Buying your first home is an exciting time! But like the first time anything, it can be easy to make mistakes, simply because it’s a new frontier.
Here are 4 common traps that you should look out for when you are buying your first home, and how you can avoid them.
- Relying on family and friends for advice
Your family and friends are often the first people you turn to for advice – they are trusted, and supportive and (hopefully invested enough in your well being to offer their honest opinion.
But that doesn’t mean they are experts. Buying a home is not only a big decision – it’s a big financial commitment. If your family and friends aren’t buying houses every other day, they they may not be experts. The lending environment has changed a great deal in the past few years – so if it’s been a while since your family and friends purchased a property, it’s likely things have changed. In addition to this, different people experience different circumstances – so what worked for them may not work for you.
In a nutshell, while family and friends have your best intentions at heart, it’s always best to seek professional advice.
As reputable mortgage brokers with extensive local contacts and networks, we can also connect you to other professionals you’ll need to work with as you process your first home purchase – these include a solicitor or conveyancer, a building and pest inspector and an Accountant. Let us know if you’re not sure where to start.
- Underestimating the true cost of ownership
It’s easy to get over-excited when you start looking at properties. It’s great fun to shop around, and scroll through the property apps, or property section of the local paper, and add the ‘ticks all boxes’ properties to your shortlist.
But remember, it’s also important to be realistic and prepared. The last thing you want to do is to fall in love with a future home and find you can’t afford the home loan repayments.
There’s a lot to consider aside from the price of the property – your deposit, stamp duty, lenders fees and charges, solicitor fees and more. Then there are the ongoing costs, such as rates, insurance, body corporate fees, maintenance and repairs. It’s important you have a solid grasp of your financial situation and budget.
We can help you crunch these numbers. We can explain your borrowing power and create a home-buying budget for you. We can discuss pre-approval for your home loan, so you’ll have one less thing to worry about. This is key in understanding how much you have to spend, so you are only putting properties on your shortlist that you can truly afford. We are also well-across what grants or concessions might be available, that could get you into your dream home sooner.
- Getting a mortgage that doesn’t fit your needs
All the different home loan products out there can get overwhelming, especially for first home buyers. Offset or redraw accounts? Fixed or variable rates? Line of credit? Split home loan? There’s a lot of decisions to make.
This is where we come in.
Our job is to make it easy for you to understand your financial situation and guide you as you make these important decisions. It is also our job to help you compare the home loan market, find the right home loan based on your current situation, and walk you through the home loan application process.
- Letting your emotion get the best of you
Buying your first home is exciting, overwhelming, and can be stressful all at the same time. It can be easy to let your emotions cloud your judgement, too.
Try not to let this happen (we know – it’s easier said than done.)
Do your research to ensure that you get the right property at the right price. We can help, so you can make an informed decision. We also have access to property valuation reports, so if you have a potential future home in mind, we can see how the numbers stack up.
If you’re keen to make the dream of home ownership a reality, get in touch to start the ball rolling.
