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Industry analysts believe the property market will be busy in the lead up to christmas as first home buyers rush in to take advantage of the last days of the extra government FHB boost.
According to RateCity, processing a home usually takes 20 days, leaving buyers with only two weekends to secure the grant before it ends on 31 December 2009.
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But despite the incentive of receiving an extra $7,000 for a new home and $3,500 for an existing property, RateCity’s chief executive officer Damian Smith said FHBs should not panic when looking for their property or associated home loan.
“First home buyers must have their finances formalised before the December 31 deadline and because it can take a month to process a home loan, there is really only three weeks left to secure the boost,” Mr Smith said.
“However, it is not worth the risk of rushing out for the first home loan you see before spending some time to compare loans as this can dramatically impact the cost of your loan over the next 25 years.”
Mr Smith said first home buyers could lose out on more than the extra $7,000 if they don’t shop around for a good value home loan deal.
“If you took the first loan you found that had a standard variable interest rate of 6.21 percent p.a. for example, for a $300,000 loan this would cost you about $1,972 each month,” he said.
According to Mr Smith, homebuyers should take the time to compare loans and read the fine print before signing any life changing contracts.
