First Home Buyers

First home buyers often have many complicated tasks to complete before receiving the keys to their first home. Countless hours can be spent searching for the right property that suits your needs, at the same time arranging finance to purchase a proposed property can be a nightmare.

• How much can you borrow?

• Where can you afford to buy?

• How much will the banks lend for the proposed property?

We aim to assist you in this challenge and make your first home purchase as enjoyable and trouble free as it should be.

As a first home buyer, it's a good idea to save the biggest deposit that you can afford to. Open a savings account specifically for your house deposit and make regular deposits as often as possible. When choosing a savings account, have a look at several banks and credit unions - they key here is to find an savings account with little or no fees and a good interest rate too if possible.

There are several banks offering online styled accounts with no monthly fees, no minimum deposits, no fees for withdrawals and generally paying between 5.5%pa to 6.5%pa - the best part is this is also calculated daily, paid monthly.

Banks and lenders like to see a savings history to show that you are responsible with your money and can afford to save money each week, even if it's only small amounts.

There are heaps of home loans available to first home buyers, but resist the temptation to jump in without doing your research. Generally speaking, if you can afford a 20% deposit, the amount of LMI (Lenders Mortgage Insurance) is greatly reduced, as the risk to the lender is.

When you start to look at borrowing more than 80% of the property value as a first home buyer, you will attract a higher rate of LMI. Some lenders will lend first home buyers up to 110% of the property value - the extra 10% is to cover fees, charges and the highly increased LMI.

If you can avoid LMI, this is good, as you can put these savings directly into reducing the principle owing on your mortgage. The less you owe the bank, the less you pay in interest, the faster you own your own home.

To find out what loan products may suit your needs - please feel free to fill out a mortgage analysis, this service is cost and obligation free and only takes a minute to complete. Find out where you stand today!