Five reasons you get more when you choose less

The real cost of buying a home can be looked at in a range of different ways, from the amount you save in rent to the cost of construction per square metre.

But there are also the lifetime costs of owning your own home.

That’s where making a decision early on to reduce space can save you thousands over the life of your home.

Here are five reasons that a smart decision increasingly means choosing to buy a smaller home that fits your needs rather than the biggest house money can buy.

You save up front.

It usually costs between $1000 and $2000 for each square metre that you include in your home, depending on the location where you build and the purpose of the room. Bathrooms cost more, for example, than a bedroom, while kitchens are some of the most expensive real estate in your house. Reducing your floor space by one spare bedroom could mean saving up to $20,000 straight away.

You save on your loan.

The cost of every square metre adds up over time. Think of it this way: for every dollar you borrow as part of a 30-year mortgage, you can expect to pay that dollar back plus an additional dollar in interest. That means the $20,000 saving you make by reducing your floor space can equate to an $40,000 saving over time.

You save on time.

Sure, money’s not everything — in fact most people describe themselves as time poor. That’s where a smaller home can deliver the best savings, with less to clean and maintain and reduced time spent dealing with all the ‘stuff’ you can accumulate. You can also relax knowing you won’t have to work forever to pay off your home.

You save on energy.

If being kind to the planet is important to you (and why shouldn’t it be), limiting the energy demands of your home can help. A smaller floorspace and smarter design will shave costs here as well as keep greenhouse emissions low.

You expand your options.

A smaller home is not only more affordable for you, it is more affordable for the rest of the property market. This means that when it comes time to sell, you have a greater number of potential buyers who are interested in purchasing your house — a win for you as well as a win for them.

Find out how NOW Living’s range of affordable turnkey home packages can get you into your brand new home sooner.

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