‍Alex has had an exciting summer, not only due to the amazing weather but also the fact that he and his partner have bought their first home. He shares his tips.

After gruelling budgeting—ditching brunches and lunches—requesting every favour in the favour-asking-repertoire book and numerous chats with Brendon, my friendly Velocity Mortgage Broker, about “how to get the deal across the line”, finally, our brunch-deprived weekends were spent at open homes, fighting with hordes of other potentially buyers.

In the end, we fought off the hordes and secured out little slice of paradise and are proud Wellington homeowners. The road was not easy and let me share a few tips that helped us out a lot.

Budget, budget, budget

Dreams are great and everyone has them, but only some people achieve them. The difference between people who achieve dreams and people that don’t is often very simple: one just dreams away while the other makes a plan.

The vast majority of people have to save up for a deposit—unfortunately, these do not just magically appear in our bank accounts. The only way to get there, fast, is to have a goal[1], make a plan and set the budget to achieve it.

Making a budget is the real deal; it gives you something to work with, work towards and gives you a sense of achievement. There are many great tools to help you budget. Find a way that works for you. At Velocity we have a useful get-rid-of-your-mortgage budget calculator.

Get professionals involved … early!

I can’t stress enough how important it is having professionals involved. Unless you are one or have extensive practical experience, prioritise seeking out assistance. Here are some examples of useful pros:

-       Ask the real estate agent for all information about property, neighbourhood, disclosures, etc.;

-       Get your lawyer to check the LIM and other documents;

-       Get a buyer’s building inspector in;

-       Contact your mortgage broker (that’s us) early to sort finance for that specific house;

-       Drop a line to your insurance broker to get an insurance certificate for the specific property;

-       Do extra checks—parking, public transport, cost of renovations etc.

All these professionals do these things on a daily basis and, when compared to taking a DIY approach, can save you vast amounts of money, time and stress.

After living in our new place for two months while the first round of renovations are taking place, I can testify to the need to avoid DIY-ing it whenever possible.

Next time: Budget and goal-setting tools and tips

Alex Barendregt is a Registered Financial Adviser with Velocity Financial. No investment decision should be taken based on the information in this blog alone. A Disclosure Statement is available free of charge upon request.

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[1] A good goals setting tool is the SMART technique – which encompasses all areas of setting and achieving a goal by making it – Specific, Measurable, Achievable Relevant/Realistic and Time bound.