart. Mixed with expert advice and research. So, people who know your situation. People on Facebook don’t know your situation. How can they give you advice, opinions, or talk to you about things when they don’t know your situation?

And, in these Facebook groups, talking to people, talking to work colleagues. That is personal experiences. Personal experiences are not fact. Then we start treading into the territory of comparing apples and oranges. If you’re building now versus if you built in 2017, even 2020, it is a very different story and situation.

Interest rates in 2020 versus now is a very different situation. Prices. If you post in a Facebook group, Hey, somebody tell me a price for a three by two. There’s people commenting on those posts. Oh, I built in 2017, it was about 190 grand. It doesn’t definitely, I can tell you now, it does not cost 190 grand to build a 3×2.

It costs a lot more. Did that person who’s giving you advice Or could their personal experience go with Keystart, and you’re going with a bank? That is totally different. Builder vs. Builder, which is a huge thing people post in groups to find what’s your opinion on this builder, blah blah blah blah blah.

Builder versus builder is totally different. How can you compare somebody’s experience with one builder versus somebody’s experience with another builder? Having the right builder will totally change the game, but also having the right team. What was that person’s sales consultant like? What was that person’s mortgage broker like?

If you don’t have the right mortgage broker, the finance side of your build might go wrong. If you have a 5 percent deposit versus a 20 percent deposit, are you a first home buyer, second home buyer, lender’s mortgage insurance, the different schemes? Everybody’s situation is different and unique. No situation is the same.

So how can we take advice and opinions? from people, over 200 people, some comments on these Facebook groups, over 200 comments are on there. How can you take advice and how can people give advice? When they don’t know anything. It could have been a whole different disaster. Their building experience could have been a disaster.

Now they’re projecting that onto you. But if you do your research, find the right builder, find the right team, your situation is going to be totally different. Yes, you can learn from them. Learn from what people are saying. You can pick up the trends in Facebook groups of who’s saying similar things, who’s doing what.

But it’s not Bible. We can’t use this as Bible. It’s the same as asking your mum’s brother’s uncle’s cousin’s sister who built in 1970 their opinion on building. Totally different. Even sometimes when we ask our parents or grandparents or like older family, even their experiences with building haven’t been great.

Don’t ask your acquaintance at work who built in 2020 and picked the wrong builder. Their situation is going to be totally different. Yes, you can learn from it, but do not base your information and what you’re going to do on that person’s personal experience with building. You need to find the facts, the research, ask a close circle of people who have your best interest at heart, who know your situation, and a group of independent experts to help you speak to a finance broker, speak to a property expert, speak to real estate agents, building broker, builders, speak to people who know.

Listen to people’s personal experiences, but don’t take that as Bible and don’t ask for too many opinions and advice. If you go into a Facebook group looking, it is going to overwhelm you. Or looking at other people’s posts and comments, like my client did last week. She saw the post and single mum’s group on Facebook and then she freaked out.

And it’s fine that she freaked out. That’s what I’m there for to help her through that as well. But it just goes to show The person who posted, her situation was totally different. So how can you even compare their situations now? Was it Keystart? Was it bank? What builder was it with? What interest rate is she paying?

Did she max out her loan? Did she, it, it, everything is so totally different that you cannot base your decision on other people’s personal experiences because personal experiences are not fact. We can learn from them. But they are not fact. This ties in with what I was talking about last week on when is the best time to build or buy.

And that comes down to when you can afford it. If you keep posting in Facebook groups, listening to colleagues at work, taking on all the negativity, the bad opinions, the bad advice, People who comment on Facebook, Don’t build right now, market’s shit, go established. Oh, thanks so much, that was really helpful advice.

I’ll, I’ll listen to that. That advice was terrible. What, it’s not useful, it’s not constructive, it doesn’t give you any information. They’re projecting their terrible building experience onto you. Oh, or people listening to the news constantly, Don’t build, go established. Well, actually, the established market’s not doing so great now either.

It’s hard to find things that you want in a home. Do you settle? Do you want to renovate? That’s a whole different topic that we can go into on another episode. Listening to people who comment things like that, Don’t build, go establish. Don’t build, market’s shit. Don’t build, all builders are shit. Like, it’s really…

It’s not helpful advice and it’s not going to get you anywhere other than more overwhelmed. You need to work out when you can afford to get into the market. Is it the right time for you? Have a close circle of people who have your best interest at heart. Speak to experts who know what they’re talking about.

Property experts, building broker, finance brokers. Speak to the banks, like, do what you need to do to get the information. And then from there, make an educated and informed decision based on what you have for you. Not 287 comments. on Facebook, because you’re going to get more overwhelmed than not. By the time you’ve gone through that process, interest rates could have gone up, your borrowing power could have dropped, you’ve thought about it for three months, and now you can’t afford to get the house and land package that you were looking at before, because…

You listened to everybody else’s opinions rather than your own. Research facts. And now, it’s totally different. Things have changed. And it’s harder to get into the market. So the point of all of this is 1. Don’t take advice and opinions from too many people because the information you’re going to get is going to overwhelm you.

Don’t take advice from just one person. You need a group of people who know your situation and experts who know what they’re talking about in general, the market, building, that kind of thing. Two, don’t compare apples and oranges. People’s situations are all different. Different builders, different banks, Keystart, the bank, everything.

Finance is different. The finance broker who was the sales rep, the admin team, the builder, all of that comes into play and everyone’s situation is so different. Three, personal experiences are not fact. Do not take people’s personal experiences as Bible. I can guarantee if you stop listening to everybody and find the people who can give you the right information and know your situation, you will feel less overwhelmed, find the right people, the right builder and can guarantee that you will have a totally different building experience to what they are saying.

If you start the process today, get into the market. You can have a positive, successful, fun building experience if you find the right people. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Home Building Like a Boss podcast. I hope you enjoyed today’s episode and learnt something new. Remember, you’ve got this and I’ve got your back.

Until next time, stay inspired, stay informed, and stay confident on your building journey. I can’t wait to chat with you on the next episode. Don’t forget to check out the show notes. and free resources. If you haven’t already, hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode of the Home Building Like a Boss podcast.