First home buyer photo

Purchasing your inaugural home marks an exhilarating milestone! Chances are, you’ve diligently saved for quite some time, and now you’re contemplating whether the moment is opportune.

This scenario is quite common. At some juncture, you’ll likely feel assured about your income and job security, with your expenditures well in hand. You might even catch yourself perusing real estate listings or attending open houses. Achieving this goal has been a journey you’ve committed to, and perhaps now is the moment to dive in.

During this phase, you might find yourself pondering various questions:

  1. What are the essential steps in the home buying process?
  2. Where should I proceed from here? What’s my next move?
  3. What initial homebuyer benefits are accessible to me?
  4. Do I possess a sufficient down payment?
  5. What loan amount is within my financial means, and what will the ensuing repayments entail?
  6. Is it necessary for me to establish a credit rating?
  7. Should I approach a bank, or would utilizing a mortgage broker be more beneficial?
  8. Whom should I consult for assistance with the contractual aspects?
  9. How can I locate the perfect home that suits my needs?

We also came up with a series of questions -separate from the above- that might help you with your first home purchase.

What are the steps in the buying process?

There are actually two processes happening simultaneously. The property (buying) process and the finance process. They interact but have different milestones. We did a full description of the two processes and how they need to “line up” on a seperate page.

Here, we will just mention the simplified version. There are the following steps:

  1. Finance application -> pre approval (you are now ready to make offers or bid at an auction*)
  2. Make an offer on a property / register for an auction
  3. Offer accepted / pay holding deposit (At this point your cooling off period starts)
  4. Formal / unconditional finance approval
  5. Exchange / commit to purchase (now you need to pay the 5% or 10% deposit)
  6. Settlement (here the title deed transfers to you and you become a home owner

* -Legal disclaimer- Be aware that the auction process always has an element of risk attached. The complexity is a bit more than this space allows so talk to us to get the details. Be fully informed.