Living in Sydney\u2019s inner city comes with plenty of perks. With pubs and cafes on almost every corner and a train station never too far away, it\u2019s hard to beat the convenience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But residing just 6km from the CBD does come with a hefty price tag. Lucinda, the Founder of copywriting agency Starr Studio<\/a>, and her partner Tom, a lawyer working at a boutique commercial litigation firm, experienced this first-hand - both as tenants and then, as home buyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tucked away in the city\u2019s inner south, the pair had called Alexandria home for over five years. It\u2019s a neighbourhood that ticked all of their boxes: leafy, lined with local watering holes and boasting plenty of green space for their Bordoodle, Inka, to stretch her legs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, the couple weren\u2019t alone in their love for the area. With demand for inner city properties climbing, Lucinda and Tom were watching home prices and rental rates soar. \u201cWe saw so many first home buyers like us get outbid at auction by property investors bidding well over the price guide,\u201d shares Tom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even with \u201ca bit of savings\u201d stashed away and (as is becoming an unavoidable reality for many first home buyers) a leg up from their parents, the window of opportunity was closing. \u201cWe knew we were on a tight timeline of having to be out of our rental within six months. Otherwise, we\u2019d be paying hundreds of dollars extra a month,\u201d Lucinda explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After being \u201cblown out of the water\u201d at auctions and \u201cgetting pretty close to giving up\u201d, they engaged buyer's agent Kellie Landrey from Scoutable<\/a>, as a last-ditch attempt to stay in the area. Within a matter of days, a small townhouse popped up that the pair thought was both \u201cexactly what we were looking for\u201d and \u201cway out of our price range\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKellie encouraged us to go through the process and had this whole strategy for when and how to make an offer.\u201d - Lucinda <\/p>\n\n\n\n After a very stressful two days of back-and-forth, their offer was accepted. \u201cWe never thought we\u2019d buy on the same street as we were renting,\u201d laughs Tom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not hard to see why this home ended up being \u2018the one\u2019. The townhouse is compact but low-maintenance, with a courtyard out back perfect for Inka to lap up the sun. The best bits of the suburb are on their doorstep, with Tom\u2019s go-to yoga studio around the corner, Lucinda\u2019s favourite Pilates spot down the road and one of Sydney\u2019s biggest dog parks just a short stroll away (usually visited by the couple at 6.30 am with coffees in hand). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The home also serves as a co-working space of sorts. Upstairs, you\u2019ll find Tom in the spare room leading tutorials while working \u201ccasually for Macquarie University, teaching environmental and planning law\u201d alongside his main gig as a solicitor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Downstairs, Lucinda has turned the dining table into a pop-up HQ for her copywriting studio<\/a>. \u201cI didn\u2019t start with the ambition to become a business owner. I literally started freelancing just to make ends meet while I was figuring out what my next job was going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a scenario many creatives are likely familiar with. After landing a job at a big, fast-paced marketing agency, Lucinda found herself stressed, burnt out and \u201ccrying on the way to work multiple times a week\u201d. Only after taking a break during a holiday to Japan did she realise just how desperately things needed to change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have this memory of sitting at Osaka airport waiting for our flight home and frantically scrolling through LinkedIn for jobs in Japan\u2026 that\u2019s how badly I didn\u2019t want to go home.\u201d - Lucinda<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fast-forward four years, and she\u2019s now running a hugely successful agency of her own, managing a growing team and \u201ccouldn\u2019t imagine doing anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While being self-employed was a \u201cbit of a consideration\u201d when securing a home loan, having a team by their side that could walk them through their options was a massive relief for the couple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I imagined a mortgage broker, I pictured a balding middle-aged guy in a suit. But with Pure Finance, I felt like I was dealing with people like me.\u201d - Tom<\/p>\n\n\n\n From workshopping purchase numbers to breaking down what upcoming interest rate rises could mean for them, Lucinda and Tom appreciated having \u201csomeone who was actually looking out for us, helping us find the best loan for us rather than pushing us into a big loan that offered a big commission to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While their townhouse hasn\u2019t needed any work (aside from adding a doggy door to give Inka free rein of the courtyard), the pair have grand plans \u201cto get solar panels on the roof and an EV charger in the garage.\u201d But in the meantime, they\u2019re happy with this little slice of 2015, just the way it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Good Ways Deli<\/a>: for a cheese and vegemite scroll or their Brekkie sandwich <\/p>\n\n\n\n Genovese Coffee House<\/a>: for the best triple cheese toasties <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Alex<\/a> or the Parkview Hotel<\/a>: for beers and a classic pub feed<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pino\u2019s Vino e Cucina<\/a>: for a bougie pasta party<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.purefinance.com.au\/uploads\/2023\/12\/LT_3.png\")
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\n\n\n\nLucinda and Tom\u2019s top spots to eat and drink in their new (ish) neighbourhood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n