Home ownership is a major investment, it is paramount to consider all the associated cost when executing a decision. The biggest expense of home ownership is mortgage payment, which is controlled by the interest rate. This is one of the major outgoings, but homeowner needs to be aware of other costs, which is part of owning a home.
Some tips for navigating the cost of living and mortgage payments as a homebuyer:
Determine your budget: Before you start house hunting, it’s important to determine how much you can a ord to spend. This includes not just your mortgage payment, but also other costs such as property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, utilities, and maintenance expenses.
Location makes a difference: Property in the most central location can come at high end cost which would include housing prices, property taxes, insurance and utility costs. Conducting research on various areas of interest, short listing a specific area, can make it easier to outline the preferred property type.
Engage a financial adviser: Securing a good financial adviser in the early stage can make your buying process easier. Financial adviser specialising in Mortgages, can meet you to understand your current situation and address your future goals. Every individual or family have di erent goals; therefore, the financial adviser will collect information from you, conduct their research and find the suitable lender. They will provide the recommendation, or you can have your preference on the lender and the product, but the financial adviser will bring the best rates, suitable loan structure and assist you with leading to the next step to owning the property.
Energy-e cient homes: Homeowners prefer to move into warm and dry homes to maximise on cost savings and keeping their family healthy. One of the key household expenses that can be managed is electricity cost, which does increase in price over the years. To ensure outgoings for your utilities is kept minimum, you can consider properties with insulation, e cient heating and cooling systems and double-glazing windows. Healthy home is paramount to ensure family has a healthy living and not being exposed to moisture.
Know about unexpected expenses: Owning a home has more responsibilities than renting because you have full responsibility to repairs and maintenance. The importance of having su cient funds to assist with outgoings is crucial so that you can deal with repairs and maintenance.
Home ownership is an exciting process, if you can plan and budget accordingly. These factors should be kept in the forefront during your home buying journey. Good advice and guidance throughout the process with an experienced financial adviser can make it simple and bring you closer to achieving your property sooner.
Disclaimer: The article should not replace or used as a substitute for personalised financial advice. It is recommended that you seek independent financial advice based upon your needs, goals and situation. SK Financial Group and their employees cannot be held accountable to the information in the article.