12 Must-Know Tips Before You Buy Your First or Next House

1. GET YOUR FINANCE PRE-APPROVED

When looking to purchase your home it is a great idea to have your finance options readily available.

Mortgage brokers can look at your borrowing power so you know how much you can purchase for and they can tell you how much deposit you will need. They can find you the best deal in the market that suit you and get a pre-approval ready to help you negotiate. Having a pre-approval will help you in the negotiation prices with agents and sellers because it gives confidence that the sale will settle quickly and hassle free.

2. KNOW WHAT YOU WANT IN A PROPERTY

Write down a list of features that is important to you that the home must have including how many bedrooms, bathrooms, garage spaces. Do you need a big back yard for the kids to play in or maybe an outside entertaining area for when the family come around for dinner

Once you know what you are looking for it will reduce the amount of properties you have to attend inspections at. Don’t waste time inspecting properties that don’t suit your needs.

3. CHOOSE THE SUBURBS THAT SUIT YOU MOST

Research the suburbs that suit you most, if you have a certain suburb in mind look at the surrounding suburbs to as you may just find the property of your dreams close by.

Also make sure they have the facilities you need for the long term, if you have kids do they have good schools and how quickly can you get to work from there.

4. INSPECT THE PROPERTY WITH YOUR EYES WIDE OPEN

Smart sellers stage their home to make them look the best they can, remember to look for issues that may not be obvious to the normal person, before you go to an inspection make a checklist of things you should check, like powers points, lighting is their gas and electricity at the property.

5. CHECK OUT YOUR POTENTIAL NEIGHBOURS

Once you Have found the property of your dreams check out the surrounding houses and see how they are kept. If the neighbours on each side of you don’t look after their homes you may find they don’t suit you. It is also a good idea to just sit out the front of the home you want to purchase to see what happens in the street. Purchasing a home is one of the biggest decisions in your life, if you don’t get along with your neighbours this could make you unhappy in your own home.

6. DO BUILDING AND PEST INSPECTIONS

When purchasing a home, it is a good idea to get a pest and building inspection as these will provide information on any issues the home may have. Most houses will have small maintenance issues which you can fix but some may have big maintenance or pest issues that you can’t see whilst at the inspection this could become very costly and cause you a lot of stress in your purchase instead of happiness when buying that dream home

7. MONITOR OTHER PROPERTIES THAT ARE FOR SALE IN THE SAME AREA

Do your homework keep an eye on the market in your chosen area. Look at the price and the marketing they are using, how long the property stayed on the market before it sold, did it come back on the market after being under contract.

You can get a lot of suburb statistics form places like realestate.com.au a lot of brokers and bank lenders offer to do a property report for you when you go for finance this information will guide you on how the market is going in the area and give you an indication of price you should be paying for the property.

8. THINK WITH YOUR HEAD NOT YOUR HEART

Don’t fall in love with the first property you see this may cloud your judgement when looking at the condition of the property and if it suits all your needs. It could also make you pay too much for the property and cost you years of paying it off.

9. BE PATIENT AND KEEP AN OPEN MIND

The home of your dreams rarely comes from the first open you go to, even if you fall in love with the home still go to other inspections so you can compare it to others on the market. Also keep an open mind that you may have to look in the surrounding suburbs to get all the features you want at a good price

10. TAKE OUT THE EMOTION WHEN NEGOTIATING

When negotiating with agents on price or putting your best offer forward make sure you have researched everything about the property. It is easy to get caught up in all the excitement of buying a home and offer more than you decided too. Keep to the price you have the pre-approval for and if you are going to go over the price you started with keep in regular touch with your broker so they can advise of any change in borrowing power.

11. READ ALL THE PAPERWORK YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN

When you are signing a contract r Form 1 make sure you read and understand all the information. If there is something you don’t understand contact your agent or broker or ask family and friend who have bought property.

A lot of people just sign paperwork without reading the contents this can lead to costly mistakes that could Have been prevented if you took the time to read and understand what you are signing.

12. DEAL WITH EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS

From the beginning, it is important to make sure your finance broker or lender have experience in what they are doing. Brokers that have been in the industry for a long time have usually gained plenty of experience and knowledge about property. They can check that you have the correct special conditions like subject to finance and some will even help you negotiate with the agent to help you get the best price. They can also refer you to other professionals you need like a conveyancer or building inspector.