Before you borrow – think beyond the next five years!

Prospective home buyers often get so excited about buying their own piece of paradise that they forget about evaluating the future. They base their home loan on their current financial circumstances and don’t take into account their future plans.

For example, the repayments may only be affordable if both partners work – they forget that they’re planning a family in a few years which will reduce them down to a single income and increase their weekly expenses.

On a 30 year mortgage you don't shift a lot of the debt in the first five years as you’re mostly paying interest. So it would be wise to base your repayments on one income to ensure that you’re able to make the payments comfortably.

Of course, it’s best to access both incomes for repayments whilst you still can so that you can make a serious dent in the mortgage from the outset.