Jan 26 2023 36 mins
Over the past 24 months as the COVID 19 pandemic unfolded and progressed... it revealed an inconvenient truth about just how precarious the financial affairs of middle class households really are. We now have much greater clarity and certainty around the fragility of our finances – with around 80% of households forced to confront the fact they don’t have enough savings and are around 1 month away from losing their homes. Inadequate savings, lack of financial planning, and with little support from family and the government... Several things have become abundantly clear, We need to understand our debt position and how much savings are required to weather a storm (such as a loss of job, pandemic, health issues) and we also need to better use the assets that we already have available to us to protect against future catastrophes and shore up our overall health as we build wealth for our families and prepare for retirement.
Sometimes opportunities lie in the strangest of places...
While there are reports that we are heading into a decade long housing supply crunch, with reports that affordable housing is at all time lows and Sydney reporting a five year low vacancy rate of 1.7% (with many regional areas reporting less than 1% vacancy), there are 13.5M unused bedrooms in 10m residences across Australia.
Bio
Ludwina Dautovic is the CEO and Founder of The Room Xchange, Australia’s first verified house-sharing platform. The Room Xchange makes it easy for people to find their ideal housemate based on personality, values, and lifestyle. And you can choose to rent or rent offset giving you the choice on how you want to use your asset.
Today Ludwina and I will be talking about how you spare bedroom could be worth $10k a year in rent or over 300 hours of household help.
Financial Foreplay® Highlights:
13.5M unused bedrooms in 10m residences across Australia and yet we have a housing shortage and an affordability crisis.
A spare bedroom can return around $200 a week in rent or 8 hours of help.
Your spare bedroom is an asset that could be making you money – it’s no different than renting our your spare car, garage, caravan, or power tools for extra cash
Having verified profiles means you can pick someone that shares your lifestyle and values.
There are a myriad of reasons why people want to house share post COVID.
The rental market is very slim and people (of all shapes and sizes) are looking for viable alternatives to the traditional share model (that really appeals more to students).
The experience can enrich your life and add value to your life/family.
Our tribal way of living has changed so much in the last 20 years and this is one unique way of creating a new sense of community, dialogue and connection.
$12,000 a year in incremental income could almost double the amount of principal that a family with a mortgage of $500,000-$600,000 is able to pay down each year.
Australia is the only country in the world where 76% of citizens are living in “severely unaffordable housing” defined as housing valued at 6+ times your annual salary.
If all the unused spare bedrooms within 30 minutes of the CBD in Sydney were housed by a working adult, it would increase GDP by $750m annually according to a study by Ernst and Young.
Get in Touch:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ludwinadautovic/