Buying your first home is an experience that you'll never forget.
You'll be dealing with amounts of money that you've probably never worked with before and from start to finish the process is a whirlwind of emotion and excitement that's often sprinkled with a little bit of nervousness and anxiety.
Today we are going to try and make things feel a little more familiar for first-time buyers. We're going to share 4 essential bits of advice that any prospective property owner should take into account before signing on the dotted line.
Let's get started.
1.) Start Saving Sooner
While around 20% is probably the most common deposit amount, these days there are lenders that will provide mortgages to first time buyers who have smaller deposits. While these deals can often offer people a path to the property ladder that may have been previously out of reach – they can also be costly.
The less deposit you provide, the riskier the loan is for the lender and as such, you may be offered a higher interest rate or asked to take out private mortgage insurance.
Save as soon as you can (and as much as you can) for that first deposit. If you do you'll almost certainly be getting a much better deal long term.
2.) Put Aside Some Cash For After You've Moved In
Once you've closed the deal and received the keys, you'll undoubtedly have additional expenses to cover. When you're viewing the house, think about things like furniture, repairs, decorating and other little odds and ends that you may want to sort out pretty quickly after you move in.
Try and estimate how much you're going to need and set the money aside to get your property fixed up promptly.
3.) Be Realistic
One of the most common traps that first-time buyers fall into is either being too optimistic (or too pessimistic) about a property.
For example, imagine you think you've found the perfect property but there are one or two deal-breaking issues that you feel could be fixed within budget. But, when the time comes to make the fixes – the costs are much higher than expected (potentially prohibitively so).
It's not a great situation to be in...
Similarly, you could buy a house on "the wrong side of town" because you think you're getting a great deal as the property itself is nice. However, as you'd learn very quickly, you can change a property easily - but you can't change the neighborhood it's in.
Listen to you your real estate agent, take in their expert advice, and try and remain as grounded as possible throughout the entire process – it's easy to get carried away in the fun and excitement of real estate.
4.) Use A Realtor
As you might expect, we feel that using a realtor is extremely beneficial for all property transactions, but this is especially true in the case of first-time buyers. Navigating the world of real estate can be tricky—we're here to protect both you and your investment.
A good realtor will know things about the area and market that you probably don't. They'll know about things that are likely to affect your decision (positively or negatively) and they'll be completely transparent in sharing that information.
Simply put, they know the questions to ask, and perhaps more importantly – they know how to ask them.
A good realtor should end up feeling more like an advisor than a salesperson. They're going to be your fountain of knowledge guiding you on your journey to the perfect property purchase!
We absolutely love assisting first time home buyers on their journey to home ownership; it's one of the most rewarding experiences and greatest accomplishments you'll ever achieve.
