Property, Straight Up
Melbourne property is confusing enough without someone making it more complicated. This podcast tries to do the opposite.
Hosted by Mel Dennis and Warwick Brookes — buyer's and vendor's advocates with thirty years on both sides of the Melbourne market — each episode tells you what's actually going on. Market movements, suburb spotlights, auction tactics, off-market opportunities, buying and selling strategies. What's working, what isn't, and what we'd do if it were us.
Mel and Warwick also sit down with people who know this market from the inside — agents, brokers, builders, planners, economists, developers. Not for the talking points. For the real conversations that don't usually make it to the listing description.
Whether you're buying your first home, selling the family house, or figuring out your next move — this is Melbourne property, given to you straight.
New episodes every week. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.
First Home Finance, Deposits, Borrowing Power and the Bank of Mum and Dad
The biggest finance mistake Jacquie Chia sees first home buyers make has nothing to do with numbers. It's deciding it's impossible before they've ever sat down to check. In part two of our first home buyer series, Warwick Brookes is joined by Jacquie Chia from Mortgage Zone to unpack the finance side of buying your first home. Why you probably don't need a 20% deposit. How the federal government's 5% deposit scheme works. What really determines your borrowing capacity, and why credit cards qu...
5 Oct 2026
What Buyers Miss: How to Buy a Home That Holds Its Value
In this episode of Property, Straight Up, Mel Dennis turns the tables and interviews her business partner, co-director and husband Warwick Brookes about what buyer advocacy really involves and what makes a good property purchase. Drawing on decades in Melbourne property, first in sales and then on the buyer's side, Warwick walks through the fundamentals that hold value, why land matters, and how to keep emotion from making the decision for you. They also get into auction mistakes that cost bu...
29 Sept 2026
It's Not Always 50/50: What Really Happens to Property When You Separate
When a relationship ends, the decisions about property and money often have to be made when people feel least ready. In this episode, Mel Dennis sits down with Bronwyn Montgomery, Partner at Farrar Gesini Dunn and a family lawyer of more than ten years, to work through what really happens to property when you separate. Bronwyn explains why there is no automatic 50/50 split, how settlements are actually weighed up, when a partner can claim a home you already owned, and why reaching your own ag...
3 Sept 2026
Wills, Super and Title: Where Your Property Really Goes When You Die
Only around half of Australians have a will, and half the people who think they know how their property is held are wrong. In this episode, Mel Dennis sits down with Tracey Collins, Accredited Specialist in Wills and Estates Law at Collins Lawyers and Consultants, to work through where your property really goes when you die. Tracey explains why marriage invalidates a will in Victoria, why DIY will kits go wrong once life gets complicated, and why joint tenants vs tenants in common can overrid...
25 Aug 2026
The Planning Changes Reshaping What Your Property Could Be Worth
Most property owners have no idea what the planning controls on their land actually allow, or what they could allow in the future. In this episode of Property, Straight Up, Warwick Brookes talks with Laurie Rigoni, founder of Terrain Consulting Group, about the planning reforms reshaping property value right across Melbourne. Laurie explains the 70/30 housing split, the 60 activity centres changing density near you, what rezoning to housing choice zones means for height limits, the December 2...
4 Aug 2026
The Market Is Splitting in Two: What Sellers Are Getting Wrong Right Now
Warwick Brookes sits down with Luke Sacco, Partner at Nelson Alexander's Northcote office, for a frank conversation about nearly three decades in real estate and what's really happening in Melbourne's property market right now. From the widening gap between renovated and unrenovated homes to the proposed changes to auction reserve pricing, Luke shares what he's seeing on the ground with buyers and sellers every day. They cover the biggest mistakes sellers are making, why presentation and stag...
20 Jul 2026
Downsizing Without the Overwhelm | Robyn Strickland, Love It or Leave It
Downsizing is not just a property decision, it is one of the most emotionally complex transitions people face. In this episode, Mel Dennis talks with Robyn Strickland, founder of Love It or Leave It, about what really happens when someone lets go of decades of belongings and a family home. Robyn shares why clutter affects our wellbeing, the role adult children play, how the process works step by step, and the one thing she says makes the biggest difference: starting early. Connect with Robyn ...
13 Jul 2026
Maximising Your Investment: The Difference Between Average and Great Returns
Buying the right property is only half the equation. In this episode, Mel Dennis sits down with Nicola Michels, Senior Business Development Manager at Longview, to talk about what great property management actually looks like, what investors get wrong, and the small changes that can have an outsized impact on rental returns and long term performance. With over two decades of experience across metropolitan Melbourne, Nicola shares what's happening in Melbourne's rental market right now, why th...
6 Jul 2026
The Property Tax Mistakes Costing Investors Money
Most property investors leave their tax planning until it’s too late, and it ends up costing them. In this episode of Property, Straight Up, Warwick Brookes talks with Christie Morris, an accountant and tax agent at Semmens Partners Accountants, about the EOFY mistakes, negative gearing changes, ownership structures and hidden costs that catch property owners out. Christie explains why timing your depreciation schedule before 30 June matters, why the SMSF property pitch from brokers rarely st...
30 Jun 2026
The Property Mistakes That Cost You When a Relationship Ends
Most people don't think about what happens to their property in a separation until they're already in one. In this episode of Property, Straight Up, Mel Dennis talks with Claire Walczak, an accredited family law specialist and partner at Lander & Rogers, about property settlements, binding financial agreements and the mistakes that end up costing people the most. Claire explains why having property in your name doesn't make it yours, why a 50/50 split is far from guaranteed, and why an in...
23 Jun 2026
The Mistakes That Sink Property Settlements (And How to Avoid Them)
In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Mel Dennis sits down with Inna Segal, director of RET Conveyancing, to talk about what can go wrong when buying or selling property and how to make sure it doesn't happen to you. Inna has over ten years of experience as a licensed conveyancer and has spent the last five as director of RET Conveyancing. She is the person who sees the mistakes before they become disasters, and in this conversation she shares exactly what those mistakes are and how ...
15 Jun 2026
Inside the Data: What Cotality's Economist Really Sees
In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Warwick Brookes sits down with Gerard Burg, economist at Cotality (formerly CoreLogic), for a data-driven conversation about what is actually happening in Australian property right now. Gerard works with national property data every day, and he brings that perspective to some of the biggest questions buyers, sellers and investors are asking. From Melbourne's slide down the national leaderboard to Adelaide overtaking it for the first time in histo...
8 Jun 2026
Buy, Sell or Hold. The Bigger Financial Picture.
In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Mel Dennis sits down with Scott Mitton from Secure Invest to explore one of the most common traps in property — making buy, sell, or hold decisions without looking at the bigger financial picture. Scott brings nearly 20 years of financial advisory experience, having entered the industry during the Global Financial Crisis and building through to his current role at Secure Invest, a 40-plus-staff multidisciplinary firm covering financial advice, ac...
1 Jun 2026
The Bigger Picture: Policy, Regulation & Victoria's Property Market
In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Mel Dennis steps back from the transaction table to look at the forces shaping Victoria's property market from the top down. Mel sits down with Toby Balazs, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV), who brings over 20 years of experience across proptech, residential, and project marketing — and right now, a packed policy agenda heading into an election year. From a controversial auction rule change the industry believes will backfire, ...
27 May 2026
Demystifying Property Finance
In this episode of Property, Straight Up, host Mel Dennis from Domain & Co sits down with Nathan Murphy, mortgage broker at Blue Rock, to demystify property finance from understanding what you can actually borrow, to structuring your lending for long-term growth. Nathan brings nearly two decades of industry context from Blue Rock, a Melbourne-based multi-disciplinary firm covering accounting, financial advice, legal services, and mortgage broking, giving clients a rare one-stop-shop advan...
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