A sprawling backyard, space for a pet, room for a home-gym: The many upsides of upsizing

When Noleen Govender and her fiancé Des Leyden decided to upgrade to a three-bedroom apartment, they had a good incentive not to break their budget – they wanted enough cash left over for a wedding.

So while they planned for their move, carefully built their savings and negotiated over the purchase of their apartment off the plan to ensure the best deal possible, they always kept their finances front of mind.

“I think it was so important not to rush into anything and make sure it was something we weren’t going to regret,” says Noleen. “A mortgage is the biggest investment of your life so it’s important you get everything right.

“And while you can be pressured by agents, who tell you that you have to act quickly so you won’t miss out, you have to remember that if you do, something will always come around again.”

As a result, the couple, both 32, are now blissfully happy with the decisions they made. They were able to pay a little more because of the rock-bottom interest rates and, as a result, have their own dream home: a large, bright apartment with three balconies on the top floor of the Hyecorp Property Group’s Leah building in Lane Cove, on Sydney’s lower north shore.

The pair were previously in a one-bedroom unit in another building by the same developer so had done all their due diligence beforehand to ensure they built quality homes. “We knew they were a company with a good reputation,” says Noleen, who works as a people and culture coordinator. “So that gave us the confidence to buy off the plan, which can normally be a bit scary.

“And we knew exactly what we wanted. We needed more space, and I wanted a proper study to work in that I could close the door at the end of the day. We also wanted a spare room so we could have family to stay – Des’s family is from Ireland and mine are from South Africa – and friends over, as we want to be hospitable and make it a real home. Setting up that room gave me pure joy!”

The extra size has meant they can keep a dog too, a Staffy called Luna, while engineering project manager Des has also set up a gym on one of the balconies. Their only one regret was not opting for underfloor heating for the tiles in the bathroom.  

“But everything else has been perfect,” Noleen says. “We have an amazing place and yet we still have enough money to have a life … and our wedding in November.”

In Melbourne, Lisa Lombardi and her husband Koce Delev are eagerly awaiting the end of the renovations of their 1990s three-bedroom townhouse they bought last October – in the middle of lockdown – so they can finally move in.

In the meantime, they’re still living in the one-bedroom apartment Lisa bought in 2012, prior to meeting Koce, and which the couple planned to live in just briefly before they upgraded to somewhere bigger.

“We planned to stay here a year, and already it’s been three” says Lisa, 39, a director in consulting at Deloitte. “We’ve totally outgrown this place but when we bought the townhouse it was quite dated, so we decided to do a renovation before we moved in.

“So it’s lucky we still have the apartment to live in while it’s being done, but it’s far too small for us, and our new five-month-old Cavador puppy Frankie now and we can’t wait to move in.”

Searching for the right property to buy for the better part of the year, their broker advised them to sell before they bought. They planned to do so but, with all the COVID-19 lockdowns and the impact they had on the market, they decided to hang on to it, take out a bigger mortgage and had initially considered renting it out. 

But now, with the market rebounding, Kay & Burton agent Nathan Verwoert, who sold the pair the townhouse in South Yarra, advised Lisa and Koce, also 39, to sell via private treaty with many first-home buyers currently in the market preferring to buy that way. 

“We’ve nearly finished the renovations now, and we’ll be very glad to move in,” says Lisa, of the work that includes a new kitchen, laundry, sanding the floorboards and new decking in the backyard. “We’ll have a lot more space and then we’ll be able to expand our family more if we want to.”