7 things you need to do before buying a property with your partner

Buying a house with your partner for the first time is exciting but it can be stressful. It will always require discipline, honesty and good communication. We spoke to a #teamhomely member about their recent experience of house hunting with a partner for the first time. 

I’ve just spent the last three months starting the search for a house with my partner. While this won’t be my first property purchase, it’s our first purchase together. It can be hard enough to be honest with yourself about your own finances and personal compromises, but add in a whole other person’s wants, needs and history to the mix and things get interesting! Here are my top tips for those buying a house with your partner for the first time: 

How to buy a house with a partner for the first time

1. Get your joint financial health in order and have tricky financial conversations upfront.

There is no point glazing over important details at the beginning, only to uncover them down the road. Sit down with your partner and go through these things:

1. How much money you each have saved towards a deposit
2. How much money you can each afford to save in the coming months to also put towards that deposit – remember to work out actual daily living costs between you to understand your saving ability
3. Go through your existing debts (even the ones you’re not proud of)
4. Go over individual assets that you both bring to the joint financial ‘picture’
5. Check your credit scores – this will affect your ability to get a mortgage and you may need to spend time getting yours up to scratch

Hot tip: use a third party to help sort all of this out. A financial advisor will charge a small fee to handle these tough and sometimes uncomfortable money conversations, but they will tell you exactly what you need to do to meet your goals, what you can realistically afford and what issues they can foresee based on all of your financial information. This takes the sting out of a ‘money mandate’ coming from yourself or your partner. 

2. Remember to stay positive.

It can be unnerving and confronting to look at your financial health honestly, but it’s always better to know where you stand so that you can make a realistic plan to get you where you want to be. You’ll save yourself pain and time down the line by doing this step first.

3. Talk about life goals – it’s all about alignment.

What does this property purchase mean to you? A house isn’t necessarily a home – it can be an investment, a project, a stepping stone or it might, indeed, be a forever home. It’s important to get on the same level as your partner about how this property fits into your bigger life goals and what its purpose is at this time in your lives. Being on the same page about whether this home is a ‘first family home’ versus an investment property to flip or rent out will help you align on what you are looking for in the house and property itself. 

Here are a few questions to get you started: 

• Is this our forever home, a ‘first home’ to keep for 4-5 years, a reno project to flip, or an investment property? 
• Are we starting a family while living in this house, and if so – how many rooms do we need to ‘grow into’? 
• Do you need somewhere for family members to stay often? 
• What’s going on in your career? Are you likely to have the same stable income for the next while or are you looking at starting a business or even going back to study? This may affect your ability to make mortgage repayments or at least how much mortgage debt you can afford to take on when buying. 
• This one links back to the previous point but is all about your lifestyle values – discretionary spending. What are your ‘must haves’ and what are you prepared to give up if need be to afford this house? Make sure you’re not too hard on yourself here – you’re trying to make a dream happen, not make your everyday life harder.

4. You know what they say: location, location, location.

Where you live plays a part in your identity and your lifestyle, so it’s important to know what your ‘must haves’ are in an area/suburb. You might have priorities like: being near the beach, having parks nearby, good cafes and dining close by, public transportation requirements or school zones. Location is one of the most important parts of your property so consider this very carefully. 

As always, there will be compromises, but don’t compromise on the things that really matter to your day-to-day life. Remember: convenience is time saved, and time is money. 

Here are some top tips for finding that perfect place to live:

• Write your list of non-negotiables including surroundings, acceptable commute times, the locale etc.
• See what the locals have to say – Homely Suburb and Street Reviews give you access to thousands of reviews for suburbs right across Australia. You’ll find honest and helpful insights into what it’s like to live in any given suburb, what its downfalls are and how it’s changed over the years. You can also use Homely to explore what the average property prices are in an area to get to know where you can afford to buy. 
• Go and explore the area! Once you have homed in on a few ideal suburbs, make sure you spend some time there. Go for breakfast, go for dinner, drive around the back streets and walk the main strips. You’ll never get a real feel for the place but just driving to an open home and leaving straight away. Trust me, it’s worth putting that time in before buying versus ending up in an area you hate. 

5. Now for the fun stuff – what are your ‘must haves’ for the house itself?

With all the icky conversations out the way, now it’s time to dream up your ideal home together. 

What styles do you like? What kind of section do you want? Do you absolutely need two bathrooms or do you have to have a nice big kitchen? How many rooms do you need and what for? 

My best advice is to be realistic given your budget but paint a clear image of what your house should include. This will make sorting a ‘yes’ from a ‘no’ after inspecting properties – especially if you can’t always go to view homes together. 

6. Lastly – are you eligible for any grants?

Each state has different incentives and grants. Hop onto your state’s government website and see if there are any concessions, grants or incentives that you qualify for. Your financial advisor will also be super handy in this step. 

Now only after you have gone through all of the above, should you start actually looking at properties you might like to buy. Get all those ducks in a row before venturing out and getting your hopes up. This part should now be a whole lot easier and more fun for both of you, given that you are armed with all the info you need to make a great decision on a property. 

7. Starting the search

House hunting can be gruelling, so putting things in place to make it as easy as possible will feel like a life-saver. Finding a property is a shared experience, so being able to easily share and save properties with your partner will save a lot of time and frustration. 

Homely has been our best friend during this property search, here’s how we’ve used it to our advantage:

1. Create an account 
2. Set up property alerts for new listings that match your ideal search filters
3. Set up collections, share those collections with your partner and start saving and rating properties
4. You can get smart with your collections by using them to categorise your saved properties into groups like ‘want to inspect’ ‘watch for sale price’ ‘best locations’ etc 

All in all, the key is to not be afraid to have the tough conversations at the start. Everyone is a bit scared at first to open up about money, but it’s important. Being realistic, considering all the details and doing your research will lead to a much smoother and more peaceful experience down the line. 

Happy house hunting!