Buying your first home is exciting. But it can also be daunting, especially for a first home buyer. Without the proper guidance, you could struggle to raise the deposit, and have a hard time working with bureaucratic mortgage lenders. Worse still, once you’ve moved in, you’ll have to contend with the hassle and costs of maintaining your home. All these would not just take a heavy toll on your energies, it could seriously deplete your wallet.
But you don’t have to go through these stresses. If you are a first home buyer, these tips will help you get an affordable mortgage, have an easy time with the lenders, and minimize maintenance costs and hassles.
Get the Right Kind of Help for a First Home Buyer
If you are thinking of buying your first home, congratulations are in order. You’ve made major strides on your homeownership journey. Prepare yourself for the big leap.
Don’t let the COVID-19 situation slow you down. Also, don’t let many negative economic commentators dampen your spirit. It’s a great time to buy a property.
But don’t do it alone.
Reach out to a trusted mortgage broker for help on how to plan your finances, get an affordable mortgage and meander through the lending bureaucracy. A fine mortgage broker will also help you apply the following tips.
Start with a lower mortgage
Don’t get it wrong. A classic 1970’s home on a quarter acre on the vicinity of a major centre like Auckland or Hamilton could be your dream home. But it could be worth more than $800,000.
That means you’ll have to come up with a deposit of at least $80,000 to get an ear from any lender. Not to mention other costs such as legal fees, insurance and inspection fees.
If it won’t strain you, by all means, go for it. But if it’s a stretch, reconsider.
Go for lower quartile priced homes like a terraced house or an apartment. It’s a more affordable mortgage and for a first home buyer, there are many benefits:
- The sale price is significantly lower. If you are looking in areas like Hamilton an apartment would be in the range of $500,000 to $600,000. Thus a significantly lower deposit is required.
- You could qualify for a First Home Grant.
- Mortgage payments would be more affordable.
- With the right mortgage structure, you could finish paying it off much sooner.
A lower quartile priced home like an apartment may not be your picture-perfect dream house. But developers are coming up with amazing designs that could easily rival traditional classics.
Minimize maintenance
Don’t overlook the maintenance aspect of homeownership. Older homes wear faster and larger homes demand a lot more in maintenance. Making basic kitchen alterations in Auckland could cost you anything in the range of $5,000 to $10,000. A figure that could easily cover up to three months of mortgage payments.
You could have landed an amazing deal on an older home, and got an affordable mortgage. But you may spend all the savings on repairs and maintenance over the years.
Fortunately, developers such as Curtis McCorquindale of Queenwood Property help to bridge the gap between affordable homes in Hamilton and low maintenance. As Curtis puts it “Our homes are of manageable size with low maintenance landscaping, allowing our clients to enjoy their time more, spend longer at their beach house, or play with their grandkids. Our clients no longer need to spend their weekends pulling weeds of out the garden, hours mowing the lawns, or attending repair jobs.”
Consider buying a newly-built home. Queenwood Property builds and sells townhouses, duplexes, and in general, higher density housing within Hamilton City. You can reach out to Curtis directly through email curtis@queenwood.nz or call/text 027 777 1994.
Remain flexible
Finally, many people will agree that it’s harder to get an affordable mortgage for a traditional home on a large compound. It’s equally hard to get a buyer when you need to sell.
If you are a first home buyer, a lower quartile priced home like a duplex is not only easier to get the financing it’s easier to sell. Curtis says “low maintenance’ and ‘lock + leave’ seems to be on everyone’s Christmas wish list.”
You can get a buyer whenever you want to move up the property ladder. Plus, financing won’t be a problem since you’ve been servicing an affordable mortgage. So, reach out to a mortgage broker to help you start the stress-free climb.