Surprise way couple got first home for lower price
A couple on the hunt for their first home have revealed how they bought under budget in record time - and it’s thanks to a market turn that’s helping other buyers.
A young couple have revealed how they scored their first home below their planned budget just three weeks after securing their pre-approval for a loan.
Josh Dufficy and Melanie Cook said buying conditions were so good in fact that they found buying easier than searching for a rental.
This comes as new data shows things are looking up for Sydney buyers, with increased listings and banks dropping fixed term rates.
Mr Dufficy and Ms Cook said they got their property for less than the price they had planned on spending.
“The price that we paid we are stoked with, it was quite a bit less than what we were looking around for originally and we are so glad we did that,” Mr Dufficy said.
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“Now we are in the process of deep diving on what our repayments are going to be and retrospectively, had we gone to the amount we were originally looking for, it would have been tight, a rate rise would have affected us and because we went that little bit lower we feel a lot better.”
Surprised by the amount of stock, the competition was far less than what they had anticipated too.
“We were prepared for tonnes of competition … but it wasn’t crazy,” he said.
“Renting, the competition was insane, every time we looked for a rental, that’s what we were expecting … we had an idea in our heads that it would be so much worse than what it was because we were heavily influenced by our rental experience.”
Mr Dufficy said they weren’t even going to look at the property they ended up buying, because of the lower price point.
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“We thought there must be something wrong with it for that price, but we fell in love with it straight away and it checked all the boxes,” he said
“I would say to other people, don’t disregard places if they’re $50,000 or so under what you are looking at.”
The couple settled on a home in Gladesville, which they felt was the middle ground of a cheaper suburb than where they are renting, but still the lifestyle they enjoyed.
“We felt good knowing we are still going to have all these things we love but not drowning when it comes to our repayments.”
The experience of being a first homebuyer was initially “daunting” for the couple.
“There’s a lot of noise,” Mr Dufficy said. “Everyone had such an opinion, this is what you should do, and be strategic and tough it out for a few years and then we thought, do we really want to totally ditch our lifestyle?
“We are living in Lane Cove currently, we love it here and we wanted to buy the same lifestyle but we figured out pretty quick that it was too expensive and as much as we love our lifestyle we had to sacrifice a bit of that,” he said.
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Mr Dufficy said they found a lot of helpful resources online and their broker Leanne Johnston from Mortgage Choice Lane Cove was an asset.
Ms Johnstone said there had been increased optimism from buyers, but for first home buyers in Sydney it was still challenging.
“Many schemes are now available for first home buyers, there are certainly better options that weren’t necessarily available for first home buyers two years ago which means they’re able to take advantage of those benefits and do mean they could get into the market.”
“What I focus on is what the repayments are and encouraging them to start looking early for what’s right for them.”
“There is optimism from buyers, there is an increased supply from what there was six months ago and people are saying there are more properties available in their price range.”
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Originally published as Surprise way couple got first home for lower price