The workshop will be run by Bayside Finance and Property founder Alan Heenan, who has 30 years of experience in finance and property under his belt.
Mr Heenan is passionate about making the process of buying a home easy and accessible to everyone, regardless of their circumstances.
He is inspired by his own childhood, after watching his mother struggle to find a place for him and his siblings to call home following a divorce.
At the age of 10, Mr Heenan found himself in the small town of Kyneton with his younger sisters, living in a two-bedroom home with his mum and her parents.
Mr Heenan said his mum did not have a lot of support at the time and so it was a difficult process.
“Mum was on her own, she had to find a job, find a house etc, and all she really had to rely on back then was her parents or the government for support,” he said.
“Twelve months later in 1985, mum got a phone call to say that we had a home to go to — a three-bedroom weatherboard home.
“The kicker of this was that house was in a prison — it was in the Malmsbury Youth Training Centre.”
Their new home was on the grounds of the youth training centre, an open to medium-security facility that was home to 150 young men between the ages of 17 and 20.
As the facility wasn’t high security, the inmates would often play outside on the ovals, with Mr Heenan joining them to play footy.
While it wasn’t the perfect home, Mr Heenan said it was all his mother was offered at the time, and so they made the most of it.
Although he eventually returned to Melbourne, Mr Heenan is proud of his country roots, which he said was part of the reason he ran the free workshop in regional areas.
“I still consider myself a country boy, to be honest; it’s why I guess I’ve embarked upon this journey of taking my voice into the country. It’s a bit like what Kyneton did for my mum,” he said.
“I want to try and make a difference and help people in the country to get into their first homes.
“Most of the people that I’m speaking to, I’m really setting them up for the possibility of what can come in the future, whether that future is three months or a year or two away.”
Through his workshops, Mr Heenan will encourage attendees to explore why they want to own their own home, where they want it to be and how they can make it happen.
He will steer away from delving too much into the numbers part of the process to avoid information overload but will focus more on the pre-work that needs to happen to make things easier along the way.
The workshop will also touch on the government support and grants that may be available to people looking to buy their first home, an aspect that many are unaware of.
The event will be held on Tuesday, June 24 at the Echuca Neighbourhood House from 6.30pm to 8pm.
To book your free ticket, visit tinyurl.com/yme3pjm9
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