Should you compromise on your first home?

Any real estate expert will tell you that you have to be willing to make compromises when buying your first home. That’s good advice, but you also need to know when not to compromise. If you compromise on these five things, you may be risking your future happiness and security.

The commute

You may not be able to find a home in the perfect location, so you do need to leave some wiggle room, but there are limits. Are you really able to get up an hour or two earlier and return home late every night for years just to save money on your first house? Buying a home too far away from work causes long-term stress and can be an expensive mistake when you factor in the cost of the commute.

Structural integrity

Your first home may not be a sparkling jewel, but it needs to be structurally sound. There’s no sense saving $10,000 on a house if you end up spending more than that on structural repairs.

Professional help

Don’t compromise on the level of professional help you need when buying your home. Get a building inspector to look at the house before you buy it. Choose a professional service that does a thorough inspection. Your building inspector should be a qualified builder, architect or structural engineer, not just someone who claims to know what they’re doing. You might also want to consider hiring a professional buyer agent to help you with your first home purchase. Professional help may cost money, but it can save you from making disastrous mistakes.

Cost

You know you will have to make some lifestyle sacrifices when you start paying your mortgage, but you do need to set limits. You can live without some luxuries, but you can’t live without necessities, and you need to have a buffer against unforeseen circumstances. Leave room in your monthly budget to set aside some money for a rainy day. At best, you can use some of your savings for renovations later on. In the worst-case scenario, your savings could see you through if you find yourself between jobs later on.

Schools

You may not have children yet or your children may not be of school age, but if kids are in the picture, don’t compromise on finding a house in an area where the good schools are. You can now easily find this information on Domain with the new school zone feature showing relevant school catchment areas within a property listing.

Compromising on any of these five things is like rolling the dice instead of planning your future. You may get lucky, but the odds are against you.