Apr 13, 2020
This isn’t the easiest time to be a millennial looking to buy your first home. With the real estate market the way it is, and all the new regulations, it has become even harder for this group to break into the housing market. As a millennial myself, and recently bought into the housing market, here are a few tips based on my own home buying experience!
1) We lived at home (for way longer than expected)
Once we decided that we wanted to bust into the housing market, we realized quickly the need to boost our savings plan. My partner and I needed to put more money away to achieve our goal of purchasing within 3 years. At the time, we were renting a very trendy condo in downtown Toronto paying an extremely high rental fee each month, plus parking and utilities. Things just were not adding up. So, we decided to kick the trendy lifestyle and moved into my parent’s basement, saving us hundreds of dollars each month that we were able to put straight into our saving towards a down payment.
2) Worked a second part-time job.
Once in the habit of saving, we wanted to reach our goal even faster. I took on a part time job on the weekends that helped tremendously with increasing our savings. Not only that, but working more gave me less time to spend, so it was a double bonus for achieving our goal.
3) We took advantage of the First-Time Home Buyers Plan.
Since this was the first home either one of us owned, we were able to double the amount of funds allowed out of our RRSP’s as first time home buyers. This gave us a total of $50,000 we could put directly towards our down payment without any interest penalties. We made sure to do our research and took out the proper amounts, the right way and within the timeline that the FTHB Plan has set out. This allowed us to take advantage of the extra savings and the interest our money had been earning. For more information on the First-Time Home Buyers Plan click here.
Overall, we were able to save the amount we needed to make our down payment but it wasn’t easy! Remember things did not always go as planned and unforeseen expenses always came up that require adjustments. Hopefully our experience buying a home can help remind you that it takes some time and planning. Sadly, your money doesn’t triple over night.
Do your research and enjoy your home purchasing journey!