Featured Image Credit: Facebook/ TODAY
Topics: Parenting, Money, Australia, World News
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Parenting, Money, Australia, World News
Here's how a girl became Australia's youngest homeowner at the age of six.
If you wanted to feel even rougher about the cost of living crisis and how you're constantly wrapping yourself in extra layers of dressing gowns and blankets in a desperate bid to not turn the heating on, then how about learning an eight-year-old old has beaten you to hopping on the property ladder? Prepare to start questioning your own life choices:
In December 2021, now-eight-year-old Ruby McLellan became the joint homeowner - with her siblings - of a US $440,000 property located on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia.
Advert
Yes, 2021, when Ruby was the age of six.
Not only that, but over just two years later and the four-bedroom property is now estimated to be worth a whopping US $617,000.
But how did the then-six-year-old get the money for it?
Well, while most of us were splashing our pocket money on sweets or the latest Pokémon cards, Ruby and her siblings took a different approach to how they spent their cash.
Ruby's dad and CEO of property investment company OpenCorp Cam McLellan, explained to TODAY.COM all the kids were given money to do their chores, but he and partner Felicity realised 'in 10 years time' when their children were trying to buy properties of their own, the prices would be 'astronomical' and they'd probably end up coming running back to 'the bank of mom and dad' for help.
So, the McLellans decided to encourage their four children - with the help of 'lots of illustrations' and explaining - to save their pocket money and put it towards putting a deposit on a house - each child saving around an impressive $2,000 each, Cam told 7News.
Obviously, $6,000 isn't enough for a full deposit on any house - unless you're potentially interested in buying one of those tiny homes on Amazon that is - and so Ruby's parents helped with the rest.
However, it's the kids' names which are listed as the owners on the property and its surrounding land and Cam stresses the kids will have to pay their parents back for the amount he and Felicity chipped in to help them buy the house.
The house has been put into a trust and Cam's in charge of the property while the kids are young, having 'outline[d] all the steps it takes to build a property portfolio' for them and written everything down for when they're 'old enough' to take over.
And the long-term plan? The family are set to hang onto the house, hoping it will continue to grow in value and then they'll eventually sell it so each child has enough to go and buy a place of their own.