Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Buy Your First Home

Buying a home at any point in your life is a huge deal, but your first home is one of the most important transactions that you’ll make. If you’re looking to buy your first home chances are you’ve been saving money for quite a long time. So you’ve had plenty of time to think about it. But there’s a lot to consider before buying and making that move.

In an ideal world you will want to stay in your home for at least five years to ensure you don’t lose out on any money. Plus when you’re no longer a first time buyer it can be even more expensive to move with stamp duty and fees.

Why do you want to buy your first home?

There are lots of reason why you may want to buy your first home. It could be for the financial investment of owning property and not paying someone else’s mortgage. Maybe you want to have full control over decoration and renovations. But whatever the reason make sure they’re realistic.

A report in April 2019 of US millennial homeowners found that 51% had regrets about purchasing their homes. The top reasons were that the monthly mortgage payments were too high, the house requires too much maintenance, and the house has depreciated in value too much since purchase.

While you may pay similar amounts (or even less) monthly on a mortgage as opposed to rent, the cost of owning is much higher. You’re responsible for things that break or go wrong, and you have no landlord to call to fix things. If your washing machine breaks you’re responsible. When the winds are high and your fence panels in the garden come down you have to fix them etc.

Are you ready for the responsibility?

As I mentioned above being a homeowner is a lot of responsibility so think about whether you’re ready.

You’ll want to send up a savings account for home related things so if something does go wrong you have the cash. Ideally this should be separate from your emergency fund as there will always be something to pay out on. This is especially so if you’re renovating your place. Or even just if you’re going room by room decorating.

Don’t feel pressured to buy just because everyone else is, or you think you should. Do it when you’re mentally and financially ready.

Have you considered the area before you buy your first home?

When you buy your first home, or any home for that matter the area is one of the most important things to consider. You can make lots of changes inside a house, but there’s nothing you can do about the location or area.

Firstly you want to think about whether this is an area you’ll be happy to live in for the foreseeable future. If you have plans to relocate or move for work then it’s probably better to wait until this happens before buying.

If you’re going to buy your first home in the area you already live you probably know it very well. But most people will end up moving either a little way away, or miles away from where they live to be able to afford a good home. We moved half an hour further north as it gave us so much more for our money. But this meant we were going to an area we didn’t know.

Moving to a new area?

Before you even view a property do a drive by to get an idea of the type of road it’s on, and the surrounding area. We crossed a lot of properties off our list that were on main or busy roads but it wasn’t obvious from the listing.

Before putting in any offers drive around the property during different times of the day including at night, at weekends, and during rush hour to get a good idea of what it would be like to live there. It’s also a good idea to do your commute drive during rush hour to see what it would be like.

How much can you afford to pay to buy your first home?

This is probably one of the most important questions to consider before you buy your first time. This is especially important at the moment with the cost of living at a high. Your mortgage payment should be no more than 25% of your gross income, or 25% of your combined gross income if you’re buying with someone.

This might not sound like a lot but by the time you add in all the other fixed costs such as council tax, energy, insurance policies, food etc you don’t want to be reaching beyond what you can afford. Be realistic about how much you commit to. You don’t have to take out the maximum mortgage a bank will lend you if you think it’s too much of your income. It’s better to get a house you can afford and be happy than the dream house but be stressed about money all the time.

You may find that it’s better to save for a bit longer and get a bigger deposit so you can bring down the monthly mortgage costs.

Are there any other questions to consider before you buy your first home?

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