Buying a first home is the largest single transaction most people will ever undertake. The settlement process compresses dozens of legal, financial, and tax decisions into a six-to-eight week window, with a deposit on the line and emotion running high. The questions below are the ones first-home buyers most often regret not asking, organised by who you ask, in roughly the order the answers will matter.
For your broker (or your lender directly)
- What is the comparison rate at my exact loan amount and term, not the published example? The published comparison rate is a standardised figure that may differ from yours.
- What is the establishment fee, the monthly fee, the discharge fee, and the rate-lock fee? Add them; ask for the total in dollars over the first three years.
- If I switch to a fixed rate now, what is the indicative break fee in a scenario where wholesale rates fall 0.50 per cent over the fixed term? The exact figure depends on the break date, but the scenario gives you an upper bound.
- Is offset on this product a true 100 per cent offset, or is it a partial offset, or a sub-account that pays interest at a discounted rate? The three are not interchangeable.
- What is the loan-to-value ratio (LVR) at which LMI is waived for me, and what is the LMI premium at the LVR I am actually borrowing at? LMI is non-trivial money. Know the number.
For your conveyancer
- Which special conditions am I agreeing to? Special conditions sit on top of the standard contract and are often the most consequential clauses. Read each one before signing.
- Is the property subject to a building or pest report? If yes, what does the report show? If no, why not?
- What are the strata levies for the next two years (if applicable), and what is in the strata sinking fund? An empty sinking fund foreshadows special levies you will pay.
- Are there any current or pending Notice of Intention to Lapse, body corporate disputes, or major works planned at the property?
For yourself, before you sign
- If interest rates rose 1.5 per cent from here, can I service the loan? Use the calculators on this site to model the answer. If the answer is "barely", reconsider the borrowing amount.
- What is my total cash buffer after deposit, stamp duty, conveyancing, building reports, moving, and furniture? Plan to settle with at least three months of expenses still in cash, separate from the home.
Your lender will lend you more than you should borrow. Their job is to assess your maximum capacity. Yours is to set your prudent limit.
A note on first home buyer schemes
State and federal first home buyer schemes change every budget cycle. The names, the thresholds, and the eligibility criteria all move. The schemes that exist today (the federal Home Guarantee Scheme, state first-home owner grants and stamp-duty concessions) are described in our home-loans guide and are reviewed against the relevant state revenue office at least quarterly. Use those references as the authoritative source rather than third-party summaries.
When in doubt, slow down. The settlement clock is short, but it is not so short that you cannot get a second opinion on a clause you do not understand. Most regrets in property purchase trace back to the same root cause: a buyer felt rushed and signed something they had not fully read.