First Time Home Buyers - Don’t Let Your Emotions Get the Better of You

March 25, 2019

don’t let your emotions get the better of you

A property is an emotional purchase

You want your home to be just right and so you need to feel like it’s home. When you get that feeling it can be difficult to shake. You start to envision a life there and it can give you a bit of property tunnel vision. You don’t want to make a rash decision based on emotion. So, while you need to feel good about it, you’ll need to think about it too.

Emotion can take hold straight away

Especially when you have a selling agent that really knows how to shine a light on the great things about the house. Even the agent is something that you need to remove emotion from. A friendly, sincere selling agent is still ultimately acting for the seller and has their interests in mind, not yours.

A home is more than a building

While that may sound like you need to have an emotional connection, it’s more than that. You need to be able to live there. What’s the neighbourhood like? Do you like the area? Does it have everything you want close by, like schools, shops, and cafes? Is it safe? Go for a walk around the area and check it out. Talk to neighbours and find out more about the place. Check out public transport timetables. You can even find an area’s crime statistics online.

Parent Article: 11 Common First Home Buyer Mistakes

Can you do what you want?

If you have big plans beyond the purchase, you have to consider what approvals you might need or covenants that may be in place that could stop renovations. It’s important to know where and what services you have on the property too.

Don’t forget your budget

Once you’ve established a budget make sure you stick to it. While you may love the house, you need to be sure you can afford it. There’s no point buying a new home just to have to try and sell a year down the track because you can’t make repayments. Most lenders will consider a debt to income ratio. This is what percentage of your income will be debt repayments.

Typically, for a lender to approve a mortgage, this shouldn’t exceed 36%. But it’s important that you do your own budget and determine what you can afford without changing your lifestyle too much. If you can get a mortgage pre-approval, this can help guide your budget and keep you out of homes that may draw you into overspending. Also, don’t forget to check if you’re eligible for any first home buyer benefits.

You don’t want it to all fall down

At first, glance, especially if you are enamoured with a property, everything can look fine. In fact, to the untrained eye, a home can look great after several glances. While it does incur an additional cost, a building and pest inspection can uncover problems with the property now, potential problems, even issues that have been fixed in the past. They can give you a report with their recommendations to give you peace of mind.

Even if they do find issues it may not mean the property is out of the running. It may be something minor that your solicitor can include as a condition of the contract or give you the potential to bargain.

Now let yourself go

If you’ve found a place that really feels great and it ticks all the logical boxes, get excited. It’s hard work finding a property, so when you do it feels good to imagine yourself there and plan the things you want to do there. If you’re eager to get to the emotional part of a property purchase but want help ticking the logic boxes, contact our property law team at CM Lawyers.

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