| Buying property is not shopping!
Whether you want to build a real estate portfolio or buy your home, acquiring a property is an important step to take.
Defining your objectives, knowing the market, choosing a suburb and successfully identifying the right property are as equally important as organising your finance, establishing a budget and perhaps obtaining a pre-approved loan.
So how do you avoid the traps and make sure you get what you really want?
First and foremost you need to do your research over and over and over. You need to become a well-informed buyer.
The more information you gather, the better your chances are of making a shrewd purchasing decision. It pays to be really clear about what you are looking for.
The only way to find out is to spend time researching your chosen suburb and becoming an expert on your chosen suburb. This would include inspecting properties for sale, researching properties that were sold in the last 12 months, properties withdrawn from the market, passed in at auction and properties that are selling privately.
Analyse real estate in your chosen area, inspect properties that match your specifications with the aim of finding 1 suitable property out of every 30 you inspect.
Once you have decided that buying in your chosen suburb is within your price range, you need to know what your exact needs are and which properties match them.
When you have decided where you want to buy, it's time to get really serious about finding the specific property you want. Drawing up a wish-list in order of priority is a must. Writing down your “must haves” and “wants” will force you to start thinking about their importance.
As you make a list you realise what you may be prepared to compromise on and this will help prevent you from getting too emotional about a property at inspection time. It will help you realise what features may be dispensable in a property and, more importantly what features are not.
Perhaps the hardest thing most buyers realise is that they will probably have to water down their dream ... that perfect property at that perfect price isn't always easy to find. Having said that, do not give up on your most important priorities.
Do not look too much at the presentation of the property rather than the property itself. Being seduced by the smell of freshly brewed coffee or the sound of relaxing classical music... is emotional.
Buying property is not shopping. You need to be disciplined about your emotions. The most common trap is to let your heart rule your head.
Fred Haggar is founder and Managing Director of Property Search 4U, a buyers agency that has won for the second year in a row, the "highly recommended" award in the 2008 Australian Achiever Awards for NSW's Real Estate Services category. Property Search 4U is an active member of the Real Estate Institute of NSW (Sydney based) and the International Real Estate Federation (Paris based). |
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