Here’s the story of my first home purchase below;
I purchased my very first at the age of 18 back with 5% deposit back when 100% lending was a regular occurrence. I worked 70 hours a week for over a year at the time at the Bank during the day and as a waitress at night as well as selling my super charged vehicle to save for my first deposit. Once I had saved enough I had my loan approved with the bank to spend up to $200,000 on my first home.
I was very excited looking for houses although it did make it hard when many did not advertise the approx. selling price in hindsight a buyer’s agent (an agent designed to work as a broker for you to find houses that suit your wish/want list) would have been very helpful in saving me a lot of time turning up at houses very much out of my price range. I do remember looking at one house day dreaming thinking this would be amazing and the agent popped over to me saying that he knew someone that could increase my lending – but I had done my budget and new what I could afford personally without living on rice for the rest of my mortgage life.
Luckily I stuck to my guns and found my first home that fitted my budget, by no means was it the most beautiful or did it tick off everything in my wish list but it was a start and cheaper then renting that’s for sure! 90 square metres of my own home with less space to clean and easy to heat, great positives!! I then fixed my interest rates in for the shorter term rates trying to take advantage of lower rates at the time, which unfortunately did not work in my favour with rates going up double in the financial crisis, I kind of wish I had locked in longer term rates from the beginning so I secured my repayments for a longer period of time, however interest rates can always be a bit of a gamble as anything in the economic universe can affect them, it just meant I had to tighten up my budget and get another room mate in. So when doing your budget it always pays to have a backup plan think about what happens if the rates do go up, how will I ensure I am still able to make my repayments?
Another learning for myself was that in the very first weekend after I settled the level pipe on my roof for my hot water cylinder fell off and I had to get an emergency plumber out to fix the plumbing an expensive lesson the first weekend in, luckily my parents leant me the money to cover the cost of repairs as I had not accounted for this – definitely pays to have an emergency savings or some dollars left behind for anything that may come up straight away!
Having my own home though was awesome, painting the walls the colours I wanted, decorating using nails and permanent fixtures, having no one to answer with being allowed to have a dog or any animal I wanted and choosing my own flat mates all major advantages that I love, also known as “the kiwi dream.”
I guess the moral is buying a home can be scary and daunting at the first time with so many unknowns, and yes not everything always goes smoothly however we really want to help make the whole process an easier more pleasant one by teaching you what we have learnt over the years in order to help make your experience smoother and awesome at the same time!
Hope my story helps you a little bit.
