Buying A House Of Your Own: Is It The Right Thing To Do?

If you have been a rent payer for most of your life, you have probably started thinking about buying a house of your own. There are very few reasons not to do so.

Apart from being an owner instead of a renter, you will be able to do with the house whatever you want to. You can paint and decorate it just the way you like it and there are property tax deductions, which you can only be eligible for if you are a first time homebuyer.

Finding the perfect home is not always easy. Don’t be rushed when searching for your dream house. Most house searches begin on the Internet and this has become a very appealing way of going about for most first time buyers. Even though you should take some time considering the where, cost, how etc, it is advisable to take a step in the right direction as soon as possible. If you don’t put an offer on a home within the first few days, chances are somebody else will be living in your dream house.

If you go house hunting, make sure you take your digital camera with. When you see a lot of houses in a short period of time, you tend to forget which one had the bigger kitchen or the extra bedroom. Take pictures of everything inside the house, as well as the outside. Take pictures of the garden and the street and make sure you get a shot of the neighbourhood.

Take a good look at each house’s design and rooms. Are the rooms spacious enough for your needs? Write down the different pros and cons of each home and remember to write down the price that the house is for on the market. Sit down and decide what you are willing – and able – to pay for a house in each category. If it is really important to you to have a house near a school or the parks, decide what you are willing to pay for that house. Most of the times, these homes are very sought-after and their prices tend to be quite a bit higher than those of houses outside the immediate area of schools.

It is best to see a maximum of 5 houses a day. You might get irritated and tired if you see too many homes a day and this might affect your judgement and choice. After a few days’ search, you will want to go back to the first houses you saw and start over again. This time you will take a closer look at the 3 or 4 houses that you considered being the most appealing.

A few days of house hunting will sharpen up your senses and you will have a better idea of exactly what it is that you want in a home and you will also realise which features you are willing to live without, and which you are willing to pay more for.

Please contact us if you require any further information or would like to apply for finance:

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011.327.4489 / 0861 1111 93

morne@mortgagepluscc.co.za

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How do you feel about your home loan? Are you comfortable with what you owe? Do you simply look upon the monthly instalments as the equivalent of paying rent? Do you ever think seriously about owning your own home without any encumbrances and the freedom of knowing that you do not have to pay thousands of Rands each month just on interest?

Reducing your Mortgage Debt

One of the most profitable decisions you can take as a home owner is to pay an additional amount each month on your loan, no matter how small it may be. Your bank will stipulate a required minimum monthly instalment which will repay the bond over twenty years. You need to make provision for an extra amount each month that will effectively reduce the capital debt with each instalment. If necessary sign a new debit order at your bank against your current account, making allowance for whatever extra amount you can afford. A debit order is an effective form of selfdiscipline – you do not have to motivate yourself each month to make that extra payment.

You can, at a later date, revert to the original instalment if your financial situation should deteriorate. At least the extra payments you made in the good times will stand to the credit of the loan account. By that time, if times are really hard, you may be able to negotiate a reduced instalment well below the original amount as a result of the lesser amount owing on the capital sum.

The Effects of Paying More

There are many other benefits deriving from accelerated payments.
Your equity (the difference between the net resale value and the outstanding bond balance) in the property will increase at a much faster rate, and you will soon create some real financial breathing space which may be invaluable in a time of crisis. This cushion of flexibility during hard times can be the difference between surviving and complete financial collapse leading even to personal insolvency.

Accelerated payments are a form of tax-saving – you are effectively investing your money at the current bond rate tax-free, while anyone putting the same amount on a fixed deposit, for example, will be earning up to 5% less with tax being payable on the interest received.

Banks generally no longer apply the penalties they used to for paying off your loan earlier than the regulated period and you should check this out first. Read your mortgage loan agreement carefully to see if your bank has reserved the right to add penalty interest for accelerated payments. Those who live on credit pay so much more later for pleasures long gone and forgotten. Others who pay more now, pave the way for happier times to come, and peace of mind that can only be envied by those who do not have it.

Other ways

* Earlier monthly repayments
A large number of home loan account holders pay their monthly payment on the last day of the month. Paying it when you get paid (say 26th) will result in interest savings.
* Once off payments
Should you receive money as a bonus you may wish to pay some or all of it into your home loan. By paying for example, R10,000 into a R100,000 mortgage a few months after your repayments started – would pay off your home loan in 12 years instead of 20 years – assuming an a interest rate of 18%.

Dangers of Incurring Excess Credit

Avoid the temptation to access your equity once you have created it. Months of painstaking saving can be blown away in a moment of rash spending. Especially avoid being taken in by those occasional letters some banks send out, telling you the credit amount you can take as a re- advance coupled with a dazzling array of ways in which you can literally waste it.
It has been said that the average South African consumer can easily be identified. He is a man who spends money he hasn’t got, to buy things he doesn’t need, to impress people he doesn’t like! Some people unfortunately just cannot resist using any credit that may be available without anticipating the day when the tap will simply dry up and there is quite simply nothing more to access. By that time the consumer will have unwittingly reached the end of the line in more ways than one. His debts will be astronomical, and his monthly commitments will have become almost intolerable.
Many a poor soul has faced this El Nino of personal economics too late to conserve any water for the drought ahead. Worse still, it is at such times that the good days may suddenly come to an end, leaving the victim to face crises that cannot be resolved. So often it is just at that time when there is no mare to borrow, that interest rates start rising and debts are called up.

Make that Extra Effort to Create Capital

The wisdom in making a supreme effort to live within your means cannot be overstated. It can often be achieved just by cutting out those little indulgences we allow ourselves. That weekly trip to a local restaurant, those extra beers for the weekend, those weekends away on package deals at up-market resorts – say “No! “ to most of them and you will reduce your loan debt far more quickly and effectively than you may imagine.

An exercise of self-discipline upfront can soon become the norm and you will not even notice that extra amount you are paying each month. You can build your equity faster and ensure that you will not be stung when crises do come, such as the global financial disruptions that sent interest rates through the roof. The discipline of not reducing your monthly instalment, should interest rates fall, will help even more. Take a few years off your loan and add those years to your life!

Click Here to go to our Increased Instalment Calculator

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CONTACT US

Speak to a home loan consultant about financing your new property or reviewing your existing mortgage. We are able to assist in lowering your bond repayments and securing attorney discounts.

Complete this short form online
Call us on 011.327.4489
Email: morne@mortgagepluscc.co.za

www.mortgagepluscc.co.za