Would you buy a home without looking at the options, or do you think it might be better to see what’s available when buying your home?
Most people would admit that it’s smarter to go and have a look at the home you are considering buying, but also have a look at other property, and even get an expert building inspector to check it out for you too.
Of course for most first home buyers the thought of buying a home is quite daunting and you want to ensure that you avoid buying something that you will not be happy with. You will want to have a look around to make sure that it’s what you want, and to make sure that you are not paying too much.
The last thing that you want is to regret the purchase.
The Focus Is The New Home
When you are buying your first home it’s easy to get wrapped up in the emotion and be solely focused on the dream of owning a home.
You determine what you want – the features.
How many bedrooms, does it have an ensuite, what about the kitchen and is there a good dishwasher.
How big is the section and is there an area for the kids to play outside, or a shed for the older kid to tinker.
Even things like the colour of the house can be important.
You look at various houses and find the one that ticks all the boxes within your budget.
What About The Mortgage?
Then when a first home buyer looks at the mortgage it’s easy for the criteria to be more about how easy the loan approval was and how much the approval was for.
Obviously a first home buyer has never had a mortgage before and therefore it’s easy to be blind to the options.
As mortgage advisers we will often speak to people that have had a home for a few years and have never had the mortgage properly explained. At the time of buying their first home they admit that they were so focused on the home and just happy to have been given a mortgage.
We also know that while buying a home is a huge purchase, entering into a mortgage is probably your biggest financial decision and as such should be taken seriously.
Getting The Best Mortgage
As we have mentioned, getting a home loan quickly and easily may seem like the most important thing when you are stressing about the whole process; however “quick” and “easy” don’t have the same appeal when you find out that you’ve not got the best mortgage.
But what is the “best” mortgage?
Most first home buyers start with a 30-year mortgage as this is how the banks and most advisers set things up to ensure that the repayments are affordable for you, and maybe there was a mention of paying it off faster – maybe not.
You would hope that there is also a good conversation about the benefits of paying your loans off faster.
If you can pay your mortgage off more quickly you can save thousands of dollars and be freehold years earlier.
That’s appealing for most people, but it’s also often not prudent to just commit to larger repayments and end up locked into a situation that you might not be able to continue with. You also need to consider the future and plans that you may have to start a family, change careers and anything else that may happen regardless if planned or not.
It’s hard to know what is going to happen over the next year or two, but when you start to talk about planning the next 10-years or 20+ years it’s going to be guesswork really.
When we talk about the best mortgages we are talking about those that are the most flexible while being competitive with interest rates too.
Contact us and we can discuss the options that will suit you.
