Buying Tips

List out the features of your ideal home
Before you start your research, make a list of features that you desire from your ideal home – be it the size, price, condition, number of bedrooms or location. Make sure what you are looking for matches your lifestyle.

Organise your finance prior to house-hunting
How much you can borrow and how much you are willing to borrow are two essential questions that need to be verified prior to house-hunting. Seek advice from your mortgage broker or lender to determine how much you can borrow and what your repayments will be so this gives you a clear understanding of how much you can spend. Your loan being pre-approved and organised prior to house hunting gives you a great advantage over the house-hunters as this increases your chance of securing a purchase. If you are bidding at an auction, make sure you have sufficient funds.

Engage with a lawyer or conveyancer
Engage with a lawyer or conveyancer so that you could consult them as soon as you take out a contract on a property.

Be aware of any additional expense
When purchasing a property you need to be aware of other additional expenses which will contribute to your ongoing costs. As your lender may not inform you any other cost besides the upfront cost such as stamp duty, you will need to personally identify the additional expenses such as land tax and council rates to ensure that you are aware of what additional expenses needs to be made on top of your mortgage repayments.

Always conduct market research
Market research is vital when you are house hunting as this will give you a better understanding of the market and will thus put you in a better position when negotiating.

Attend open for inspections
Attending open for inspections might be a time-consuming activity when house-hunting but this is an important procedure and you should invest the time in inspecting as many properties as possible. This will allow you to understand what type of property is actually in the marketplace.

Always obtain a building and pest report
Building and pest report are important when purchasing a property as this will save you thousands of dollars down the track. This report is worth it and will help identify the problems of the property that you might not know when you purchase the property.

Never forget to attend a pre-settlement inspection
Purchasers have the right to attend pre-settlement inspection of the property before they take possession of the property. This pre-settlement inspection is usually conducted on the day of settlement to ensure that the property is in the condition that has been contracted for. It is essential to carefully undertake the pre-settlement inspection because you as the purchaser will have no legal recounts to account for damage or missing inclusion once you have taken possession of the property.