Get a budget.
Consider what you can afford after taking account of your income and expenditure – even if you choose to apply for a loan (or even a construction loan from certain housing cooperatives).
Keep Cost low.
Have a budget and keep to it as much as possible. However, keeping costs low is one thing but pay attention to paying for quality construction cost, legal costs, search fees, survey fees, and architect fees. but it is advisable to have a budget and stick with it as reasonably as possible.
Consider buying land to build on
When buying land for your home, consider areas that have potential for future development especially land near a developing area. Another strategy is to buy where there are plans for a major road that would open the area in later years. Such land might be more affordable to buy and keep as you save up on other home ownership costs. Also consider buying a chunk of land as a group, sub-divide and come up with your own gated community. Recent trend is also heading to other popular cost-effective building technologies from using interlocking blocks to moving into container homes and saving on rent as you work on self-building your home.
Off-plan Housing.
This strategy allows you to pay for a property before it is constructed and can be cheaper than buying a newly built home. However, weigh your risks in investing in the venture and be do your due diligence on the developer and whether they have built with quality properties before. And consider their history in handling any build issues in the past.
Legal Issues in property.
It is becoming more and more trendy to consider legal marital issues and to protect any property before marriage with a prenuptial agreement. Click here to visit the legal section of our website. Ask how you can get protection for your property rights; How you want your estate distributed upon death for example; and, know what your spouse owns and know what your property rights are to save you pain in case of your spouse’s death. If you co-own property, make sure that the ownership document provides for joint ownership not tenants in common as this may be affected by law of succession.
Stay Steady.
As with all other goals, start small and work your way to your goal steadily.
See other related posts:
- How Property Africa can help you find your next home
- Common scams we’ve heard about, and you should too