Meet Emma Healy, first home-buyer

Buying your first home is not easy. Especially when, time after time, the banks and mortgage brokers politely, but firmly, close the door on you.

That happened to Emma Healy, then 21, so she turned to her parents for advice. They turned to Brendan Turnbull. Now Emma owns her own place in the desirable Brisbane suburb of Bulimba.

“The banks and others just pushed me away,” Emma said. “They just didn’t think I was worth the time.

“Mum and Dad gave Brendan a call and we had a meeting.

“He took the time and care to answer all my questions.

“Nothing I asked was treated as stupid or out of the blue.

“But he wasn’t holding my hand either – he didn’t belittle me like that.

“He told me what we were up against and then fought a big battle to get the loan approved.”

Emma said she didn’t have a great deal of money as deposit but Brendan still took her business on.

“He never flinched and got stuck in.”

After working with Brendan to find a ballpark price, Emma spent four months looking for the perfect place. Each time a likely candidate came along, she contacted Brendan.

“He always gave me an honest opinion. He always said, ‘keep your eye out a little bit longer’.”

Guess what? She eventually found the perfect place … at an imperfect price.

“It was out of my budget! But at inspection, I walked in and walked out and thought, ‘this is the one’.”

So began Brendan’s battle with the lenders. He won. Emma moved in. She’s now thinking renovations – a far cry from her first experiences trying to buy a house.

“Mum and Dad had been with this one bank for a long time and had a lot with them, but when I went in, they gave me the cold shoulder,” she said.

She said Brendan offered the opposite response.

“Brendan is enthusiastic.

“He is young, but when he starts talking he knows an incredible amount of things. He is very confident and very reassuring.

“He is always willing to get stuck in, so I have no qualms asking him even the smallest of questions.

“He’s just great to have on standby and it’s nice to have someone take me seriously.”