1. Know Your Credit Score Before You Buy a Home

If you know you’ve had credit issues in the past, such as defaulted payments on a mobile phone or credit card, your credit report may be blemished. This can make it very difficult for you to qualify for a mortgage without a substantial deposit amount (i.e. more than 20% of the purchase price!)

If your credit history has some blemishes on it, take some time to work on ways to improve your credit rating. While you’re doing this, use that time wisely to keep adding to your deposit savings.

2. Get a Pre-Approval Before Signing a Purchase Contract

Before you go out shopping for your first home, take the time to speak to a bank, lender or mortgage broker about your borrowing capacity and repayments. It’s important to know whether you’re likely to qualify for a good mortgage before you sign a purchase contract, otherwise you risk some legal implications.

This is especially true if you didn’t sign your contract “Subject to Finance”, such as the Unconditional contracts expected with most auction sales.

You should also be realistic about how much you can comfortably afford to pay on your monthly repayments. While your bank or broker might tell you that you’re able to borrow very large amounts of money, it’s not always wise to borrow at your maximum borrowing capacity.

Instead of going with the amount you’re told you can borrow, work on only borrowing an amount where the repayments are comfortable on your current income.

3. A Larger Deposit Can Mean Lower Borrowing Fees

It can be difficult to save a large deposit on a first home. However, the more money you can put aside to help cover the deposit and stamp duty costs associated with buying your first home, the lower you could find your borrowing fees become.

You could also find that a larger deposit can help you qualify for some of the better mortgage interest rates with different lenders.

You see, if you only have a deposit that is 3% of the purchase price of your home, you will have to pay lender’s mortgage insurance. This is the cost of the insurance premium that covers the lender against you defaulting on your loan – it doesn’t protect you!

There are only a few banks left that will lend as high as 97% of your purchase price, so a larger deposit will mean you have access to a wider choice of banks.

Working towards a 5% deposit, or a 10% deposit can actually save you thousands of dollars in lender’s mortgage insurance fees.

4. Don’t Forget About Other Home Expenses

When many first home buyers begin working through a budget to see if they can afford to buy a home, they think in terms of affording the repayments on the mortgage.

Yet they often forget about the associated costs of owning a home. These can include various insurances, utility bills, council rates and water rates.

Before you decide on your spending limit to purchase your home, don’t forget to add these kinds of costs into your budget.

5. Don’t Buy More Home Than You Need

Many first home buyers have a vision of their perfect dream home, especially if they’re planning to have a family in the next few years. While you might want to buy a big family home with lots of bedrooms and extra bathrooms, plus a yard for the future-kids to play in, this might not be practical for your first home.

Remember, it’s called your ‘first home’ because you’re likely to have a second, and sometimes even a third home at some point in your life.

If you don’t need 4 bedrooms right now, perhaps consider buying a smaller house for now just to get you into the market. This can be a great way to keep your mortgage down and begin building up equity.

Then, in a couple of years time, when your family begins to grow and you need more space, you can always sell and trade up to the family home then.

This article was written by William Eve. William writes about saving money, investment loans and real estate for Home Loan Finder. If your looking for the best home loan on the current market, visit the Home Loan Finder website and compare home loans today.

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So far I was just stating the obvious. But here’s piece of good news for anyone sick of writing the same boring details over and over again on different forms: there is another way, and it’s called 1Form.

1Form is a website created by an Australian company with one purpose - to make the process of applying for rental properties quicker and easier. Simply put, they allow you to create an account, fill all your details just once, upload all the documents and then apply for properties with a click of a button. It really is that simple: one application = one click.

If your next question is about the security of your information, they thought about that too. There is a trust seal on their website and it means that the information is encrypted and the website is scanned daily for malware to minimize the chance of attacks and ensure that sensitive and private information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

There are 2 ways for you to use 1Form. Since many estate agents have already adopted this idea and are offering 1Form as a way of submitting your rental application, you can go for the free or the paid option.

Option 1 (free): fill your details in 1Form website every time you want to apply for a house, or
Option 2 (paid): fill your details and upload all the documents just once, they will be saved on the 1Form server and from that moment on you will be able to apply with a click of a button.

I don’t know about you, but I would happily pay $45 and save myself hours of work. Let me tell you about an experiment I did. I timed myself to see how long it takes to fill a rental application and photocopy all the needed documents. Even though I have found and prepared all the documents in advance, and had a photocopier handy, to simply fill the forms and do the photocopying it took me 1 hour. Shocking, isn’t it? Now add the time it takes to travel to the agency and hand the application over, and you will get 1.5 - 2 hours per application.

This means that applying for 3 rental properties will take about 4.5 - 6 hours, and it is a very reasonable scenario to get lucky with one out of three places. It could get worse, depending on your financial situation and rental history, so there you go - you save about 6 hours for $45 - so if you are paid anything over $10 for your time, using 1 Form makes perfect sense.

Now that you know about 1Form - would you use this online way of applying or would you still prefer the old-fashioned paper-based way?

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The survey conducted by Realestateview.com.au, gathered the thoughts and feelings of 1400 people who had either recently found a rental property or were still in the process of looking for one.

Alarmingly when asked how long renters had been looking, 65% replied that it had taken them 3 months or longer to find a place. Often thought of as a less taxing process than finding a property to buy, finding the ideal rental property appears to be getting harder and harder.

Competition for rental properties is fierce with agents and landlords being able to take their pick of applicants. There are a number of ways applicants can get ahead including having application forms ready to go when they first inspect a property, attaching credible references and having money for rent and bond at their disposal.

Potential renters surveyed also tried other methods in order to secure rental properties. When asked if they had resorted to any of the following activities, they answered:

Looked for property in ‘further out’ locations than originally planned - 46.3%
Looked for properties of a lower quality than originally planned - 49.3%
Looked for properties of a smaller size than originally planned - 42.9%
Looked for shared accommodation - 15.6%
Increased your budget - 59.5%

These figures do not bode well for people considering renting in the near future. It appears that the current crop of rental applicants have learned the hard way that they need to be flexible. The original property in their mind that ticks all the boxes may not be the one that they end up with.

This article was contributed by Petra Sprekos. Operating within the real estate industry since 2000, Petra’s career began in a family real estate agency in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. Since then Petra has held various roles within the property industry and is now the General Manager of the real estate portal realestateVIEW.com.au. Her passion lies in business strategy, operational efficiency and the online space.

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According to some people I know this never happens in Australia. “Haven’t you heard, mate, in property the only way is up!” Well… I’ve never been a big believer in things that “never go wrong”, or “always go great”, and that’s been working fairly well for me so far.

While property market as a whole, taken over a long period of time - such as 20 years - may “always” seem to go up, the picture for any particular house in a particular area, in a particular year can be quite different. And when you are buying an investment property - this is exactly what you’re buying. A particular house. In a particular street. In a particular year. That may or may not be a good year / street / property in terms of capital gains. And with negative gearing, when the house doesn’t increase in price, that means losses.

On contrary to a famous myth of property investing, negative gearing is not something that doesn’t cost you a dime, because everything comes off tax money. Any investor that is holding a negatively geared property is paying out of pocket expenses, which can be less or more, depending on his rental return. The rent that your tenants pay only covers so much of the total expenses, and the rest is for the investor to pay. The expenses on property - interest on the loan, maintenance, etc - are tax-deductible, but it only means that instead of paying the whole expense, you are paying a portion of it.

Without getting into calculations, basic common sense suggests that if you are holding an “asset” that loses you money, you must sell it for much more than its original purchase price to get all you’ve lost over the years back, and make some profit. And this can only happen if that particular house goes up in price. And that is a big IF.

Another scenario many property investors prefer not to think about is - what happens if the government decides to drop these tax incentives? If a day comes and they decide that they would actually like all that tax back? That there are enough rental properties on the market and they don’t need to encourage investors to create more?

And one more last thing to consider - even if everything goes according to the plan and you’ve picked a house with a great capital gains potential, but circumstances force you to sell the property before it had a chance to grow in price, guess what - a loss again.

That’s it from me, now let’s hear from you - what is your experience with negative gearing?

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Those of you who weren’t born in Australia, New Zealand or Canada have probably never heard about negative gearing and for a very good reason - this form of leverage is illegal all over the world, except for these 3 countries.

Basically, negative gearing means that you borrow money to buy a property, and the income from the property doesn’t cover your expenses on that property, so instead of making income it makes a loss.

The next logical question is - why would anyone want to make a loss, isn’t investing all about profits? The answer is “capital gains” - the increase in the house value over time. With negative gearing an investor can only make a profit if the house rises in price more than it has lost money until the moment it was sold.

To make negative gearing more attractive there are tax concessions. An investor gets to deduct the losses made on property from his or her income (which could come from any source, not just property) and that way reduce the taxable income, in a way saving money they would have otherwise paid to the government as a tax.

Time for a history lesson: negative gearing was introduced in Australia way back in the early 1980s to increase the supply of rental properties. This way, if more affordable rental houses were available, the government wouldn’t have to fund public housing with all the administrative and infrastructure costs. When the pool of rental properties is larger, the chance that rents will go up is smaller, therefore higher rents won’t drive the inflation up and the economy will be more stable.

But, of course, it’s not all rosy and negative gearing has its dark sides - which I’ll discuss in my next article “What is negative gearing? Part 2″. Stay tuned.

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While it’s not easy to save the time on searching for the right rental home, and there’s no skipping the inspections (because it’s illegal), still a lot of time can be salvaged by simply being organized and prepared.

I wrote an article for the LifeStyle Channel with some suggestions for smart renters, who don’t mind gathering some details in advance and doing some photocopying. The returns on this little amount of preparation are great - less trips to real estate agencies, less phone calls, less money spent and more free time to do things you really enjoy doing.

Go here to read my Quick Ways To Apply For Rental Properties.

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The thing is, I can’t force myself to pay what I believe to be an outrageous price for a house that is not worth it. Even in moments of weakness when I think to myself “Gosh, would I love to drop this search and finally settle down, to forget about this house-hunting madness”, still there is a stubborn voice in my head telling me that I’ve got to be crazy to pay THAT much for that rotten old house in a noisy street with a construction site next door.

If this is what you think, too, then there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for us.

I was hoping that rising interest rates will do the trick to bring the demand under control and stop pushing the prices higher and higher, but that alone clearly wasn’t enough. I was waiting for the statistics to kick in, so that after an unbelievable period of strong growth we would see house prices plateau or return to realistic levels, but that just wasn’t happening.

Finally, after 17 months of strong gain, the latest RP Data-Rismark property index has shown a downturn, a 0.7% decline in June. Not much, but that’s all there is - I’ll take it.

However … there is something else that, according to the report from RMIT, may affect house prices - the election. According to the paper, over the past four decades, Melbourne home prices have risen by 1.21 per cent a quarter in the year before a federal election, compared to 0.84 per cent a quarter in the year after. And if we look at it on the state level, there was a 2.3 per cent rise in the year before a Victorian state election, compared to a 0.6 per cent increase in the year after.

Although interest rates are not a big help this month (today RBA made a decision to leave interest rates on 4.5), but perhaps there will be another rise later on this year. So combined together, the predictions based on this study and the anticipation of more interest rates rises are giving me a reason to believe that the next 6 - 12 months could be a good time to buy a house.

Now, what do you think, when is a good time to buy a house?

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Well, here is your chance. It’s called the “First Home Saver Account”, something our government came up with almost 2 years ago. To tell you the truth, it was unpopular for quite a while (read more here), and now they are trying to change it. Without any further introduction, here is an article written by Timothy NG for the readers of Home I Own, where he explains everything you need to know about using the First Home Saver Account to your maximum benefit.

Owning a home is an important first step toward financial security. By purchasing a home you are making possibly the biggest investment of your life and paving the way towards a larger net worth and better financial opportunities. That being said, buying a home is also a difficult process that requires one to save a significant amount of money in order to get a good loan. The Australian government has, since 2008, offered citizens an opportunity to make their first home buying process a little easier with the First Home Saver Accounts.

The First Home Saver Accounts are an excellent option to save for your first home purchase because the Australian government actually contributes to your savings. The plan is really fabulous, but not many Australians have taken advantage of it. In order to encourage more of us to use the FHSA the government has made some recent changes to it, including bumping up their contribution. Our government know that a successful economy is built around property ownership. That is why they are working hard and spending money to help Australians buy their first home. Doing it, helps everyone in the long run. It is not a scam, just a better way to save for your first home purchase.

First Home Saver Account 2010

Increased government contribution - The Australian government will now contribute 17 per cent on individual contributions up to the first $5,000 each year. That means if you deposit $5,000 each year for four years the government will add an additional $850 per year to your account for a total of $3,400 in free money.

Overall cap - A cap of $75,000 has been introduced to the FHSA plan. That is plenty of money to buy your first home, especially when a portion of it is from government contributions. Once you meet that cap you will no longer be able to contribute, but you will still be able to collect any government contributions or investment earnings on the account.

Upfront contribution - Savers will no longer have to make a minimum upfront contribution of $1,000 to open the account.

Tax incentives - Earnings from the account will be taxed at 15 per cent. Withdrawals that are used to purchase a first home will be tax free. The government contribution of 17 per cent will not be taxed.

Resident status - In order to open an account you no longer need to be an Australian resident for taxation purposes. This allows those Australians who live overseas to open an account. The difference is that those who live overseas are not eligible for the government contribution, that is only open to Australian residents for taxation purposes.

It is easy to see how these adjustments to the First Home Saver Account can make it more appealing to Australians. These accounts are available to anyone between the ages of 18 and 65 who has never purchased or built a first home in which they live. They must also not have or previously have had a First Home Saver Account. Otherwise all an individual must do is provide their tax file number to an account provider.

Remember that if you open an account and are in fact not eligible to do so you will be penalised. Providers for these accounts are available from public-offer superannuation providers, life insurers, friendly societies, banks, building societies, and credit unions. It is up to an individual to decide from whom they want to open an account.

When a person applies for a First Home Saver Account there is a mandatory fourteen day cooling off period. This gives individuals time to consider all of their options and make certain the account is right for their needs. Once an account holder has withdrawn their money and purchased their first home they are required to live there for six months within twelve months of purchasing or completing construction on the home.

The contributions to these accounts can be made by the account holder or by someone else like an account holder’s employer. All contributions are made from after-tax income. When the Australian government makes a contribution it goes directly into the FHSA after the account holder has sent their tax return and the account provider submits the information to the ATO.

The First Home Saver Account is only accessible after four years. Over those years the account holder must have made a minimum contribution of $1,000 per year. If an account holder is purchasing a home with another account holder, only one of them will have to have met the minimum four year requirement. As long as one person meets the requirement both account holders may withdraw their funds.

Should an a First Home Saver Account holder decide that they no longer want to buy a home they may close the account and contribute all of its’ holding to their superannuation. If one chooses to transfer the balance to their superannuation they may apply for early release of the funds due to severe financial stress, terminal illness, or compassionate grounds. There are applicable penalties for not meeting the withdrawal or occupancy standards.

The First Home Saver Account in Australia is an unprecedented step toward helping Australians buy their first house. The Australian government wants more residents to take advantage of this unique plan so they have made it even better with this year’s changes.

If you are looking down the road toward buying your first home in the next few years there is simply no other savings plan that is going to give you so much in return and be so secure. If you start saving today, you can earn up to $850 per year from the government’s contribution alone. That does not take into account any interest earnings. There is no reason not to take advantage of this plan. Get your finances together and start planning to own your first home today with the First Home Saver Account.

This article was written by Timothy Ng who is a regular personal finance writer and part of the team at Credit Card Finder, a 100% free Australian credit card comparison and application service. Visit the Credit Card Finder website for more information on credit cards.

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To qualify for any home loan you must have a deposit. Some Banks and Lenders will consider borrowers with a 5 per cent deposit, a number are now looking for a minimum of 10 per cent. However, it is important to recognise that with a minimum deposit, loans will only be offered to clients considered to be a very safe prospect.

In addition you will need to have saved an amount to cover other costs involved in purchasing a property and taking out a loan, such as lender’s mortgage insurance, government stamp duties and conveyancing fees.
For your loan application to go ahead, the mortgage insurer will also have to approve the application and be willing to provide the lender with insurance.

Lender’s mortgage insurance companies require a minimum of six months of ‘financials’, that is, bank statements, pay slips or any other proof of income documents.

With most mainstream lenders, you also need to be able to show a pattern of genuine saving. Often described as ‘hurt money’, it is often required to be at least 3 to 5 per cent of the value of the property. This has to be money you (and your partner) have earned and saved, not a gift or other financial windfall.

Applicants with a higher disposable income are more likely to have their home loan application approved. The maximum loan repayment is often set as a percentage of your income.

The type of property, its location and its condition will all be evaluated when assessing your loan application. Comparable sales in the area are also investigated.

Lenders also consider your employment history. Temporary, probational positions or a volatile work history are not generally well regarded and may affect the outcome of your loan application.

The lender will also conduct a credit reference check with a credit bureau such as Veda Advantage. Your credit history is a record, within the last five years, of any defaults, substantially late payments, seriously overdue or outstanding debts, records of inquiries and bankruptcy.

This can often be a major determining factor in the success of a home loan application as lenders can flatly reject an application based on a poor credit history.

This article was kindly contributed by Mrs. Mortgage - Jennifer Schelbert. Jennifer is a director of Mrs. Mortgage Pty Ltd, a licensee for Choice Aggregation Services, and a full member of the Mortgage Finance Association of Australia & COSL. Phone 03 9391 2456.

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But how do you show them that you’re a good tenant? Do you walk with a neon sign above your head “Best tenant over here, pick me!”?

No. You prove it, and that way convince the property manager you are the person they are looking for, the best of the whole pack.

And here is your proof - a tenancy reference letter. If you have rented before, get in touch with your previous property manager / estate agent / landlord and get them to sign this letter (remember to fill in the blanks). Whether you were living in Australia all your life or have moved here from overseas, this letter is a must-have.

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