"HomeSeeker SA came along and saved the day."
36-year-old first home buyer Tessa says despite her experience working in the real estate industry, she still needed to do her research – especially about finance – when buying her affordable home through HomeSeeker SA.
Tessa’s new home is under construction at Oaklands Park and should be ready to move into before Christmas 2024. She organised her finance to buy her new affordable home through HomeStart.
As a first home buyer, she was able to take advantage of South Australia’s first home owner grant scheme and other government-funded support such as stamp duty relief.
Single mum Tessa, who works in the aged care sector, says despite the knowledge she gained while working in the real estate industry in Queensland and the Northern Territory, she still needed to learn more about her finance options.
“I have helped a lot of people through the homebuying process and have done the sales process years ago when I was in the industry, but when it’s for yourself it becomes quite daunting,” she says.
“Price was critical. Being a single mum and understanding how inflation and interest rates have been impacting peoples’ mortgages, there was a part of me that was almost hesitant to buy. But once I wrapped my head around what I could afford, and it wasn’t much more than my rent, that sort of minimised those concerns.”
Tessa says location was her next concern.
“Where I could afford to buy was important. Without HomeSeeker I would have been much further out of town, with no fixed price, a quoted three-year turn around, and not a turn-key home so I would still have to pay for concreting, guttering, a garden, etc. It was daunting.
“Then HomeSeeker SA came along and saved the day - a great location, great price, and everything was easy.
Tessa says a valuable lesson learned through her affordable home buying journey is to find out what documentation you need and have it ready.
“You do really need a lot of documentation,” she says.
“If you need to do something quickly, it’s best to educate yourself on what might be required and plan ahead. Having potential documents on hand will expedite the process. I had a couple of hold-ups – just for a day or two – because I was waiting for a statement from the bank or something like that.”
