How to Safely Plan Your First Home Buying

Buying your first home needs careful planning and important budgeting too. Here are some useful points for you to keep in mind while planning for the total cost of buying a home that covers insurance, mortgage, legal and other fees etc.

• Saving for a deposit on a first home
• Choosing what and where to buy
• Getting a mortgage on a first home
• Moving-in costs
• Ongoing costs
• Where to go for help

Initial Deposit Needed When Buying a First Home

Lenders in the country make it mandatory that you’ll have a deposit of at least 20% of the amount you’re borrowing. For example, you should have around $120,000 when planning to buy a house for $600,000.  Also enquire about the Welcome Home Loan Scheme, which stipulates a saving deposit of only 10%. Here we have to remember that if there is more money in your deposit, you need to pay less interest. So plan your budget accordingly to save maximum. The cuts you make on your household expenditure are worth for the cause as you are going to have your own home!

Choosing What and Where to Buy

Choose your house wisely. Reliable real estate websites can be searched to find out how much properties are worth in different places.

If you want to purchase a property as an investment, as well as a place to live, first consideration should be about resale or rental potential. Check out the interest rates of the banks in such case.

Other points to consider are transportation facility, distance to schools & hospitals, and feasibility of rental market.

Getting Mortgage on a First Home                                  

Be careful and cautious while choosing a mortgage because the interest rate, fees and degree of flexibility varies with different types of mortgages. Over time, repayments could add up to a lot more than the cost of the home. Better to use the servicers of a qualified mortgage broker and get all the mortgage legal formalities checked by a lawyer before buying your first home.

Check Builders' Reports and Land Information Memorandum (LIM)

Before you put all your investment on a home loan, make sure that you’re getting a safe home. Get a builder’s report which will help you to find out if there are existing flaws with your house building structure. Same way get LIM through the local council or your lawyer to know about possible problems with the land where the house is built. LIM will contain information on drainage issues or landslip risks, if any.

Take a Note of Other Costs Involved  

Other than the basic requirement of the ten or twenty percent deposit, you need to have funds for moving-in costs such as house moving services or truck hire, renovations or additional purchases for the new home, legal service and builder’s reports etc. And also take into account ongoing costs such as insurance, rates etc. As a first homeowner you become a ratepayer. Stipulated by local councils, rates include charges to cover the cost of things like roads, water supply, sewerage and parks, amounting to thousands of dollars a year.

Regarding insurance payment, there are house and contents insurance, life insurance and mortgage repayment insurance. The Lenders Mortgage Insurance is not for the homeowner, it covers only the bank in the event of non repayment of the loan from your end. If you’re buying an apartment, insurance for the building will normally be included in the annual body corporate fee that’ll also contain costs for maintaining common areas etc. Anyway, there will be contents insurance that you’ll have to manage separately.

Remember the Affordability Criteria
Once you are committed to a home loan, your regular home budget won’t be the same again! You’ll have to compromise certain things as you are going to possess a very big asset in your life- your beautiful, happy home! Include all the above said costs into your total budget, and do a thorough calculation to see if you can afford the house you’re going to purchase. Good to consult a lawyer before you proceed further.

This information is brought to you by the research wing of Select Home Cleaning, providing regular home cleaning, seasonal cleaning and move-in and move-out house cleaning etc. 

The Hassle-free Way to House Moving and Relocation Cleaning

Moving house is one of the most tedious tasks we encounter in our lives. The process can be extremely stressful and needs more effort and coordination among various agencies including a house cleaning expert. Sorting and packing the different kinds of items gathered from several years of moving from rented flat to rented flat is such a terrible and boring task.  

One important aspect of house moving is to get it cleaned thoroughly after you finish your packing so as to pass inspection with your landlord. Some real estate agents make statutory requirement for showing receipts from professional house cleaners when residents move out. This makes it more reasonable for you to call house cleaning specialists during relocation.

If we look at the advertisements, it’s clear that the total number of homes for sale in New Zealand is increasing day by day. This shows more number of people will be relocating this year around.

The following tips will help to reduce your tensions if you are planning to shift home-

• Plan Ahead Well in Advance

Organising the things and effective coordination is very important when you want to relocate from a house or apartment. Prepare a checklist of people to notify- banks, insurance companies, postal service, store cards, pension & loan providers, council tax office, social media clients, schools, cable provider etc.

A house cleaning company is to be consulted well in advance for making the house from which you’re moving out look neat and tidy. This is necessary for the lease agreement signed by you. Same house cleaner can be detailed for making the new house presentable to inspection. This way you may get some reduction in overall home cleaning cost as these services will efficiently manage general cleaning, kitchen cleaning, bathroom cleaning, exterior cleaning etc.

• Packing Up

Ensure to switch off your phone line, internet connection and all other utilities. Now start packing up in an orderly manner. Pack items into small boxes and keep them in the garage ready to load. Reduce the items one by one keeping the ones that get the most frequent use, like cutlery or the TV, and pack them the last day of the house move. Never forget to defrost the fridge one day prior to the move.

• Removals

Contact standard removal firms after checking a list from internet sites and get two or three quotes. Also make use of personal recommendations before finalising a removal firm. Some established removal companies help you to remove and pack every item in the household reducing your troubles to a great extent. And some companies are quite affordable too.

• Coordination between Service Agencies

sometimes when you contact a house cleaning company in New Zealand, they may refer a removal/relocation service company quite known to them. This will be a great relief to you as both of the services will manage things in close coordination.  This will also help you to manage things in a cost effective way.

So the above points make it clear that moving clever should be your game plan.  If you want any further information on relocation cleaning for moving-in and moving-out requirements, contact Select Cleaning in New Zealand. Contact them on: 0800 000 907 or visit the Website today.