Before you purchase a home, there are some things you need to organise.
Firstly, ensure you have your home loan pre-approval in place. This is the approval your lender gives you to say, ‘all things being equal and true, based on the information you provided, we can lend you X amount of dollars.’
Once you have your pre-approval you can work out how much you can spend on a property. Remember to factor in the stamp duty, solicitor costs and other associated fees, as well as the deposit you have. If you’re not sure, click to go to blog post ‘What is your buying budget?’.
Secondly, ensure you have a solicitor or conveyancer you can contact to review the contract and make any relevant changes for you. Speak to them about their availability for when you plan to buy, so they know when you are planning to buy a property and are around to take on the work, answer any questions, and work through the documentation. The last thing you want to do is buy a property only to find that your solicitor is away on holidays and you need to find another one quick smart. Although it can be done if this does happen.
Thirdly, do your due diligence and get an independent inspection on your property. We didn’t do this on our second property, we purchased an inspection that was conducted by someone working for the real estate company. While this was ok, we learnt that an independent inspection would have pointed out other noteworthy issues about the property we purchased. Check with your independent inspector about whether they move furniture to look at all areas of a property as sometimes flaws will be hidden purposefully behind furniture because inspectors will not move them.
You can conduct the inspection before or during the cooling off period. Note that if you do this during the cooling off period, if you find flaws you are not willing to fix and you decide not to buy, you may lose your holding deposit.
Get everything organised so you can go in and make an offer when you find the property you like.
Want some great tips on how to get value in a property? That’s next in blog post ‘Buying a property’.