As little children, we start dreaming of our future. In our dreams we are married to the perfect husband or wife, with the most adorable children, a dog, two cats and a rabbit – everything that goes with the most beautiful house in the perfect neighbourhood. In our dreams everything works out perfectly! We have no idea of technicalities such as interest rates, overdrafts, inflation and home loans!

One of the most exciting experiences ever, is most probably buying your first house! The first time you can go home to a place you can call your own. Searching for this house is obviously part of the fun! Driving around on Sunday afternoons, looking at all the houses or show, or simply logging onto the internet and browsing all the property listings definitely forms part of the whole buying-a-house-experience! There is no such thing as wondering if a house is the right house for you. If the house does not shout “take me, take me!” then your search is not over yet. You will just KNOW when you’ve find the place that you want to call home!

Herewith a couple of guidelines from Nedbank home loans for first time buyers:

Calculate how much you will be able to spend on your monthly repayments. Work out a budget for everything from the bond installment to the water and electricity, garden and refuse removal, levies, rates, taxes and any other expenses. It is no use buying a house if you won’t be able to afford living there!

A basic rule of thumb is that you should not spend more than 30% of your monthly income on your bond installment. The professional staff at Nedbank Home Loans will be able to assist you with a detailed explanation on this.

Sometimes it will be necessary to pay a deposit, other times it would not be required. Sometimes first time buyers are more likely to get a 100% loan than previous home owners. There are a lot of factors which will influence a specific home loan, therefore it’s important to do your homework so that there won’t be any surprises along the way.

It is very important to make sure that you always have a good credit record. A clothing account here and there, added to a personal loan, a credit card and other accounts, can easily land you in big trouble. Make sure that you do not incur more cost than you would be able to pay pack. Never ever miss an installment! This can quickly label you as someone with a bad credit reputation and it will definitely count against you when applying for a home loan. Getting labeled as a poor payer is easy, getting rid of that label is unfortunately quite a process!

Nedbank home loans have extensive experience in the home loan field as their many satisfied customers can testify of this!

By keeping the above in mind, searching for your dream house can be an exciting and fun experience! And with a good credit record and the right house at the right price, nothing should stand in the way of buying your dream house! Always remember that a home is where the heart is.

For more Nedbank home loans tips, as well as more information on bank cancellation process, visit our insurance website.