Not to sound old…. But patience is a virtue.

I recently read an article that detailed how a young couple from Sydney had spent 4 years saving for their house deposit so they could purchase a modest apartment as a first home.

Making sacrifices along the way such not moving out to stay living with their parents, limiting their luxury expenses of retail therapy and eating out etc etc.

Don’t get me wrong, these are all good things to do.

But the article started to lose me when it stated that once they hit a deposit mark of $60,000 they realised they were still priced out of the market, so they decided to spend the lot on overseas holidays.

All of it.

The kicker…. The couple were aged 21 & 22.

Buying a home is pretty simple.

What you don’t have in savings, you need to borrow.

What you can’t borrow, you need to save.

If those 2 things don’t add up, you may just need to be patient and wait until they do.

Save some more, or as you develop your chosen career, your income tends to increase, so to would your borrowing capacity.

Now I’m not saying don’t spend anything just so you can buy a house.

On the contrary, go on the holiday.

Live the lifestyle you want.

But to become disheartened and spend the lot because you can’t have something straight away is a bit dramatic.

Rather, work out what it is you need to spend to live the life that makes you happy and then set your timeline (and expectations) around that.

Don’t borrow $500,000 for a first house if your income and lifestyle don’t allow you pay it back.

It’s one thing to buy a home, it’s another to become a prisoner inside it eating 2min noodles because you can’t afford to leave it.

Set a timeline that allows you to save the money needed to not have to borrow that much, or reset your expectations or where you want to live.

It may be a hard pill to swallow, but it may mean your house buying plan pushes out to your late 20’s or dare I say it, your 30’s!!!! (oh the horror!!!!)

An opinion piece from the mind of Grant Newell