How to afford your first home – lets take a look

When I bought my first home it was more good luck than good judgement that helped me on my way.

I was about recklessly to put the entire deposit on a credit card (to be fair I was young and totally naive) when fortune intervened. A friend GAVE it to m instead. My family had no spare money and I had no savings and this old friend just gave it me …wow. What a pickle I would have been without his generosity.

I do realise this really doesn’t happen to most people and the reality is that it is very hard to get the money together to buy your first home.

I would not recommend to anyone they pay for it off a credit card 9these days with house prices having escalated so much this would probably be impossible anyway) Saving is a great idea but it isn’t easy to save huge amounts as the rent you pay whilst you are saving can make this an extremely long drawn out process.

There are much more practical options to being able to afford your new home. Low deposit home loans from Homestart  are much more viable ways of getting onto the property ladder and well worth considering.

Job security is really important to ensuring loan and mortgages repayments can be made and I would advice only taking these on if you know your earnings are secure.

I would also say be sure you are ready to settle before you invest in a financial commitment like this. I know several people who were in great early relationships and through their lot in and jointly bought homes without really knowing each other. Be sure about your situation before embarking on a such a very serious venture.

I would also suggest that you don’t rush to create the perfect home. Buying bits of furniture form thrift stores, borrowing what you need and accepting hand me downs form frineds is fine when you are just starting out. You will have decorating to do initially and you really don’t need to be forking out for a whole bunch of new purchases at the same time.

You need to take buying and building a home one small step at a time and that is how you can afford it.