In 2016 the mortgage brokers, Mortgage Choice, published survey results that showed that the biggest concern for a First Home Buyer (FHB) is repaying the debt. The survey quoted that 29.2% had said that they worried about how they could afford the repayments.

As we all know, buying a property is possibly the biggest expense that most people will ever have in a lifetime. Unless you have won the lotto, it’s necessary to borrow money for this purchase. And that means making a commitment to the repayments.

In a world where commitment is not taken as seriously as it once was, it’s important for anybody who has a mortgage to know how they will make the repayments. This concern is not exclusive to FHBs.

Some years ago when I worked as a real estate agent, I learned that the ‘buying process’ took one hundred days. This started from the first day when you think ‘let’s buy a house’ to the actual day when you sign the contract.

I would suggest that it takes longer.

Before you purchase a property, you need to have a deposit. You also need to be able to show The Lender that you are able to make regular and consistent payments. Therefore, just getting a deposit will require a commitment to putting money aside into an account on a regular basis.

With the rising costs of housing these days, this could take a little time.

Your ability to prove to yourself and The Lender that you are responsible with money must start with your budget. If you don’t know how much it costs you to live each week, then how will you know how much you can either save or put towards a mortgage on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

A good working budget will allow you to make these payments without too much worry. A worry-free budget will cover all your current expenses and will have a contingency plan for extra-ordinary expenses.

Once you have a mortgage, then it’s important that you review it each year to ensure you are still able to make the repayments. Of course, this will be done with your annual budgeting review.

©   Carmel McCartin – Budget Bitch

And don’t forget – (The views expressed in this blog are the personal opinions of the author. Don’t rely on them to make financial decisions; you have to make up your own mind. If you don’t like the content – then either stop reading or send me an email)