Mortgage broker Cherise Morgan opened a coffee shop last year. (Source: TikTok/Courtesy)
There’s some controversial advice often given to young Australians wanting to buy their first property: stop buying coffee. But one Australian mortgage broker is bucking this advice and opening his own coffee shop to cater to potential home buyers.
Cherise Morgan’s coffee shop is located at the front of her mortgage brokerage in Redcliffe, which she opened last year, and she is offering six months of free coffee as a reward to anyone who takes out a mortgage through her business.
The 26-year-old told Yahoo Finance that the “spontaneous” decision has helped drive homebuyer traffic to her store, with customers frequently stopping by to chat about interest rates and home prices over coffee.
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“I was trying to come up with a fun and creative marketing idea and I didn’t think anyone had done this before,” Morgan said.
“It’s a good incentive, especially for people in my local area who want to refinance their mortgage or buy their first home from me.
“So they come in, but the funny thing is, almost no one comes for the free coffee. So they come in, but they only come for the coffee once every few weeks or months.”
Morgan offers free coffee to buyers who refinance or purchase through her business. (Source: Provided)
Morgan said the idea that you have to stop buying coffee if you want to buy a house is generally a long shot, unless it’s taken too far.
“If you’re doing that every day, several times a day, spending $30, $40 or $50 a day, naturally that adds up over the course of a week or a year,” she said.
“If you’re just buying coffee every day, it’s not going to be a small luxury item that multiplies. But you still need to give yourself permission to buy those things and create a budget. Create a budget and set it so you can give yourself permission to do it.”
The story continues
The average price of coffee has risen in recent years as many coffee shop owners have been hit with rising costs, but if you spend $5 on an average small cup of coffee every day, that comes out to $35 a week and $1,820 a year.
With the average property price in the greater Tokyo area at $864,000, you’d need to save up $172,800 for a 20% down payment — the equivalent of 100 years’ worth of coffee.
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Bought my first property at age 21
Morgan bought his first property in Werribee, Melbourne, when he was 21, but says it was a struggle.
“I started saving when I was 18 and got my first full-time job,” she said.
“I had a lot of jobs: I worked full time during the week, went to university in the evenings and worked in cafes and bars at the weekends.
“I split all my income. My full-time job money goes into a savings account with every paycheck, and my weekend job and hospitality work money goes to rent and bills.”
After meeting his partner, Morgan moved to Queensland and bought property together.
She now has three staff working at her cafe, plus a personal assistant who works for her mortgage business, Morgans Mortgages, which is her main source of income.
About half of her clients are mortgage customers and the other half are locals.
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