Having gone through the process of buying his first home recently, Matty J admits there was a lot that he didn’t know about the entire process.
“I didn’t really have any clue about the actual process of applying for a home loan, with preapproval, offset accounts, fixed versus variable rates,” he said. According to Matty J, buying his first home ended up involving a lot of conversations with real estate agents, friends who had been through the process before, and mortgage experts.
“Ever since I can remember, it’s what I’ve wanted [to buy a home]. I imagined a big cheesy photo in front of a sold sign, my kids playing in the backyard, my dog lounging on the back deck, I’m going to be there probably overcooking steaks on the barbeque. And hey, why not throw in a white picket fence for good measure? I know it couldn’t be more cliché if we tried, but there’s something really inspirational about owning your own home. However, one part of the dream that I hadn’t really considered was just how complicated the whole process of buying a house would be,” he said.
Throughout the podcast, Matty J asks Ms McArdle what steps people should take when buying a home – be it a home to live in or an investment property – to ensure the process is as simple and streamlined as possible.
Matty J also speaks to someone who has recently gone through the process themselves – buying her first family home with her partner.
Hannah – an Adelaide resident – discusses the different steps she took to get on top of her finances, save her deposit and then, ultimately, take that first step onto the property ladder.
Hannah also explains the process she went through to secure her home – including being outbid by other interested buyers and how she ended up securing the third home she made an offer on (rather than the first).
In recapping what he took away from the episode, Matty J said it was clear that, if he had his time over, he would do a few things differently when buying his first home.
“[I would have] aimed for a 20 per cent deposit. It meant I would have avoided mortgage insurance. Considered an offset account, as I would have saved on interest charges. And lastly, this is a very obvious one, but hey, we all make mistakes and that’s how we learn; it would have been a great idea to speak to a lender or a mortgage broker and gotten advice as soon as I considered buying a house,” he said.
