The 5 mistakes that cost first home buyers $20k each
Not checking the easement. Not negotiating the deposit timing. Not asking about pending DAs nearby. Not getting building and pest.
First home buyers make mistakes. So do experienced investors. The mistakes are universal. But first home buyers make them more often because the buying process is unfamiliar, the financial stakes are large, and the standard advice (from agents, family, friends) often reflects experience from 10-20 years ago when conditions were different.
This post is the five most common mistakes I have seen first home buyers make in 2024-2026. Each one costs approximately $20k on average. Each is preventable with a single piece of pre-purchase research.
Mistake 1: not checking the easement
The mistake: assuming the lot is fully usable for your intended purpose without verifying the easements registered on the title.
The cost: $15,000-40,000 depending on how the easement affects your plans.
The typical scenario: a first home buyer purchases a 600 square metre lot intending to add a granny flat in the back yard within 2-3 years. After settlement, they discover a drainage easement runs across the rear half of the lot. The granny flat cannot be built where they planned. Either the project is redesigned (significant architect and engineering re-cost) or abandoned (lost the value uplift the granny flat would have generated).
How to avoid: read the title's dealings list and the deposited plan before exchange. Cross-reference any easements spatially with your intended use. The covered-elsewhere "drainage easement trap" post explains this in detail.
Mistake 2: not negotiating the deposit timing
The mistake: accepting the standard "10% deposit released on exchange" without negotiating either lower deposit or trust-held deposit.
The cost: $10,000-30,000 (the opportunity cost of locked-up capital, or the loss of the deposit if the vendor defaults).
The typical scenario: first home buyer agrees to a 10% deposit released to the vendor on exchange. Settlement is in 6 weeks. The buyer's deposit sits with the vendor for the 6-week period and is unrecoverable if the vendor defaults.
For a $900,000 purchase, that is $90,000 sitting with someone you do not know.
How to avoid: negotiate either a 5% deposit, OR a deposit held in trust by the agent or conveyancer until settlement. Both options are usually available; agents do not always offer them.
The post on 12 contract-of-sale clauses covers this in detail.
Mistake 3: not asking about pending DAs nearby
The mistake: not checking whether neighbouring lots have development applications under assessment that would change the immediate streetscape after you settle.
The cost: $20,000-100,000 (loss of light, loss of privacy, loss of resale value due to overlooking, construction noise lasting 12-18 months).
The typical scenario: first home buyer purchases a quiet single-storey suburban dwelling with a sunny back yard. Six months later, the neighbour's development application for a two-storey extension is approved. The new wall blocks 80% of the buyer's back yard sunlight in winter and provides direct overlook into their bedroom window. The property's resale value is permanently reduced by 6-10%.
How to avoid: check the council's DA register for any pending or recent applications within 50m of the property. Most councils publish the register online. The check takes 10-15 minutes.
Mistake 4: not getting building and pest inspection
The mistake: skipping the pre-purchase building and pest inspection to save the $600-1,000 cost.
The cost: $15,000-80,000 in post-purchase repairs for issues the inspection would have identified.
The typical scenario: first home buyer makes an unconditional offer on a "renovated" inner-suburban dwelling. After settlement, they discover:
- Hidden termite damage in structural timbers (the renovation covered the affected areas)
- Failing roof flashing causing slow ceiling damage
- Inadequate drainage causing rising damp in the rear wall
The total repair cost runs $35,000-60,000, none of which is covered by insurance because the damage pre-dates the policy.
How to avoid: comprehensive building and pest inspection from a qualified inspector. Cost: $600-1,500. The post on settlement-day surprises covers what a good inspection should include.
The post on building consultant vs town planner vs structural engineer covers when to escalate to specialised professionals.
Mistake 5: not reading the s10.7 properly
The mistake: relying on the conveyancer's summary of the section 10.7 certificate (NSW) or section 32 (VIC) without reading the document yourself.
The cost: $10,000-50,000 in surprises from items disclosed but not flagged.
The typical scenario: the s10.7 certificate runs 14 pages. The conveyancer's summary highlights the zone, height limit, and any obvious overlays. Buried on page 9 is a notation about a planning proposal that may rezone the surrounding area to commercial in the next 18 months. The first home buyer would have wanted to know about it, but the conveyancer treated it as routine future-planning context.
How to avoid: read the s10.7 (or equivalent) yourself, asking the conveyancer to explain anything unclear. The full read takes 30-60 minutes. The post on reading section 10.7 in 5 minutes covers the priority sections.
The $100,000 in aggregate
Five mistakes. Each costs around $20k on average. The aggregate exposure is around $100,000 for a first home buyer who makes all five mistakes.
In practice, most first home buyers make 1-3 of the five. The aggregate impact is $20k-60k on average. The mistake compounds in two ways:
Compounding effect 1: financial stress
A first home buyer who has stretched to afford the purchase often does not have $20k of slack. The post-settlement discovery becomes a serious financial stress: a home equity loan to fund the repair, or a debt that compounds for years.
Compounding effect 2: emotional cost
The shine comes off the property quickly when post-settlement discoveries pile up. The "dream home" becomes a stress source. This emotional cost is hard to quantify but is real and lasting.
The 4-hour prevention plan
The five mistakes can be substantially prevented with approximately 4 hours of pre-purchase work:
- Read the title and deposited plan: 30 minutes
- Read the s10.7 / s32 / equivalent: 60 minutes
- Check council DA register for the surrounding 50m: 15 minutes
- Engage building inspector and read their report carefully: 30 minutes of buyer time (inspector does the rest)
- Negotiate deposit timing and trust-holding: 30 minutes of conversation with the agent and your conveyancer
Total: 2-4 hours of focused work. Total cost: $1,000-2,000 in professional fees (mostly the building inspection).
Compared to the $20k-100k exposure, the 4 hours is one of the highest-leverage investments any first home buyer can make.
- Easements: surfaced in the Property Facts tab with spatial location
- Pending DAs: tracked in the Planning & Potential tab for nearby properties
- s10.7 / s32 content: most of the key items are surfaced as status badges and constraint flags
The other two (building inspection, deposit negotiation) are not data layers, they are professional or transactional moves. SafeBuy supports them by giving you the underlying data to inform questions to ask, but the actions themselves are yours.
For first home buyers, SafeBuy is one of the highest-leverage tools available. The cost is small ($23 per property), the coverage is comprehensive, and the data points target the exact mistakes most likely to cost you $20k.
The five mistakes are not exotic. They are routine. They happen because buyers do not know what to check. Knowing what to check is most of the battle. Doing the checking is the rest.
