How to Be a Savvy Homebuyer
Buying a home is an exciting time — especially when you’re a first homebuyer. Here are a few tips to help you make the right decisions and enjoy a smooth home buying experience.
Home Buying Checklist
There are so many steps in the home buying process that making a checklist really helps. The first steps in buying your first home are the most important and help to ensure you’re ready for homeownership, starting by making sure you know exactly what’s involved.
Know What’s Involved
You’ve found the ideal home, the mortgage is approved, and the process is underway, building a home will be one of the most exciting times of your life! Buying a home is also an expensive time, and you must be aware of what’s involved, how much it costs and how to make the experience as financially rewarding as possible. For example, first homebuyers have access to government grants and stamp duty concessions, so know the incentives you’re entitled to and make sure you get them.
Knowing what’s involved, your obligations, and what you’re entitled to as a first homebuyer, makes the home buying process smoother and more easily manageable.
Do You Have Enough Deposit and Savings?
You can never have enough deposit as a homebuyer, with 20% of the purchase price and enough for the other buying costs a good financial goal. However, you can secure a mortgage with significantly less. Some lenders work with homebuyers with as little as 5% saved, but you’ll still need to consider:
- Your current credit score and report
- The mortgage repayments you can afford to repay
- Other financial commitments (car finance, personal loan, school fees, etc.)
The additional buying costs you’ll need to consider in addition to the deposit are:
- Conveyancing fees
- Mortgage registration fees
- Stamp duty fees (free for first homebuyers)
- Mortgage insurance (for homebuyers with less than 20% deposit).
These are the fees for a new-build home. If you were buying a pre-lived-in home, you’d also have to factor in additional costs like building and pest inspections.
Our MyChoice Home Loans service can help you find the right home loan for your situation and our MyChoice Conveyancing service is cost effective and can help you get into your new home sooner.
Which Home is Right for You?
Buying the right home involves determining what you need now and what you’re likely to need 5-10 years down the track. What may be the perfect home for a young couple isn’t likely to be ideal for a small (and growing) family, so reflect on why you want to buy a home. This helps you to determine ‘must-haves’ and ‘nice-to-haves’ and prioritise what’s important.
Keeping an open mind is essential to finding the perfect home. If you have your heart set on a two-storey home also visit single-storey display homes to experience the difference. Visiting multiple display homes and exploring a wide range of home designs gives you a greater understanding of your options and helps you make more informed buying decisions. What’s more, you never know what you may find and fall in love with.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what’s involved and the costs of buying your first home, get in touch with McDonald Jones Homes online or call us on 1300 555 382.