Am I able to buy my first home in Auckland?

First homes in Auckland. My honest opinion.

Can I buy my first home in Auckland? This question is so common nowadays. It takes perseverance and sacrifice to save up enough for that 10-20% deposit and then if the house or apartment prices move another 5% upwards it becomes even harder. The good news is that it’s now a buyer’s market and is likely to remain so for a while. This means that vendor’s are more negotiable.

A search of TradeMe for properties in Auckland between $400,000 and $600,000 shows 2,200 (July 2018) listings. Now granted, there might be some double up where properties are listed with more than one Real Estate Agent, but there is still a good number to offer on.

It is nerve racking buying your first home and it is a big financial undertaking. So, talk to your parents or find a mortgage adviser who you can sit down with and talk through the buying process, the mortgage and most importantly the property you are buying. Many people make a purchase without looking at the money they are going to have to spend on the property in the first three years after purchase or miscalculate the rates, insurance and Body Corporate costs. These are way more crucial than trying to save 0.1% on your mortgage or committing to a 30 year loan, when you could pay it off sooner- after all, do you want to have a mortgage aged 60?

The best way to get on the ladder is with help from your parents. There are right and wrong ways to be gifted money, so if you and your parents want to know more and make sure both parties are looked after, then please contact me for more information. This is one thing you want to get right, as it can end up costing people a lot of money down the track if things go south.

There are some other things to sort out before you apply for a loan, including considering your credit history and the way you run your bank accounts and credit cards. It is important to present your loan application to a lender(s) as clean as possible and make it easy for them today yes when funds for borrowing over 80% of the purchase price as more limited than they used to be.