Tips on Buying a Home | Real Estate

Whether you’re buying a home for the first time or the second, third, fourth, or even fifth time, the process can be exhausting and even downright terrifying to some.   In Australia the continuing rise in home prices is a real cause for concern to those who feel we are in the midst of a bubble that may burst and wash some homeowners away in a sea of trouble, similar to what has been experienced in the United States and elsewhere.  Could it happen here?

There are arguments back and forth but no one can dispute that while our home prices rise – Melbourne experienced an 18.5% increase in 2009 -- so has our household debt level.  In the United States, searching the Internet for tips on buying a home has – for years – produced a common answer:  don’t buy more than you can afford.  Yet Americans by the thousands ignored this tip.  Today, more than ever, that tip holds true for Australian homebuyers.

It is possible, but not advisable, to embark on the home buying journey totally on your own.  Finding the services of a reputable mortgage advisor is the first step you need to take to determine what you can afford.  Using industry standard formulas they can use your current income and debt level to estimate what you can afford to pay for a house.  For added security, ask your mortgage advisor to assist you in getting pre-approved for a mortgage loan so you will be sure the money will be available when you need it.

You’ll save time knowing how much you can afford as it provides an upper limit for the available homes you’ll want to view.  Actually visiting prospective homes can be both exhausting and confusing, with visitations of three or five or more different properties in a single day not all that uncommon.  There’s not much you can do about the exhaustion, but you can do things to help alleviate the confusion.  Taking pictures and making notes about each home you visit will help you recall features you liked and disliked about each home. Provided of course, you keep them organised properly!

While you may order a professional home inspection to assess the reliability of the home’s major systems – plumbing, electrical, heating, and so forth – there are little tests you can perform on your own.  As you inspect a home, turn on and off every light fixture and fan you see.  Run the water in the kitchen and laundry area and then have someone flush the toilets.  While you expect some drop in pressure, if the water stops running completely you may have a plumbing problem that completely eliminates the house from consideration.  Have the real estate agent start the fireplace (if available) and listen to it for odd noises.  Inspect the foundation and roof carefully.  All these are small things many prospective buyers ignore as they instead concentrate on the size of the bedrooms and the age of the kitchen appliances.

Finally, take the time to walk or drive around the neighborhood where your potential dream home is located.  Real esatate agents will tell you location is everything, buy many prospective buyers scuttle into a home and right back into their cars without every looking at the houses around.   Remember, you’re not just buying a home, you’re buying a community.  While it may seem ludicrous to worry about the potential appreciation and resale value of a home you plan to live in for many years, wise buyers know it is an important consideration.  Uneducated homebuyers who don’t have and don’t plan to have children may think the quality of the schools in the community doesn’t matter.  But while they may be unimportant to you, chances are they will be important to future buyers.