Help me buy my first home

Buying your first home can be both exciting and overwhelming. After all, it’s your first step onto the property ladder and quite possibly your first major financial investment. It’s also an expensive and time-consuming process. 

So even though this is your first house, you should try to ensure that you’ll be happy in it for as long as possible. We have created this guide to help you do exactly that.

Credit Union SA is here to help you sort through all of the red tape and nonsensical banking language. With our help you’ll be fully informed and attending open inspections in no time.

What are your goals?

One of the earliest and most important things to do is to take the time to consider your wants and needs – not just today, but how you anticipate them changing in the foreseeable future.

A critical aspect to this is identifying the ideal location for your first home, in terms of proximity to your work, family and social networks, lifestyle activities and environmental appeal.

Do your research with real estate agents and online sites to work out if you can afford to buy a house in the areas you want to live. If not, you might want to consider buying an investment property in a cheaper area and renting where you work and play. That way you’ll still be building equity in your own property, but without sacrificing the things you care about.

Understand your repayments

Owning your first home is a wonderful feeling, but that glow can wear off quickly if your mortgage repayments force you to sacrifice the good things in life. 

Have a think about what kind of house you can afford, and how long it will take you to save up your deposit. Our Repayment calculator will let you work out how much you can afford to borrow, and what your repayments will be. Make sure you work within your means; as a rough guide your repayments shouldn’t be more than around 30% of your income after tax.

Establish a realistic budget

One of the most important things you’ll need when buying your first house is a healthy deposit, and for most people that means saving. One of the best things you can do to maximise the amount of money you can save is work out a budget.

Our budgeting guide provides some tips on how to budget, and our Budget Planner calculator can help you determine how much you can afford to save each month without sacrificing your lifestyle by helping you to track your finances. Because who wants to buy a house if you have to stop living your life to do it?

You may also want to consider placing your savings into a high-interest savings account or Term Deposit to make sure your savings are working for you.

Budget Planner Calculator Savings Account Term Deposit

Understand the costs of buying

There are many costs involved in buying a home, so it’s important to factor them all into your budget when working out how much you need to borrow.

One of the biggest costs for first home buyers is often Lenders’ Mortgage Insurance (LMI). LMI is insurance paid for by the homebuyer, which protects the lender against the risk of the buyer not paying back their loan. It’s usually required if you borrow more than 80% of the value of the property, so the bigger the deposit you can save, the less you’ll need to pay on LMI.

Use our Buying and Selling Costs Calculator to get an indication of the costs of buying and selling, including real estate agent costs and stamp duty.

Getting organised

Once you have a good understanding of your costs and borrowing potential, it’s time to have a chat with one of our home loan specialists. You can call us or organise for a Mobile Lending Manager to come and see you. Make sure you write down any questions, no matter how silly they may seem, to ask our home loan specialists.

We’re here to support you through one of the biggest decisions you’ll make, and the more informed and confident you are the smoother everything else will be.

Mobile Lending Manager

This is general advice only and doesn’t take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Conditions, fees and lending criteria apply and are available on request.

Credit Union SA Ltd ABN 36 087 651 232, AFSL/Australian Credit Licence Number 241066 arranges this insurance as agent for the insurer Allianz Australia Insurance Limited ABN 15 000 122 850 AFSL No 234708. We do not provide any advice based on any consideration of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Policy terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Before making a decision, please consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement available from creditunionsa.com.au/terms-and-conditions. If you purchase this insurance, we will receive a commission that is a percentage of the premium. Ask us for more details before we provide you with services.