BLOG
First Home Buyer Series: The Research Process
Erica Sachse
How did you guys go about figuring out your finances and kind of understanding what your budget even was?
Andrew Guest
Well we got a mortgage broker who basically told us we were in a great position. Neither of us had any debt, neither of us has a credit card-
Ashlea
No, neither of us, still don’t own a credit card, so-
Andrew
As soon as our mortgage broker found that out she sort of said this is going to be easy
Ashlea
Yeah. So we had a little bit saved up
And we moved in with my mum so we ended up paying like no rent and lived there and it was really helpful because when the house was being built we didn’t have to worry about rent and wasting any money with that kind of thing.
It’s just living with mum. <laughs>
Erica
Who did you speak to, who kind of helped you make these, these early decisions around the location, like budget and how to go about that whole process.
Andrew
Look, it was really a discussion between ourselves. We did a lot of research ourselves and as soon as – we didn’t really have a great idea of what financial position we were in. I mean, I’m pretty ignorant with the finances to be honest
Ashlea
Yeah.
Andrew
When the mortgage broker got involved that she sort of put our mind at ease and made us feel really confident that we can do it.
Erica
And how did you research?
Andrew
Just talking to friends who.
Andrew
Who had gone through the process, looking on the internet and that sort of thing. Seeing what new homes were costing and what house and land packages are we going for
Ashlea
Yeah.
Andrew
And that sort of thing.
Ashlea
Looking at display homes and things like that, yeah.
Andrew
Also, having a small look into what we were spending and making in the previous years and seeing if it was viable for us.
Erica
Did you know anything about land, block sizes or frontages or anything.
Andrew
Absolutely nothing.
Ashlea
Nothing at all, absolutely nothing at all.
Andrew
Talking to friends they sort of throw terminology and then you’re just like ah yeah the fall
Ashlea
Yeah!
Andrew
That cost how much? But yeah, it was.
Erica
<laughs>
Andrew
You learn pretty quickly.
Ashlea
You do.
Andrew
When you get thrown to the building process so.
Erica
And so how did you educate yourself about this terminology. Was it just through talking to friends or do you kind of do online research?
Andrew
Asking a lot of questions.
Ashlea
Yeah, asking a lot of questions to people.
My stepdad is an engineer so he knew a little bit about that sort of thing and land and how it works. And he’s a civil engineer so he does a lot of like stuff with I don’t know, pipes and stuff and so he knew a lot of the terminologies so he was pretty helpful with things and planning.
Stay up to date with the latest from our Property Marketing TV series and subscribe to our blog.
contributors
