Tim Akinnusi talks to the Win A Home show about the different homes that are available and the lifestyles that they cater for.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Reporter: So as people progress through different life stages and their family structures and financial situations change, so do their housing needs and preferences. We have Tim Akinnusi with us in the loft, who's the head of sales and client value management at Nedbank home loans. Welcome back, Tim. Lovely to have you with us again.
Tim: Thank you, Bonnie.
Typically, when you first leave your parents' home, you're looking to possibly rent an apartment. What should we be thinking about at that stage of our lives, when it comes to eventually owning a home?
I think to start off with, when you do leave your parents' home and if you perhaps maybe don't get a windfall of some money to put into a new place, the typical route is to start to rent because in rental, you then just limit and you cap your expenses to just a rental. The intention really is that you don't go in there and just rent, and continuously rent over a prolonged period of time. But really, when you start renting, you should be thinking about how to get into property. So therefore, you should be saving from the onset. We don't think that there's any particular life-stage that one needs to get into property. It really is about when you are economically active and you have some savings, you should get in and find something that suits your life-stage at that point in time.
The next stage of life is, you've moved out of your parents' home for a while and now you understand that you need to start investing in your future and buying your first home. What are the most important considerations? I remember when I first bought my home, I think I made a few mistakes. I know far better now. Hindsight is the best sight. But what do I need to consider?
Firstly, when you are in the process of deciding on buying a house, you should start to think about it from the time you're even renting. You're never too young to get into the investment market and property is one of those investment classes that you can get into. The idea is that when you buy your first house, you stay in it long enough to pay some equity into it by paying down the debt. Over time you expect that the house, should the market conditions be correct, should appreciate in value. When you eventually do sell that because your life-stage has evolved, maybe you've now found a partner, you want to settle down, you then have the ability to have some savings based on what you've paid into the house as well as the appreciation of the property itself to then put a nice down payment into the next house. By doing this, what it allows you to do is to influence your loan to value, so banks can see that you're committed to this particular property. Secondly, you have more influence over the rate that we give you on your property and so that sets you off on a good course to continue to do the same thing. Pay more into that property, the house appreciates, and as your family enlarges, you can then look at buying your third home. Or even if it's just to be able to start to create some level of wealth by paying down this house and then leaving it as a legacy to your kids or to do some other things with it from an investor's standpoint.
Is there such a thing as being too young to buy a property?
That's the great thing about it is that you're never too young. As long as you are economically active and you can afford it, it's the right thing to do because you are putting yourself in a position where over time you can create something that will be left for you over the next 5 to 10 years. So my view is that the narrative on property being for the elder generation should change because as long as you have an intention of paying for the place and looking after it, it should serve you well as an asset.
