The stepping stone home gets you into your dream home.

I want to introduce you to the concept of the stepping stone house – that is, the house you can afford now which gets you into the market and will later provide you with the deposit for your dream home.

Your first home, doesn't have to be your dream home

The stepping stone house most often applies to first home buyers, but it could also be something you acquire as you step up through life with pay raises and growing equity.

When we are first home buyers we are exceptionally keen to get in the market and buy our dream home, we’re absolutely convinced this is the only home we want to own and therefore it must suit us forever. Unfortunately few of us can afford this and frankly what we think we want will change by the time we can actually afford it.

As much as you are convinced you already know where and what you want to retire into, I promise you that will change. As much as you think you need to have the perfect house – your first home is just that, your first home. It does not need to be your dream home.

Introduce the stepping stone house, the house that is affordable and won’t kill your lifestyle. You may have more than one stepping stone house, that’s ok too. I promise you will be proud that you got into the market with the best you could do.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to last you at least 5-10 years to justify the costs involved in buying and selling, if you end up selling. And it pays to be really clever when you buy this house and think about what you could do down the track - whether you can keep it – there are some simple tweaks we can do when you buy your first home to make it more affordable as a future investment property, if that looks like the right way for you to go.

So buy a home that doesn’t prevent you from living, but does suit your short to medium term plans and will be an excellent asset to form the deposit for your dream home in time.