So how did I buy my first property in my twenties ?
I was an administrator on a 12 month renewed contract for 3 years. Initially I thought being on a contract you cannot take a loan and make big purchases…the lies that were told to me (rolls eyes). But being the person that I am, I thought surely being on contract cannot necessarily stop me from buying big purchases and long term goals. I felt as though life was passing me by while waiting to be hired as a permanent.
Some of my peers whom I was employed with at the company decided to back to school and study something that would guarantee them a job after the second graduation. I stayed behind because I thought, even if I was to go to school, it had to be something that I would like and enjoy doing after graduating right? I did my postgraduate diploma in business management part time to make myself “more employable” that was in 2018 and I’m still waiting for the fruits of that decision to bear lol.
My salary was not bad, I was getting paid around R12000 before taxes and a portion of that went towards my investment. If there was one thing I did right the minute I started working was to save/invest and that is the first and most important commandment of any graduate starting off in the “adult world”. Having saved at the beginning of careers is what paid for my lawyer fees which was approximately 30K so I did not feel the pinch.
Before I bought my property, I spent almost a year looking for a place to stay. Initially I wanted to rent out a place rather then buy property (I felt like I was too young for such a big commitment). So when my current apartment was listed on the property site, I saw it and placed an offer to purchase and the seller agreed. BOOM BABY.
As I said, it took me a year to find my property and during that time I did serious research. The first 6 months was just browsing for places to rent, which area I waned to rent in and the other 6 months I then decided I was going to buy property and therefore starting researching financing and having my finances in order so that the lender would not mind lending me some hundred thousands.
I wanted to know how I much I qualified for, what are the do’s and dont’s and quiet honestly some of the things you read about will not prepare you for what the real estate agent and the banks will show you on paper.
So here’s me sharing what I learned through my property journey:
- Give yourself 6 months or more when you looking for a house. In that space in time, try to get rid of unnecessary debt, start saving for the unplanned costs or expenses that may arise when you move in, make your bank statement “look nice for the lender” and build good financial habits going forward.
- You can only sign one offer to purchase (OTP) at time – an offer to purchase is a binding contract and agreement stating that you want to buy that particular property. You cannot sign a OTP for this property and then one OTP for another property a week later. You need to wait atleast 3 months i think. So be certain and 100% sure when you sign that OTP.
- When you have signed your OTP and your documents are sent to the different banks to see which bank will offer you a home loan. Always check the interest rate of the bank.
- You do not necessarily need to apply for a home loan to purchase a house, if the house is sold at an affordable price than rather apply for a personal loan which will allow you to pay the loan faster. BUT with a personal loan you do not get a FLISP subsidy, as it only applies for first time home buyers.
| Psssh… This is how I applied. 1.I did a pre-approval with the bank to find out how much of the home loan I qualified for. 2.Look for house online to see which area I liked and within my price range. 3. forwarded an OTP for the property I liked 4.The bond originator complied the offer to purchase to see which bank will offer me a loan. 5.Got the loan and took the supporting documents to NHFC office and applied for the bond subsidy. |
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