Things To Consider Before Buying Your First House

We bought our house in 2015. We had been dreaming for months years about being homeowners. Because we had been dreaming so long we rushed into house buying a little fast and made some mistakes! I wanted to share what we did right and wrong so that you can learn from us.

Our House Buying Mistakes and Successes

Mistake we made number one: putting an offer in on a house one week before our wedding. If you’ve gotten married, you know how stressful the week before the wedding is. Imagine adding negotiating for a house. Nightmare. Anyway we managed to fit in a house inspection around our bachelor/bachelorette parties and all went well. We closed on our house on September 15^th, about 45 days after our wedding!

Thing we did right number one: Having a home inspection. Luckily we didn’t find any major problems. The washer was leaking so we offered $1000 less on our original offer so we could buy a new washer when we moved in.

Our wedding photos were done by the incomparable Trevor Allen. Check him out at www.trevorallen.ca

Mistake we made number two: We decided to use my RRSP for a down payment. I know this is the right choice for a lot of people because it allows money to grow where you aren’t able to spend it, that’s great if you’re someone who has trouble saving money. You can also withdraw it tax free as a first time homebuyer for a down payment (up to $25,000) as long as you pay the money back within 15 years. I wish we had saved in another saving account. We used most of my RRSP, which set me back about 5 years.

Thing we did right number two: Bought a house in our price range! If you watch any house buying TV shows you probably notice they always seem to spend what they have been preapproved for. I was shocked with the number they initially preapproved us for! We stuck to our own budget and bought a house within that.

Mistake we made number three: We didn’t save enough for our down payment. If you don’t put 20% down on your mortgage you have to purchase mortgage loan insurance. For us it added around $8400. Ouch.

Thing we did right number three: Our house is in a great neighborhood! I don’t know if we’ll stay here forever so it’s nice that other houses around us usually sell very quickly after they go on the market. We’re in a great school area and there are lots of lakes and trails nearby!

We live close to many lakes and trails! It’s such a great place to live

Mistake we made number four: We didn’t consider all the costs of moving. I knew about all the closing costs, and luckily my parents and some friends helped us move so we didn’t have to rent a truck, but we spent a lot on paint and other random things that I just didn’t budget for. Lesson learned.

Thing we did right number four: Biweekly mortgage payments are a great way to pay off your mortgage a bit faster without really noticing. We have a 25-year mortgage but by doing biweekly accelerated payments (26 payments a year) we cut 3 years off our mortgage immediately.

Mistake we made number five: Not getting a “purchase plus improvements” mortgage. We didn’t know that by doing energy efficient upgrades (like putting in a heat pump) within 2 years of purchase we would have been able to get money back on our mortgage loan insurance if we had a “purchase plus improvements” mortgage.

Thing we did right number five: We have done a few upgrades in the past 2 years that have made our house worth more. If we decided to sell I think we’ll be able to get a lot more for the house than what we paid.