Home buyer's guide

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you may make.

  5 minutes

In addition to lifestyle considerations, such as choosing a location and the right type of property, there are also many finance considerations to be made, and it can be difficult to navigate your way through the minefield of information. You may not even have the time to do so.

That's why we developed the BOQ Specialist Home Buyer's Guide.

In the guide, we have made it easy for you to focus on what is important as you consider your financing options. We encourage you to read this booklet and to think about how - at the outset – you can make this purchase work best for you now and in the future.

This home buyer's guide includes:

• Buying your first home
• Saving and borrowing for your home
• Finding the right loan
• Five steps to home loan approval
• Finding your first home
• Property checklist
• The buying process
• Your next home (improvement)
• Buying an investment property
• Refinancing your home loan

Buying your first home

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial decisions you’re likely to make. It’s exciting, but there’s a lot at stake. Choosing the right location and type of home for the lifestyle you want is challenging enough without also being overwhelmed by the financial choices and options available to you.

How much can you afford to borrow?

You might have a ball-park figure on how much you will need to spend on the kind of property you want, in the area you want but it’s a good idea to begin by working out how much you can afford to borrow in the first place.

How much do you need to save? 

The amount you can pay as a deposit on your home will reduce the amount of the purchase price you need to borrow, but saving for a deposit to buy your first home can be difficult when you’ve just completed a long course of medical study.

Generally, lenders will want you to pay 20% of the purchase price before they will consider lending to you. Our expertise and understanding of this sector allows us to offer up to 100% home loans, without Lenders Mortgage Insurance.

Finding the right loan

Choosing a home loan can be difficult if you don’t know the pros and cons of each type. The first thing to understand is the rate of interest that will be charged, and whether that rate will change or be fixed for a period of time.

Property checklist

It can be hard to keep track of everything when you look at lots of properties, so we’ve created a property checklist for you to use when you inspect.