Don't Wait for Your Dream Home — Build Now
If you know any other aspiring first-time buyers, you're probably familiar with the stories of their hunt – the extra full-time job they've embarked on to search every website, view every suitable listing and the continuous real estate phone calls in a bid to nab the perfect place.
Waiting for things to be perfect is usually the one thing that stops progress. In the instances of property, dream homes are ideal in theory, but setting your sights on them alone can keep you on the hamster wheel and off the property ladder, where you have the best chance of finding the future home of your dreams.
Dream homes are a worthwhile aspiration, but the best way to know what you need and want from a home, beyond aesthetics, is by starting with building one. You deserve to stop paying rent and live in a space that works for you now and delivers on all the things that are important to you.
If you're at the stage of deciding whether to build or buy a first home, here's why building now is the best way to meet your present needs and set you up on the path towards your future dream home.
Meet your real, present needs
When you build your first home, you have a lot more autonomy over the space that will be your own. While this freedom includes the floorplan, house design and interiors, it also extends to the option of selecting your location. It might seem like a penthouse with a view will fix a bad day, but that dream view can't replace the things you and your family really need from a home.
You're not limited to the exact locations in the listing that are on offer when building. This opens the door to better opportunities for you and your family, where you can find good community links and engage in a more social neighbourhood. You'll also have more room for you and your family to live in and enjoy a more rounded lifestyle, perfect for a growing family, which a simple aesthetical-dream house just can't match.
Ideals change, and your dream will evolve
It's always a fun exercise to look back on the different desires and goals of your past self compared to your current self. Whether it's a case of taste and trend changes or what's important to you changes as you grow, our ideas of an ideal evolve with time. Setting your sights on one dream home that will meet your needs forever is unrealistic.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't have dreams within your property journey, but broadening your understanding of what the perfect place for you is will make it easier to integrate emerging needs into your new dream when these changes happen. Starting your property journey by building your first home will allow you to meet many of your essential needs, but it also helps you know what you want in a dream home.
Once you've built your own home and made it your own, you instinctively gain a more accurate picture of what's important to you, and your dream home can become something that makes more sense to you and your family.
Joining the ladder is the best first step
As a first-time home buyer, things are already more challenging for you as you need to save for a deposit to make your repayments manageable. The notion of a dream home usually has a high price tag, meaning the gap between renting and buying your dream home is a mighty leap. This distance means you'll spend more time saving and paying rent to fund someone else's mortgage instead of paying off your own.
This is why the best first step to climbing the property ladder to your dream home is getting on the ladder itself. By building your first home, you'll have the freedom to choose options that meet your needs through an affordable property which means you'll quickly be paying your own mortgage and working towards your dream.
Building a home as a first-time buyer is an admirable achievement in itself, and it already offers you and your family the shelter and security to live a happy and comfortable life without the uncertainty of rentals. And while you're paying off your first mortgage, you're putting more of the asset into your name, which you can then use to climb the ladder.
The right price is never guaranteed
Playing the waiting game is a common trope for aspiring home buyers, envisioning social and political events to cause a drop in the market or for price correction to occur uniformly. Unfortunately, price correction doesn't happen uniformly and rarely happens as the estimations predict.
Price correction happens over time, but only in selective property markets, so while it may correct in one part of a city, it can be non-existent in others. Where there is demand and sales occur, even if it's at a slow pace, prices are unlikely to drop dramatically. As dream homes are typically in desirable locations where other aspiring buyers have their sights set, they're likely to be immune to dramatic drops.
Waiting longer won't ensure that your dream location experiences the same drop in price, and while this can be a primary reason that many other first-time buyers delay their journey towards their first home, you can use it as confirmation to stop waiting and start building your first home and future today.
Take the first step with First-Place
First-Place are Victoria's affordable builder, and for us, that means turning first-time buyers' dreams into a reality. We understand that your first home might not be your dream home, but we also know that waiting for your dream home puts aspiring buyers on an endless merry-go-round.
Instead, start now with a trustworthy builder that's on your side, and you'll take the first giant leap towards your future dream home while building a home that suits the current needs of you and your family. Check out our first home buyer guide and price your home with our home configurator. Get in touch today on 1800 134 778 or enquire to find out more.
Disclaimer
This advice in this article is general in nature and does not take into account your personal situation. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your needs. It is recommended you seek professional advice from a financial adviser before making any important decisions.
First Place is not a financial adviser. You should consider seeking independent legal, financial or other advice to check how the website information relates to your unique circumstances.
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