Buying your first home can be a hair-raising experience if you do not enter into the process correctly. That begins with getting yourself educated and informed of the many ways that the government will aid you. You can call them schemes if you will, but they are simply programs designed to help people like you. Let us dig into each of the ways and then you can make an educated decision from there.
The First Home Loan Deposit Scheme (FHLDS)
The FHLDS loan is a government backed loan aimed to help low- and middle-income families get into a home of their own. With this scheme you can save a substantial amount of money on the Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) by eliminating the cost altogether. Normally you would need 20% of the cost of the house for a down payment, but when you go through this scheme you will only need 5% down. There are obviously some stipulations that you must meet, so you may want to discuss the particulars with the lender that you have chosen to go through, as long as they offer this type of loan.
The Homebuilder Grant
The Homebuilder grant will give you a tax-free grant to use in your quest of building a house or renovating one. There are specific times of the year in which they take applications for the grant, so make sure you fill out the information during those times. When building a house, you may want to consider walking through a couple of display homes for sale because they will be slightly cheaper, and they can come fully furnished if you want to pay a little bit more.
First Home Supersaver Scheme
Saving for a house deposit is one of the hardest steps when trying to get into your own home. The First Home Supersaver Scheme helps you with that by taking a voluntary set amount out of your paychecks to put away. You can also add more money to it so you can save up faster, but since it is an automatic payment taken out for the fund you will not have to worry about setting money aside, because let us face it, money in hand is hard to save. But money in a fund can be left alone until the time comes to make a deposit on a new house.
The Family Home Guarantee Scheme
This is another government scheme that has been set into place to help single adults with dependents get into their own house faster. It only requires a small deposit to be able to get a loan without having to pay the high Lenders. It is usually around 2% for a down payment that can qualify you for this scheme.
Stamp Duty Discounts and Exclusions
The stamp duty is a specific amount of money that you will charged to acquire a new home. Each state will have its own costs, but there are a few ways that you can have this amount reduced or excluded if you qualify. The first way is if you are a first-time home buyer. The second is if you buy property before it has been built. Both will allow you to save some money on upfront costs.
State Plans
Each state will have their own plans. The ones listed above are mostly federal schemes, which means that it will be available in every location. The state specific ones can only be acquired in that particular state so you will need to check with the government in your location to see what they have to offer.
Final Thoughts
You need to keep in mind that getting a house is a long-term investment, so you need to take advantage of any discounts or grants that are available to you. If you are moving to a place that has a display home for sale check into it. If you do not want that particular location, the builder may have something similar in a different area. Before doing any looking around, though, check into all the government schemes above that can help you get into your new home, and apply for all of them for which you may qualify.
