Lauren Franzmann - Flint - FFA

Home
Australia
Newcastle, NSW
Lauren Franzmann - Flint - FFA

Call Directions Website Contact the business

Together at Flint, we will be helping individuals & families build wealth through property Australia wide.

03/11/2026

The most expensive thing in Australian property is not stamp duty.

It is not LMI.
It is not interest.

It is the year you waited.

The year you were going to "save a bit more."
The year you were going to "get my finances in order first."
The year you were going to "wait for the market to settle."

That year, nationally, cost first home buyers an average $47,000 in missed capital growth plus another $18,000 in continued rent.

$65,000 for a year of waiting.

Sometimes waiting is the right call.

Sometimes it is just the most expensive habit you have.

You will not know which one it is until you actually run the numbers.

02/11/2026

Settled this week:

A 32 year old graphic designer.
Freelance for 5 years.
Income varies year to year, $85,000 to $130,000.
$46,000 saved.

Four banks had told her no.
The reason each time: inconsistent income.

What we actually did:

Averaged her last 3 years of income (which no bank had bothered to do).
Added a 12 month portfolio of consistent monthly retainer contracts to strengthen the case.
Found a lender that specialises in creative professionals.

Approved at $610,000.
She settled this week on a 2 bedroom warehouse conversion.

Freelance is not inconsistent income.
It is just income that most banks have not learned to read.

Creative careers deserve the same shot at property that salaried ones get.

They just need the right lender in the room.

01/11/2026

Five things I wish every woman knew before she signed her first home loan:

One.
The rate on the front page is not what matters. The structure of the loan is.

Two.
An offset account is more powerful than almost any "deal" the bank will advertise.

Three.
Fixed rates are not safer. They are just more predictable. Different thing.

Four.
Your bank will not call you when a better rate becomes available. They will quietly let you keep paying the old one.

Five.
The best loan is the one you can still afford in a bad year, not the biggest one approved in your best year.

A broker who tells you otherwise is selling, not advising.

Know the difference.
It is the difference between a loan that works for you,
and one that just works.

29/10/2026

Clients of mine recently moved from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast.

Both fully remote.
Same jobs. Same incomes.

What they discovered:

Sydney property they bought for $1.15m sold for $1.5m.
Sunshine Coast property they bought was $895,000.
Same bedrooms. Bigger block. Beach 10 minutes away.

Net sales proceeds released after costs: $395,000.

That $395,000 became the deposit for their first investment property.
Currently rented at $710 a week.

The move was not just a lifestyle decision.

It was a wealth strategy disguised as a sea change.

If you are remote or hybrid and you have never modelled what your capital city property could unlock elsewhere,
that is a conversation worth having before 2027.

28/10/2026

It takes the average Australian 11.2 years to save a 20% deposit.

In 2015, it was 9 years.
In 2005, it was under 7.

Wages have grown 21% in 5 years.
Entry level house prices have grown 68% in the same period.

This is not a personal failure.
It is a structural gap most Australians have been told to willpower their way past.

You cannot save your way through a 47 point gap between prices and wages.

What you can do:

Use the schemes that exist. First Home Guarantee at 5%. Family Home Guarantee at 2%. Help to Buy with 2% plus a government co-contribution. All designed for a market where 20% is no longer the standard.

The 20% deposit is not a standard anymore.
It is a leftover expectation from a world that does not exist.

Update the plan.

27/10/2026

A client of mine recently bought her third property.

She is 34.
Started with nothing from her family.
Bought her first home in 2020 for $380,000.
Second in 2023, a $520,000 investment.
This week, a $780,000 property that will be her forever home.

What she did differently:

She never sold. Every property stayed in the portfolio.
She refinanced every 18 to 24 months to pull out equity for the next deposit.
She never bought at the top of her budget.
She never let lifestyle creep eat her savings.

By 40 she will own 5 properties.
By 50, she will have the choice to retire or keep going.

Most Australians think building wealth requires a huge income or a lucky break.

It usually just requires 10 years of boring, consistent decisions.

She started with nothing.
She was just not willing to stay there.

26/10/2026

The question I wish more couples asked each other before they bought a home:

"If one of us lost our income tomorrow, could the other one carry this?"

Not forever.
Just for 6 months.

If the honest answer is no, you are not necessarily buying the wrong house.

You might just be buying it the wrong way.

A larger buffer. A smaller stretch. A different structure.
A different suburb. A different timeline.

The best mortgages are the ones that survive the version of life you did not plan for.

Redundancy. Illness. Parental leave. The side business that takes a year to find its feet.

Build the loan to carry the hard year.
The good years will take care of themselves.

26/10/2026

Settled this week:

A 44 year old primary school teacher.
Single. One daughter in high school.
$97,000 income.
$52,000 saved over 6 years of trying.

She had been told by two mortgage brokers that she was "close but not quite there."

What they missed:

She qualified for the Family Home Guarantee as a single parent (2% deposit, no LMI).
The teaching sector has specific LMI concessions at certain lenders.
Her consistent salary sacrifice reduced her assessable income (and HECS) in a way that worked in her favour.

$550,000 home in the Illawarra. Walking distance to her daughter's school.

She picked up her keys on Tuesday.

Close but not quite there is almost never the real answer.

It just sounds nicer than "I did not know which door to open for you."

22/10/2026

Six things that quietly tank your borrowing capacity:

One.
Credit card limits you no longer use (even if the balance is $0).

Two.
Buy now pay later accounts you have open "just in case".

Three.
A car loan with 18 months left on it.

Four.
HECS debt (reduces assessable income).

Five.
Dependents (every child reduces your capacity, in some lenders' models by a lot).

Six.
Living expenses that look higher than the lender's benchmark (even if yours are genuine).

You do not have to fix all six.
You just need to know which ones are costing you the most.

A good broker will walk you through it in a 30 minute call.

21/10/2026

A woman in her 60s came to see me earlier this year.

Widowed. 3 adult children.
Family home paid off. Worth $1.4m.
Modest super.

Her question: should I sell the home to free up money for the kids?

My answer: not necessarily.

What we actually did:

Refinanced to unlock $280,000 of equity (her LVR stayed under 20%).
Gifted $70,000 to each of her 3 kids as a first home deposit assist.
Kept the family home, which her grandkids still visit every Easter.

Three first home deposits.
No sale.
No stamp duty.
No upheaval.

The best inheritance is not the one your kids receive after you are gone.

It is the one you watch them use.

Address

Newcastle, NSW

Telephone

+61477092641

Website

https://meetings.hubspot.com/lfranzmann

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Lauren Franzmann - Flint - FFA posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.