Buying your first property is probably one of the most important events you will experience in your life. High rents, taxing landlords, constant uncertainty and expectations… Yeah, you are now finally leaving all these things behind and sailing toward calmer waters.
That being said, houses, apartments, and other kinds of properties are very expensive commodities you can’t just change on a whim. The eventual mistakes you make here may haunt you for many years to come.
But we don’t need to be overly grim. As long as you are careful and take one step at a time, all pieces of this puzzle will fall into place. Let us take a look at a couple of tips that should help you along the way.
Take some time with the property selection
As we mentioned in the introduction, properties are long-term investments. So, before, you engage in any other step, be sure to assess your career, future goals, plans for your family, daily routines, and all other factors that may impact your lifestyle in the next couple of decades.
When making important choices, always give priority to your long-term plans, even if they come at the expense of some more immediate amenities. Take enough time with this and try to shop around as much as your timetable allows.
Double-check your eligibility and mortgage availability
If you want to make your first property purchase a smooth sailing you absolutely need to make sure the financial aspect of this transaction is devoid of any hiccups. To make sure that’s the case, you will need to go through a couple of important steps.
- Set a clear and honest home-buying budget that will take into consideration all associated home-buying expenses like attorneys, licenses, developers, appraisals, etc.
- Check your credit report and take active steps to improve your credit score.
- Prepare data regarding your income, local tenure, rates of interest, and similar to check your mortgage loan eligibility, preferably with the help of a financial advisor.
- Decide whether you are going for the bigger deposit down payment or more spread-out expenses.
- Get a mortgage pre-approval before you narrow down the list of preferable properties.
Look for grants and subsidies
The real estate market is a very powerful engine driving the global economy. The same can be said about the booming construction sector. That is why it shouldn’t come off as a surprise that a growing number of countries and third parties are offering various grants and subsidies for first-time buyers and home builders.
One such example can be found in New South Wales, Australia where you can easily apply for NSW first home buyers’ grant and get subsidies up to 15,000 AUD. Similar incentives can be found in practically all countries on the globe. Be sure to check them to get more financial leeway down the road.
Look for services from a professional real estate agent
This simple move will make all the things we have covered above far easier. Besides, professional realtors and real estate agencies have a very good insight into local markets and may give you access to properties that are not advertised or registered on the public radar.
This can be a great advantage if you are looking for competitive markets like Australia we mentioned just above. Professional real estate agents are also experts in pricing as well as negotiating and can offer valuable help in gathering documentation and legal matters. These perks come with a price tag but these costs are more than justified.
Don’t make any deposits without performing a professional inspection
In the previous sections, we have pointed out the value of professional realtor services. However, even the most experienced real estate agents can’t be 100% certain about the safety, integrity, and quality of certain constructions or can accurately assess the expenses some seemingly small quirks can cause in the future.
Fortunately, these judgment gaps can be easily filled in by hiring a professional inspector that will:
- Assess safety concerns
- Point out different types of defects
- List the items that need to be replaced, refurbished, or repaired
- Give an estimate on the cost of such interventions
Services of this type will give you a much better idea about the actual value of some property.
Sort out the logistics as soon as you close in on the property
Essentially, waiting for the last moment to take care of the utilities, furniture, contractors, and moving can cause serious strains in your budget, set you up weeks behind schedule, and turn your life into a nightmare.
Do your best then to avoid this scenario, and start taking care of these chores as soon as you get the mortgage approval. Pay special attention to professional packers and movers since their services are invaluable and in very high demand. If you don’t book the services sometime in advance (at least two weeks or a month before moving) there is a very strong you won’t be able to book the date.
Move in a couple of stages
Last but not least, let us quickly cover a couple of tips for the moving day. The most important thing to remember here is that you should never try to move everything in one go since you will create excessive clutter and prolong the work.
Instead, you should try to set up a small basecamp that will allow you to maintain your daily habits and, instead of moving in items by type, tackle your new home one room at a time to preserve optimal functionality. Getting rid of unnecessary items, using the right sized and labeled boxes, and keeping essential items in one place will make this job much easier.
Final comments
We hope these couple of suggestions will prove to be helpful and make your hunt for a new home and moving there if not completely stress-free then at least safe, cost-friendly, and manageable.
Buying your first property is always a daunting task that requires good judgment, a lot of hard work, and equally as much devotion. Make sure you have these spades and the tips we gave you will easily get you to the finish line.
Authored by; Mike Johnston
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