Home Loan Repayment = R0 per month

Bond insurance is also known as credit life insurance; it protects you (the borrower) by paying out the outstanding bond balance in the event of one or more of the following (depending on what you select):

• Death
• Disability
• Critical illness
• Retrenchment (job loss)

Whilst this insurance is not legally required, many home loan providers require home loan insurance to be taken out as a condition of the loan, to safeguard the bond repayments in the event of your death or other mishap. Should you die they may need to sell the property from the deceased estate to cover what is owed to you, which is a hassle they'd rather avoid (sometimes compounded by the property selling for less than what is owed). They'll try get you to use their in-house insurer, as this is a profitable sideline. Insurance rates are often not cheapest at the bank offering you the home loan; it pays to shop around. If you already have other life cover, the bank sometimes won’t insist on you taking out home loan insurance.

• Premiums typically vary from 0.1% to 0.3% of the total loan amount outstanding per month, depending on the insurer and your risk profile (e.g., age, sex, whether you smoke, employment status, or have preexisting conditions); but can be greater or less than this.

Home owners cover is insurance to protect you against the property structure burning down, floods, or somehow being damaged; this is mandatory but most don't take it out with their home loan provider, as they tend to be more expensive. Unlike home loan insurance (which protects the lender/bank), homeowners insurance protects the property owner and is usually a mandatory requirement by lenders to ensure the asset securing the loan is protected. The home loan provider will check annually that you have home owners cover.

• Premiums are extremely variable but are typically in a range from 0.033% to 0.05% of the property value per month (0.4% to 0.6% annually), depending on location (and whether the area is prone to flooding, wind damage, crime and earthquakes), replacement cost to rebuild your home (homes with expensive finishes will cost more to insure), security measures, your personal claims history, excess, proximity to mountains/vegetation (determines fire risk, e.g. Hout Bay and Camps Bay), property age and other risk factors (e.g. thatch-roofted houses and timber structures are seen to be more prone to fire damage); they can easily vary outside of this range too.

• 1st for Women Building Insurance
• Absa comprehensive homeowners insurance
• Auto & General Buildings Insurance
• Budget home insurance
• Dial Direct Building Insurance
• FNB Building Insurance
• iWYZE homeowners insurance (underwritten by Old Mutual Insure Limited)
• King Price Buildings Insurance
• miway buildings insurance
• Momentum Home & Building insurance
• Nedbank Building Insurance
• Old Mutual Home insurance
• Outsurance Homeowners insurance
• PPS building cover
• SA Home Loans Home Owner's Cover
• Santam Building insurance
• Standard Bank Building insurance

When you are comparing options, pay particular attention to common exclusions such as "pre-existing conditions", "wear and tear", "Defective workmanship, design or construction"; and your reasponsility to "maintain your property".

If you do not have enough money to pay the upfront costs, you may want to set your home loan requirement equal to 108% of the purchase price, so that you borrow sufficient money to pay for the upfront costs as well as the purchase price.