Financial/property advisor + advice

Hi all,

I’m 25, and basically in the position of working out how best to channel my two income streams: $80k base salary, and ~$20k of extra income via freelance. Intention being to use the bulk of the salary to fund a mortgage, with a little left over for basic expenses, then moderate the freelance income for the “nice stuff”. I have no “goals”, other than to acquire a property, and make the most productive use out of the streams.

I currently have $10k put aside, and estimate this will reach $50k by 12 months time. The plan is to purchase a 2-3br property within 5-15km of the Melbourne CBD, live in for 6 months, then lease out, and look at securing a second, smaller property as either an investment or short-term base. I’ve seen some student properties around Camberwell, Kew etc around the 140-160 mark that list rental returns on par with others 100k extra in price. Maybe laying down a deposit on one of these and paying off over 5-10 years whilst simultaneously purchasing a more modest property to live in/share might work better?

I’ve been primarily looking in areas such as Yarraville, Abbotsford, Brunswick, etc, for option A anyway. Further east towards Burwood, Mitcham etc seems to have some interesting developments cropping up.

I’m happy to exchange with folks on here willing to dish out further advice, but being a little unread on it all I think probably the best step for me is to sit down face to face with somebody, so if anyone here has first hand *referrals* they can forward on to me, that would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
O