As a first home buyer, your number one goal is to secure enough money to buy a property.
The first part is to save (or beg or borrow) for a deposit. Whether you’re begging, borrowing, or saving, that’s just sheer hard work and tenacity. You just have to find a way to make it happen.
The second part is to convince the lender that you’re a risk worth taking.
This isn’t too hard to do if you have a stable income, pay your bills on time and don’t have a heap of debt.
But there are some things that you can do to make sure you look good to the lenders in preparation for applying for your loan.
- Have an accurate history of your spending habits. Whether you do this through your banking app or a spreadsheet, lenders want to see your actual spending, not your wishful, “in a perfect” world, spending habits. They don’t expect you to be perfect, they just need to see that you’re not out of control.
- Have a history of saving. You don’t need to be the world’s best saver or be stashing away the majority of your monthly paycheque, but lenders want to see that you are capable of saving money. Setting up a direct transfer to a savings account on the day your salary drops is a great way to do this.
- Cancel extra credit cards. If you have 5 credit cards, with a $5K limit on each but a nil balance, lenders don’t see that you have a nil balance on your cards. They see that you have ready access to $25K. For them, this spells trouble. If you don’t need some of your cards, cancel them and just keep one. You’ll save money on their annual fees and you’ll also be far better looking to the lender. After you’ve got your loan, you can apply again if you decide you need another.
The aim is to get the loan. Once you’ve got the loan, you have to be able to pay it. Introducing these three things is a good way to improve your financial management and get into some good habits for the future.
Good luck!
