Darren

I don't understand this part of your comment.  Can you clarify?  Do you mean that you can afford to buy a cheap property with no deposit but there are no cheap properties in your price range in Melbourne?  if that's the case, you might have to consider buying in regional Victoria (in a town/city with a reasonable population and infrastructure).

Also in relation to your property in Sydney, what is it's value?  This will impact on what the significance of $100K in equity is?  if it's valued at $1M, then even with $100K equity you're probably at the limit.  But if it's valued at $200K, then $100K equity is v.good.

In relation to the $50K personal debt it might be relevant to know what this is made up of.  For example, if it's on 4 credit cards, the solution might be to consolidate through a personal loan or raise a LOC (against your Sydney property).  it would not be tax-deductible, but it might allow for more favourable loan interest rates to improve your net cashflow and serviceability position.

There are quite a few MBs on this forum who might be able to assist if you provided a few more details.