First home buyer guide

Your roadmap to buying your first home, made simple.

1. Understand Your Budget

Before you start scrolling realestate.com.au, it’s important to know how much you can borrow and what you can afford.

Chat with your mortgage broker (that’s us!)
We'll assess your borrowing capacity based on your income, expenses, debts, and deposit.

Review your savings
We’ll look at how much you’ve saved and what additional upfront costs you'll need to cover, like stamp duty, lender fees, and legal costs.

Get a good conveyancer on board
A conveyancer handles the legal side of your property purchase. It’s important to find someone experienced, thorough, and communicative. We can refer you to trusted professionals.

2. Save Your Deposit

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. You don’t always need a 20% deposit to buy your first home.

Low deposit options are available
Many first home buyers can purchase with as little as 5% + costs, depending on the lender and your situation.

Explore government schemes
We’ll guide you through options like the First Home Guarantee, stamp duty concessions, or superannuation access (e.g. First Home Super Saver Scheme).

Set a tailored savings goal
Once we know your target property price and eligibility, we’ll help you map out exactly how much you need to save, and how to get there.

3. Get Pre-approved

Pre-approval gives you clarity and confidence when house hunting. It shows sellers you’re serious and helps you stay within budget.

We handle the loan application
We’ll collect your documents, compare lenders, and submit your application for pre-approval.

We review your full position
We look at the whole picture, including your income type, deposit, credit history, and future plans, to ensure you’re applying with the right lender for your goals.

Know what you can spend
Once pre-approved, you’ll have a clear price range to shop within, avoiding disappointment or finance delays later.

4. Start house hunting & review the property

Now the fun begins, but don’t go it alone. We'll help you assess each property from a lending perspective.

Get the Section 32 and Contract of Sale
Send these to your conveyancer and broker for review before signing anything.

Consider location and lifestyle
Think about proximity to work, schools, shops, and transport, but also be mindful of factors that can affect finance like powerlines, flood zones, or unapproved structures.

Organise inspections
Always conduct a Building & Pest Inspection to identify any hidden issues.

5. Putting in offers

There are a few ways to make an offer, and each one has its own rules.

Making an offer & Private sales
If a property is listed online and states “offers over” or has no Auction date listed, you can usually make an offer subject to finance and other conditions (e.g. building inspection). This is the “safest” way to purchase especially if it is your first time buying!

Even if the property is listed to go to Auction, we always recommend speaking to the agent and asking if they would be open to accepting offers. Please see below if your offer is within 3 days (either side) of the Auction.

Pre-auction offers
If a property is going to auction your offer will most likely be unconditional (no finance clause) if it is within 3 days of the auction (before or after). This means your offer will be under auction conditions and you can’t pull out if your finance is not approved. You may have a short 3-day cooling off period after acceptance, but we recommend not relying on this so have your broker and conveyancer review everything before you buy.

At auction
There’s no finance clause when buying at auction. You’ll need to be fully prepared with finance pre-approved and deposit ready to go.

Consider a buyer’s advocate (BA)
A BA can help you find the right property, negotiate on your behalf, and bid at auction confidently, especially helpful if you're feeling overwhelmed or time-poor. They do come at an out-of-pocket costs but in our opinion they can be worth every cent!

Buying your first home is a big milestone, but you don’t need to figure it all out on your own. With the right team in your corner, the process becomes a whole lot easier. Let’s chat about your next steps and get you closer to unlocking the front door to your first home. If you are interested in learning more, you can book a call here.