Buying your first home – is it worth it?

Buying your first home – is it worth it?

The biggest decision that people need to make about whether to embark on home ownership is to decide whether it is something that they really want to do.

It is the desire that needs to be there in the first place but even this is not an easy question as it depends on your own values and circumstances.

It’s easier to rent – you don’t have to save at all and can live life as it comes but there are plenty of disadvantages.

The biggest – you have no control over where you live beyond the duration of the current lease. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve lived at the one place for fifteen years and paid rent on time without fail – if the landlord decides to sell and the new buyer wants to live in the house once the lease runs out, then you have no choice. It’s time to move.

Or maybe you are tired of the fact that the rent keeps going up but when you question it, the answer is a polite but blunt “take it or leave it”.

And then there is the frustration you feel when you realise that where you are living doesn’t really feel like home because you can’t even hang a picture without having to worry about being told to take it down.

But there is more to the argument than just these issues.

When you rent, the money you pay is dead money.

It’s not all one sided though and renting does have its advantages and could be appropriate for  people who like the freedom to be able to move around and not have to worry about fixing anything that breaks but for most people, the dream of owning your own home still comes out in front even though emotions may be the biggest factor involved.

If you know of someone who is interested in looking at buying their first home but doesn’t know what they need to do, then please get them to give Gold Coast mortgage broker FinancialPlus a call. I have worked with some clients over a period of close to two years between when they first came to see me and were finally in a position to buy but at least they were able to turn their dream of owning their own home into reality.