Love a long post!

I've owned a couple of houses, and honestly I just can't see how it's financially better... even though interest rates are fairly low, you can still very easily end up paying double than the value of the house over 30 years. There's also rates, repairs, and I dunno, it just feels like you get hit with so many different bills during the purchasing stage and for the life of that investment. It honestly feels like anyone making money off people buying homes are the real people who are better off.

I've definitely had better luck with Bank of Melbourne/St George and ING, I had no idea ANZ was so awful! Jerks.