First Home Buyer’s Guide for 2024 | Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of our guide for first home buyers! In part 1 of our First Home Buyer’s Guide for 2024 we covered a lot of important considerations for your 2024 property journey. This included the property outlook (and regardless of what you might think, it’s still a great time to buy) and government schemes that might help you get on the property ladder faster and more affordably.

But there’s a lot more to buying your first home than just understanding the lay of the land. When it comes to buying a property in 2024, high competition for homes is still continuing. So it’s important to be able to move quickly and to showcase your attractiveness as a buyer for potential lenders.

In this part two of our guide for first home buyers we’ll cover some of the best ways to do that and set yourself up for a home purchase in 2024.

First Home Buyer’s Guide for 2024 – Part 2

Be realistic with your expectations

One of our first and best suggestions for first home buyers who want to get onto the property ladder in 2024 is to be realistic about the type of property you’re look for. Don’t feel like you have to be in your forever home right away. In fact, if you do only look at those types of properties, it may take you longer than ever to get into a home.

Instead, think hard about where you’re happy to start and what concessions you might be willing to make. Maybe a pool isn’t important, but an office space is. Or maybe you could do with one less bathroom, or a carport rather than a garage.

These types of compromises may be particularly important in the 2024 property market where there are less properties than buyers and competition is fierce.

Develop your savings habits

There’s nothing that will help your first home purchase more than a strong savings habit. Of course you need to be saving for your deposit. And getting to 20% of the purchase price will ensure that you can avoid paying LMI.

However, demonstrating that you’re a good saver also makes you look like a better candidate for lenders. That can influence the interest rate they may offer you or even sway whether or not they’ll offer you a home loan.

Some great ways to save:

• Pay off your debts first. This includes credit cards, other loans and any other debts you might owe.
• Review your flow of money. There may be places where you can cut costs that you haven’t thought of yet. Maybe you could ring up and get a better deal on your Wi-Fi. Maybe there’s a small side hustle that you could bring in a little bit of extra income.
• Create a savings plan. It needs to include ambitious but attainable goals that take into account your budget.
• Use a budget planner. This will track all your purchases and money coming in to make sure you’re not overspending.
• Consider having a separate, high-interest savings account. The money you’re saving for your deposit should go directly into this account. Best if it’s straight from your pay cheque via regular automated payments.
• Save each fortnight, rather than on a monthly schedule. This is a little trick that gets you extra ‘save cycles’ and sees you saving just that little bit more each year.

Increase your income

We certainly know that this is easier said than done. But if you can increase your income it may help you look more attractive to lenders and we would be amiss not to cover it in this guide for first time home buyers.

If you have a regular job with an employer, one great way to do this is to simply ask for a raise, hourly or salary. It’s an employee’s market out there in 2024 with studies showing that a skills shortage means employers are being forced to offer higher salaries in 2023 than planned. In fact, research shows that 95% of employers will increase salaries this year, with 66% indicating that they’ll give raises of 3% or more. It’s an excellent time to speak to your employers!

The gig economy is also continuing strong. If you have the time and energy for a side hustle this can also be a great way to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you need to be to get into your first home.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that nearly 1 million Australians currently have a side hustle or hold down a second job, ‘from silkworms to sculptures’ and everything in between. While this may not be the answer for everyone, for some people this could make the difference between having a 20% deposit and not.

Harness technology for your benefit (including Dineiro!)

From property listings to suburb reports, technology has changed how we look for and buy properties today. It’s also changed the way the mortgage broking industry works as well, including data sharing and comprehensive credit reporting. And because of that our team is able to offer a more streamlined, easy experience from start to finish.

Dineiro is a new initiative in the mortgage industry and we’re thrilled to be able offer this to our first home buyer clients. This app is designed to help you monitor your savings goals, keep track of your income and expenses and just keep a more clear view of your financial health. Because it connects directly with our lending portal, our team is also in a better position to offer you insights and help you to take advantage of any schemes, offers or new products that might align with your goals.

It’s also got an in-app calculator which allow you to easily determine your borrowing capacity. And with Dineiro you can easily share data with us allowing us to get you a great loan quickly and with a minimum of fuss. Get in touch with our team and we can get you started with Dineiro.

Read on for insights into the lender process!

This guide for first time home buyers has hopefully helped you set yourself up to be more attractive to lenders. And will help you get your deposit ready to go. The next step is for you to really understand the lender process. You can then harness this information to get onto the property ladder in 2024. Part 3 to our First Home Buyer’s Guide (coming soon!) will be just what you need!

If you’re a first home buyer, we’d love to help you get over the hump and into a home! Get in touch with Stapleton Finance today.

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