How two friends beat the property market by building their own village

Merryn Tate (left) and Leah Dent (right) have just moved into side-by-side townhouses they teamed up to build in Ocean Grove. Picture: Geelong Homes Two Bellarine Peninsula single mums have found a novel way to realise their home ownership dreams, joining forces to build side-by-side townhouses with a shared backyard. Long-time friends Leah Dent and Merryn Tate were both househunting for similar properties for their young families when they had a light bulb moment. With individual budgets only stretching to older places in need of work, they decided to pool their resources to fund a new townhouse subdivision project. RELATED: Single mums reveal how they become property investors Single mums’ shock as income figures reveal affordability gap Lost ball led to $2.2m Leopold dream home Together they bought a vacant block for $750,000 and two years on have just moved into neighbouring four-bedroom residences built by Geelong Homes. Ms Dent said the former footy teammates had a joint mortgage over the property, but would refinance individually once the separate titles came through. However, having created their own village, they have no plans to put a fence down the middle. Instead her fi...