Future-proof purchase: How to buy a first home you won’t quickly outgrow
Future-proof purchase: How to buy a first home you won’t quickly outgrow
Lynn ChenPosted on 10 Nov 2020
Property is generally considered a long-term investment, but buying a first home that you won’t quickly outgrow can be tricky.
The challenge of saving a deposit, the lack of equity in an existing property and borrowing capacities restricted by early-career salaries mean forward-thinking first-home buyers need to balance what they want in a home now with what they’ll need in the future.
Thinking ahead
Most first-home buyers understand that their purchase is a stepping stone and buy based on their current situation, says buyer’s agent Amanda Bidder-Segers.
“A first-home buyer would probably be more likely to buy something close to work,” she says. “They’ll aim for something newer that seems manageable.”
But focusing too heavily on current lifestyles can be detrimental, says buyer’s agent and Homesearch Solutions principal Henry Wilkinson.
“Young couples buy into inner-city areas wanting to be near restaurants, cafes and pubs, then they have kids and straight away the place is redundant,” he says.
“You can make a big mistake if you buy something that’s not going to suit you for long. What you’ve done is wasted your transaction costs if you’re having to sell and move to another place within a few years.”
Market conditions often influence first-home buyers’ thought processes, Wilkinson says. “If you’ve got a really strong market, they’ll try and get in as quickly as possible and perhaps have less consideration about the future. But if the market is weaker they tend to plan more.”