Why are First Home Buyers Struggling to Buy Their Homes? And How to Solve It

Buying your first home is an exciting milestone, but for many first-time buyers, the journey feels more like an uphill battle. From skyrocketing property prices to fierce competition and complex processes, it’s no surprise that many aspiring homeowners struggle to secure their dream home fast enough.

Our Melbourne buyers advocates will show how first home buyers can turn the tide in their favor.

First, let’s explore the challenges first home buyers face and how you can take control of your home-buying journey.

What Challenges Do First Home Buyers Face?

1. Rising Property Prices

In many parts of Australia, house prices have surged beyond expectations, making it harder for first-home buyers to save a deposit. With property values increasing faster than wages, many buyers feel like they’re constantly chasing a moving target.

2. Intense Competition

First-home buyers are often competing with seasoned investors and upsizers or downsizers who have larger budgets and greater negotiating power. With limited housing stock, properties in prime locations get snapped up quickly, leaving many first-home buyers missing out.

3. Complex and Overwhelming Process

From securing pre-approval and understanding government grants to navigating contracts and inspections, the process can be overwhelming. Without proper guidance, many buyers feel lost, delaying their progress or making costly mistakes. Best and Final Offer, Auction, Closed Auction, Boardroom Auction, Fixed Date Sale, Sell by Set Date, Private Treaty, Private Sale, etc, are some of the popular sales methods. While they may sound similar, there are enough nuances to set them apart, and each has its own way of navigating, so you avoid overpaying and have the right risk mitigation processes.

4. Choosing the Wrong Property

First-time buyers often hesitate because they fear making a bad financial decision. This hesitation can lead to missed opportunities as well-prepared buyers swoop in and secure properties with confidence.

The biggest problem first home buyers faced is:

5. Not Understanding the True Value of the Property

Our Buyers Advocates and Buyers Agents has seen it all. This is by far, the biggest challenge first home buyers face. They lack the market experience, exposure and due diligence know-how to ascertain the true value of the property they want to buy. They are also unable to assess what other buyers are willing to pay, leading to them either low-balling the properties and hurting their chances of ever having their offers presented to the vendor. Not understanding the value of the property, also leads them into fearing they might overpay for the property they like and thus, forces them to be conservative with the offer and thereby losing out to other buyers.

On the flip side, after first home buyers tried and failed repeatedly, anxiety and frustration kicks in, resulting in them making riskier decisions. When this happens, they would usually ended up with a property that they does not want, or ended up overpaying for the property they want.

How First-Home Buyers Can Improve Home Buying Success

While the challenges are real, there are a few ways to fast-track your property purchase and make smarter decisions along the way. Here are some simple steps first home buyers can adopt to fast track the success in buying their first home.

1. Get The Finances in Order Early

Start by reducing unnecessary expenses and saving aggressively for the deposit. Speak to a mortgage broker to understand your borrowing capacity and secure pre-approval before house hunting. This puts buyers in a strong position to act quickly when the right property comes along. If necessary, to talk to a mortgage broker. Our network of free mortgage advisors can help you understand your serviceability and apply for a pre-approval, so you can buy with certainty.

2. Take Advantage of Government Grants and Schemes

The First Home Owner Grant (FHOG), First Home Guarantee, and stamp duty concessions can make a significant difference to the budget. Research what’s available in your state and ensure you meet the eligibility criteria.

Depending on the mechanics of the schemes some helps reduce your upfront mortgage deposit, some reduces the stamp duty payments, while others give you an added boost in serviceability, in exchange for the government owning a portion of your property.

3. Expand Your Search Criteria

Many first-home buyers fixate on specific suburbs, limiting their options. Consider looking at surrounding areas that offer growth potential, better affordability, and strong rental demand if you ever decide to rent it out in the future.

4. Get Expert Support with a Buyer’s Advocate

A professional buyer’s advocate, like Concierge Buyers Advocates, can make the home-buying process faster, easier, and less stressful. They provide the necessary expert market insights, handle negotiations, and ensure home buyers pay the lowest possible price for their properties. Most importantly, they help buyers find and secure the right property before the competition does. While the buyers advocates do charge a fee, the value of the services you get in return are usually more than the fees you pay. They help you:

1. Understand the value of the property, so you can buy confidently and do not overpay for them

2. Explore all options, so you can considers properties which you have never thought of, and broaden your search

3. Explore other locations you can consider, so you can buy in locations with less competition

4. Understand the different sales tactics and navigate them successfully for you

5. Negotiate and navigate the sales strategy to shave tens of thousands of dollars from the property price

6. Buy up to 3 times faster and with less stress, compared to you buying without professional support.

Most importantly, by successfully understanding and navigating the entire home buying process can help buyers save tens of thousands off the property price. At Concierge Buyers Advocates, we usually help our our buyers save between $20k-50k per property.

5. Be Prepared and Act Decisively

We couldn't say it more... Do your homework. This is also the most time consuming and second most stressful stage in the property buying process. Once you’ve done sufficient research, you should be able to trust your preparations and be ready to act when the right opportunity presents itself. In the current Melbourne property market, prices are already starting to move upwards. Prices of properties in popular suburbs are already rising by between 1-3% per month. So, the longer you wait, the more prices will rise, making it even harder for you to enter the property market.

How Much Research and Due Diligence is Enough for Property Buying?

This is the question in all first home buyers mind. You are missing a critical step, if you have not ever thought of this question. How much preparations are enough?

You should have made sufficient preparations to confidently:

1. determine if you are interested in the property within 10 minutes of seeing it.

2. identify who the other buyers are.

3. estimate what other buyers will pay for your shortlisted properties within 5 minutes.

4. identify problems with the property during the inspection.

5. talk to the agent and discuss price.

Confident preparations is important as experienced sales agents can pick up the uncertainty in you and exploit that weakness. A 3rd party professional shields you from this and protects your buying interests.

The Bright Side: Your Homeownership Dream is Within Reach

While the journey to buying your first home is often daunting, remember that every successful homeowner started somewhere. By being proactive, well-prepared, and seeking expert guidance, you can navigate the market with confidence and secure your dream home sooner than you think.

Many first home buyers have bought their first homes. So can you.

It is only a matter of time.

How Quickly Do You Want To Buy Your First Home?

It really is your choice, Do you want to buy fast and buy with confidence? Or would you want to learn the hard way and spend up to a year of more navigating the search, research and sales process? A Buyers Advocate can help you buy your first home confidently faster, helping you avoid unnecessary price rise. Prices are rising between 1-3% every month. The longer you wait, the more you will have to pay.

At Concierge Buyers Advocates, we’re dedicated to helping first-home buyers like you achieve homeownership faster and with less stress. Whether it’s finding the right property, negotiating a great deal, or guiding you through the process, we’re here to make your dream a reality. Our strict qualification process has ensured we only offer our services to first home buyers who can buy and we've been 100% successful in helping them.

Yes, all of our first home buyer client have bought their dream home. No one else in the industry can lay claim to this.

Don’t let the challenges hold you back—take the first step towards homeownership today!

Get in Touch for a Free First Home Buyer Consultation