Exclusive: One Queensland family has revealed the extreme lengths they took to break into the Aussie housing market – relocating 6500 kilometres across the globe to Vietnam for almost a year.
Last year, Brisbane mother-of-six Megan MacPherson and her husband Andrew found themselves treading water financially. Their savings weren’t growing, despite Andrew getting a new job with a bigger pay packet.
The MacPherson family, pictured at the airport before leaving Australia for Vietnam. Megan MacPherson
“My husband got a new job and it was paying more. But, after a few months, we realised that the increase in that pay was just going to random life,” Megan said.
The couple knew they wanted to buy a home of their own sooner rather than later, but had no idea how to make that happen.
“We sort of made a joke about maybe to get ahead in life we’d have to go live in a developing country,” Megan said.
“Then we were having lunch together one day and I said, ‘Why is it a joke? Hang on, couldn’t we do it?'”
Because the couple had always homeschooled their four younger children – now aged 18, 7, 6, and 2 – there were no local school ties binding them to Queensland.
Andrew was also able to get approval from his employer to work remotely within a similar time zone, the family made a rapid transition.
The move was a huge one for the whole family.
While Megan had only travelled outside the country once at the age of 16, Andrew had never been overseas at all.
“All of us had to get passports,” Megan said, adding that while it was a massive change, they felt like they had nothing to lose.
“We went in with the attitude of this is an adventure with no pressure attached, and we can come home,” she said.
The couple spent a few months researching online, and connecting with other worldschooling families in Vietnam, before packing their bags and hopping on a plane in July last year.
Living like ‘kings and queens’ on a fraction of the budget
Within days of landing in Da Nang, the family quickly found a five-bedroom, five-bathroom, three-storey house with the help of a local real estate agent.
The house ticked all of their boxes, including air conditioning in the living area and secure verandas and balustrades for the stairs.
The rent? Just $325 a week in Australian terms.
Megan and Andrew MacPherson (left) and the street where there rented three-storey home in Da Nang was located. Megan MacPherson
Back in Brisbane, they had just been told their rent would be increasing to $600 a week.
In Vietnam, their everyday expenses were also a fraction of what they were back home.
“It was cheaper for us to find the local eating places and get deliveries most nights,” Megan said.
“We could get a chicken or beef rice dish with a side salad for all six of us for about $13,” she said.
Do you have a story? Contact reporter Emily McPherson at emcpherson@nine.com.au
Dining out at Western-style restaurants cost roughly $30 for the whole family, while a fancy three-course date night meal was under $70.
The family’s monthly water bill averaged just $1.80, despite filling a splash pool on the patio for the kids every day.
“We also had visa run expenses, as we had to leave the country every three months,” Megan said, noting trips to destinations like Hong Kong added to their expenses but were a great holiday.
Megan and Andrew MacPherson on a date night. Meals at the fancier restaurants in Da Nang still typically cost under $70. Megan MacPherson
Despite those travel costs and hiring a local house cleaner to help support the community, the family built a substantial financial buffer.
“We ended up coming home with about $50,000 in savings,” Megan said.
“Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but when we were living week-to-week in Australia and we couldn’t save anything at home, that was a huge jump start in our savings for us.
“We absolutely could have come home with probably $150,000, let’s be real, if we lived like locals, but we were living like kings and queens really.”
A multi-generational happy ending
Though the family initially intended to stay overseas longer, Megan’s two older stepsons getting married back in Australia prompted an earlier return after 11 months.
However, the savings they accrued in Vietnam proved to be a big help in unlocking a home purchase in Ipswich.
While still living in Vietnam in March, the family teamed up with Megan’s parents and sister to buy a large, multi-generational property.
The house is set up with two separate living spaces and a separate granny flat.
“Mum and dad contributed the down payment from the sale of their home, and then my sister and I each have a mortgage,” Megan said.
“Our intention was to have this $50,000 that would just start our savings plan… and then we found this place and it all fell into place.”
The savings brought back from Vietnam funded an on-site home office for Andrew and various renovations across the five-bedroom property.
Looking back, Ms MacPherson says the bold decision to move overseas was the best choice her family ever made.
“We look back on it and we would go back in a heartbeat,” she said.
“We’re actually quite proud of ourselves for what we did and proud of our children – everyone adjusted so beautifully.
“We’ve had a pretty awesome adventure.”