If you’re thinking about buying your own home, it’s a good time to understand all your options – especially when you're trying to save for a deposit. Check out some other ways to get started.
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4 Alternative ways to buy your first home
Buy with friends
Buying a house on your own can mean you start with a big mortgage – on your own. However, you could buy with friends (or family) instead. It’s called a joint loan and it’s one way a lot of young Aussies are breaking into the property market to buy their first home. This could mean you share the costs and maybe buy something nicer in a better location than you could afford by yourself.
No one wants to lose a friend over money issues, so make sure to seek legal advice, work out how much you’re each chipping in and get a written agreement in place.
Guarantors
Saving for a deposit can be the hardest thing about getting into the property game, especially if you’re trying to buy a house on your own.
But there’s a way your immediate family members could give you a hand – by being your guarantor. Eligible immediate family members that can be guarantors are parents, adult children, siblings, grandparents, a spouse or de facto spouse and legally appointed guardians of the borrower(s).
With a Family Guarantee, the guarantor uses the equity in their property as additional security for your home loan. If you put this towards your deposit amount, you could cut down your saving time.
Plus, you could avoid paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) if your deposit is more than 20% of your property value.
Find out more about our Family Guarantee option.
Keep in mind the Family Guarantee is only available to owner occupiers, so you'll need to own and live in the property right away.
Your parents or any other immediate family member can give you a hand by being your guarantor.
First home owners grant
This is a one-time leg up from the government that could help take the pressure off your savings account when buying your first home. The grant amount and small print differ from state to state, so do your research and check out what’s on offer in your area.
It’s also worth checking out a Home Buyers Assistance Account (HBAA, WA only), which can grant you up to $2,000 for loan fees.
Buy sensibly
Your first home doesn’t need to be your ‘dream home’ – if you buy sensibly now, it can be a great way to build equity to help you get there in the future.
Your equity is the difference between the value of your property and what you owe on your home loan. You can put this equity towards a deposit on a new home or an investment property.
Instead of just looking at traditional houses, you could check out units and apartments, or even house and land packages. You could also think about ‘rentvesting’ – buying an investment property in an affordable area while renting a property where you want to live. Either way, buying sensibly to begin with is a great way to get yourself on the property ladder without living beyond your means.
Hear from our unlikely expert
Unlikely Experts: Jake Rich
We’ve put together a few tips to help make getting into the property market a little less daunting. So here are four ways to make it less dream, more home – with the help of Unlikely Expert and Adventure Vlogger Jake Rich.
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