Property advisory for healthcare workers
Eight properties in eighteen months — whilst working as a sonographer.
I'm Luke Murphy. I spent years in medical imaging, and I built a property portfolio around night shifts, weekend rosters and a scanning list that never got shorter. Haus Haven now does that for other healthcare workers — the research, the inspections, the negotiation — so building a property portfolio doesn't cost you the days off you have left.
The real constraint
It was never the money. It was the roster.
Healthcare pays well enough to invest and structures your week so you can't. Most people we speak to have the deposit or the equity sitting there. What they don't have is a spare Saturday for six months running.
Time
Open homes are on your shift
Inspections run Saturday mornings. So does your roster. Doing this yourself means trading annual leave for a search that might take months — and you don't have leave to burn.
Capacity
Your income is misread
Penalty rates, shift allowances, overtime and salary packaging make up a real share of what you earn. Lenders treat each one differently, and the wrong lender can cost you six figures of borrowing capacity.
Decision fatigue
You've researched for two years
You're trained to weigh evidence, so you keep gathering it. Meanwhile the market moves. The most expensive property mistake in healthcare isn't a bad purchase — it's a decision deferred indefinitely.
Track record
I did it before I sold it.
I was a medical sonographer. Before that, army infantry. Neither came with a property education — so I built one, and used it on my own money before I ever used it on anyone else's.
I know what a 12-hour list does to your appetite for research at 8pm. Every part of how Haus Haven runs is built around the fact that you have less time than money, not the other way around.
Past performance in my own portfolio is not a forecast of your results. Property outcomes depend on your borrowing capacity, purchase price, holding costs, market conditions and time in market.
- Properties acquired
- 8
- Time to acquire
- 18 months
- Clinical background
- Medical sonographer
- Before that
- Army infantry
- Funding method
- Equity recycling
- Markets searched
- Australia-wide
- Went full-time in advisory
- 2026
Borrowing capacity
Five things your broker should be checking. Most don't.
Healthcare income is structurally different from a salary, and lender policy on each component varies enormously. This is where capacity is quietly lost — long before anyone looks at a property.
01
Salary packaging
If you work for a public hospital or a not-for-profit health service, part of your income is packaged and FBT-exempt. Some lenders gross it up and count it as pre-tax income. Others ignore it entirely. The difference between those two lenders is real money in what you can borrow.
02
Penalty rates and shift allowances
Nights, weekends and on-call loading can be a substantial share of what you actually take home. Lender treatment ranges from counting all of it to counting none of it, and some lenders apply more favourable policy to essential-services workers. Which lender you approach first matters.
03
Overtime history
Consistent overtime is usually assessable, but most lenders want to see it across a period rather than a payslip. If you've been picking up extra shifts, that history is an asset — provided it's evidenced the way the lender wants to see it.
04
LMI concessions for medical roles
Several lenders waive lenders mortgage insurance at higher LVRs for certain medical and allied health professions. Eligibility varies by role and by lender, and it's not always volunteered. If it applies to you it can bring a purchase forward by a year or more.
05
HELP debt and casual or locum income
HELP repayments reduce assessable income and therefore capacity — but clearing the balance early isn't automatically the right call. Agency, locum and casual work usually needs a longer income history. Both are worth planning around rather than discovering at application.
I'm not a broker and this isn't credit advice. Lender policy changes constantly and every situation is different. What I do is make sure you're having this conversation with a broker who understands healthcare income before you start looking — and if you don't have one, I'll introduce you. No cost, no obligation, and you're free to use your own.
How an engagement runs
Four stages. Built to need almost none of your time.
A sequence, not a menu — each stage produces something you keep, whether or not you continue. You attend nothing in person unless you want to.
Stage 01
After-shift call
Your goals, your roster, your borrowing position. We agree what a good purchase looks like for you specifically — and whether now is the right time at all.
You leave withA written buying brief: price band, property type, and the reasoning behind each.20 minutes. Evenings available. No cost.
Stage 02
Market & shortlist
We narrow from state to region to suburb to street using data, not sentiment — supply, days on market, vacancy, yield, and the structural reasons a pocket stays tightly held.
You leave withA ranked suburb shortlist with the data behind each call, and live listings assessed against your brief.Nothing required from you.
Stage 03
Inspect & negotiate
I attend the inspections, order building and pest, pull comparable sales and run the negotiation. You get video walkthroughs and a written assessment instead of a Saturday morning.
You leave withA signed contract at a price supported by comparable evidence, with due diligence documented.You attend nothing unless you want to.
Stage 04
Settlement & next move
Settlement coordination, then a plan for the property after this one — because the second purchase is where a portfolio starts and most people stall.
You leave withA performance review at 6 and 12 months, and a mapped trigger point for the next acquisition.Ongoing.
Portfolio modelling
Model the portfolio before you commit to anything.
Two starting points: equity you already hold, or a deposit you've saved. Enter your position and see how many properties it supports, what the debt looks like, and where the cashflow lands over five years.
General information only — not financial, credit or taxation advice, and not a forecast. Growth scenarios are illustrative assumptions you select, not predictions. Borrowing is subject to lender assessment. Speak to a licensed broker and your accountant before acting.
Fit
We're not right for everyone.
A buyers agency that takes every client is a buyers agency with no strategy. Here's the honest filter — it saves us both a call.
This works if
- You work in healthcare — nursing, midwifery, allied health, imaging, medicine, paramedicine or aged care.
- You have a deposit saved, or equity in a property you already own.
- You've spoken to a broker and know roughly what you can borrow — or you're ready to, this week.
- You'd rather be shown the data behind a recommendation than simply told what to do.
This doesn't work if
- Finance isn't in place and there's no path to it in the next few months.
- You want a guaranteed return, or a suburb that's certain to double.
- You've already decided on the suburb and want someone to rubber-stamp it.
- You're moving between casual or agency roles and haven't built an income history yet.
Clients
Rated 5.0 on Google.
“After being quite hesitant to engage a buyers agent at first, I am very grateful for Luke and all the hard work he has done in securing my first investment property.”
“Luke is a champion — he is the best in the business. He sorted the entire process of buying our investment property from start to finish. If you are looking for a buyers agent, he is your guy.”
“The genuine care Luke has for each of his clients is so rare in this day and age. A great guy and an absolute expert in his field.”
Before you book
The questions people actually ask.
I work rotating shifts. When do we actually talk?
Evenings, mostly. The booking calendar runs later slots specifically so you're not using a break to have this conversation. Pick whatever suits — if nothing fits your roster, message me and we'll find a time that does.
What does it cost?
$15,000 plus GST, in two parts: a $4,000 + GST retainer to begin the search, and an $11,000 + GST success fee payable when your purchase is secured. It's a fixed fee, not a percentage of the purchase price — so there is no incentive for me to push you into a more expensive property. You know the full cost before we start.
Do I need finance approved before we start?
Not approved, but you do need a clear picture — and for healthcare income that conversation is worth having properly. Before the strategy call, speak to a broker who understands salary packaging, penalty rates and shift allowances. If you don't have one, I'll introduce you at no cost and no obligation. This single step is the difference between a search that ends in a settlement and one that stalls after the contract.
Do I have to attend inspections?
No. I inspect on your behalf and send video walkthroughs with a written assessment, so you can make the call from home after a shift rather than spending a rostered day off driving to opens. If you want to see a property before contract, we'll arrange it around your roster.
How long until I've bought something?
Most engagements run from strategy call to signed contract in weeks rather than months, but it depends on your brief and on stock. A tightly defined search in an active market moves fast; a narrow brief in a thin market takes longer. I'd rather wait for the right asset than fill a deadline with the wrong one.
I'm on a public health salary. Is $15,000 worth it?
That's the right question to ask. Overpaying by 3% on a $700,000 purchase is $21,000 — more than the fee, on one transaction. Buying in the wrong location costs considerably more over a decade. If after the strategy call you'd rather run the search yourself, the buying brief is yours to keep and I'll tell you honestly whether you need me.
Am I dealing with you, or with staff?
Me. Haus Haven is deliberately small — I take on a limited number of clients at a time so every search, inspection and negotiation is run by the person who built the framework. When that capacity is full, I say so rather than stretching thin.
Next step
Twenty minutes, after your shift.
Bring your roster and a rough idea of your borrowing position. You'll leave with a written buying brief — what to buy and why — whether or not you engage us to go and get it.
Book your after-shift callHaus Haven Property Advisory provides property advisory services and general information only. Nothing on this page is personal financial, credit, legal or taxation advice.