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Where to start when buying your first home

First Home Buyers

15 Nov 2021

| Home Loan

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.


Set your 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 Budget Planner calculator can help you determine how much you can afford to save each month, without sacrificing your lifestyle. 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


4 ways to level up your first home buyer game

We've teamed up with Emma from The Broke Generation to share four top tips to help you level up your first home buying game!


What are your goals?

Now is a good time to 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 after tax income.

Repayment Calculator


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.

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Contact us

Call us on (08) 8202 7777 or visit us at 400 King William Street, Adelaide

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
View all Loans FAQs

Struggling to save up enough of a deposit to buy your first home or first investment property? Then our Family Guarantee could be just the thing to get you into a place you can call your own. Our Family Guarantee enables first home buyers with limited savings to enter the property market sooner*.

Here's how it works – If your parents or other family members have equity in their home, investment property or have a Term Deposit with Credit Union SA, you can use that equity or investment to guarantee a portion of your loan.

Which family members can provide a Family Guarantee?

  • Parents
  • Parents-in-law
  • Step-parents

Credit Union SA will consider the provision of guarantees by other immediate family members where a guarantee from the above-mentioned family members would not be appropriate.

When can a Family Guarantee be used?

Guarantees from family members can only be provided to assist first home buyers/investors to:

  • purchase a new property;
  • purchase an established property;
  • build a new home.

Where a borrower is entitled to a government grant, the entitlement will not be affected by the provision of a Family Guarantee. Family Guarantees will not usually be accepted by the Credit Union where offered to support borrowings for a second/subsequent property or for any other purpose.

To find out more about leveraging the equity in Mum and Dad's home so you can get into yours, have an obligation-free chat with one of our experienced staff, Mobile Managers or download our guide.

Download our Family Guarantee Guide

*Subject to responsible lending criteria.

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