7 Tips to Help Buy Your First Home!

For a lot of people, the very idea of being able to buy their own home is nothing more than a fantasy. After all, over the last few decades both the cost of living, and the price of many homes have skyrocketed. Not to mention the increased difficulty in getting a mortgage!

This leaves many people in the position of wanting to own their own home, but being forced to either rent or to keep living with their parents, because it feels as though buying a property simply isn't possible. But the truth is, things might not be as hopeless as you first think. Of course buying a home is going to be far from easy, but that doesn't make it impossible! With that in mind, here are 7 tips to help you towards that dream house.

Photo by Sylvie Tittel on Unsplash

1. Do your research

One of the biggest mistakes that you can make, is to push forward with the process of buying a home, without really knowing what it is that you're getting in for. If you don't do enough research, then you're almost certainly going to end up in a position where there are fees that you didn't consider, complications that you weren't aware of, or you didn't realise how much time the whole process was going to take.

If you're serious about buying your own home, you need to do as much research as possible (well in advance) before taking the next step. There are hundreds of blog posts and articles online that can provide you with pretty much every single piece of information that you could possibly need. Or why not turn to your parents or friends who have been through the process for advice.

2. Find the best mortgage deals

Your biggest concern when it comes to buying you're a home, is almost certainly going to be the mortgage itself. A mortgage is mostly likely going to be the most significant piece of debt that you'll ever find yourself dealing with. Luckily, there are companies out there who are able to help you find the best possible mortgage deals though - so that you not only save yourself money, but so you are in a better position to actually apply for the mortgage in the first place.

3. Learn to compromise

When a lot of people say that they can't buy a home, what they actually mean is that they're not in a position to buy their perfect home. Now, the idea of being your forever home is a wonderful one and something that most people imagine when buying their first property. However, the reality is that unless you're in an incredibly comfortable financial position, that's just not something that you're going to be able to do.

Instead, why not think about the benefits of getting your foot on the property ladder in the first place. Your first home might not be where you want to spend the rest of your life, but it gets you onto the ladder, and makes buying other properties in the future a much more realistic proposition.

Find a property that ticks most, if not all, of your boxes while still falling within a reasonable price range. Things like the location of your property can make a huge difference. If you look at properties in Malaysia then you’ll find that you can find a great deal of properties that offer a huge amount of quality at a much lower budget. Then you can spend the next few years saving for a bigger or better property, while also adding value to your current house.

4 - Look for property alternative

While you might have your heart set on a beautiful house, an apartment could save you a lot of money while still providing you with a spacious and attractive home. Or maybe you'd like to go even further outside of the box. Instead of taking out a huge mortgage on a house, why not spend a lot less on something like a houseboat or a van? Now, this most certainly isn't going to be the life for everyone, but for those who want to be able to move around more regularly than if they had to buy and sell their homes every time, something like this has a lot of benefits.

5 - Look ahead to the future

If you're saying "I can't afford to buy a house", there's a good chance that what you mean is "I can't afford to buy the house I want right now." As similar as they might seem, it's important to remember that those two statements mean very different things!

If you're feeling discouraged by the idea of never being able to afford a home, remember that your financial situation now is not necessarily going to be the same as your financial situation in the future. You might even want to start thinking about the kinds of career decisions that you need to make, in order to make it more likely that you're going to be able to afford your own home further down the line.

6 - Start saving now

One of the very best things that you can do when it comes to being able to afford your own home, is to start saving your money right now. If you start saving now, even if the idea of buying a home is one that you're not even close to thinking about, you're going to make it a whole lot easier when the time does come. Having the money that you need for a deposit set aside will make everything easier on you in the long run.

7 - Don't let anyone put pressure on you

Trying to buy a house can often feel like an incredibly intimidating process, to the point where it can be pretty overwhelming. One of the most important things is to remember though, is that you should never let anyone try to pressure you into anything. Your estate agent might try and push specific solicitors on you, or encourage you to spend money in ways that don't make sense to you. If you are told you that you have to do something a certain way, go away and do some research. You may find that you can get better deals elsewhere, or that they are simply trying to unfairly squeeze money out of you.

The reality of buying a home is that it can be a long, complicated, and often deeply frustrating process. But by following some of these tips, you can hopefully make the process that little bit easier, and even make that dream home yours sooner than you think!

This is a collaborative post.