Free guide - Real estate buyers tips - Real Estate agents Ormeau Hills

1. Understand the additional costs

The real cost of buying a home isn't just the purchase price, often you need to account for additional costs that may be included with buying a property. There's nothing more devastating than setting your heart on a property and coming to a halt just before the finish line.

Here are some costs that you may need to factor into your budget when shopping for a new home:

Stamp duty - This varies depending on the state, the value of the property, your buying situation (eg if you're a first home buyer) and also government schemes.

Legal fees and conveyancing - Conveyancers or solicitors will handle the legal aspects and ensure all necessary paperwork is correctly completed and filed.

Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) - This is determined by the purchase price of the property and your deposit amount. Usually lenders require at least a 20% deposit of the total property value to avoid paying LMI.

Mortgage Registration and Transfer Fees - These are state-imposed fees for registering your mortgage and transferring the property's title.

Miscellaneous costs - Building inspections, pest inspections, moving costs, home and contents insurance, and any other costs should also be considered.

2. Account for competition from other buyers

The advertised price of a property is based on the estimated market value, but if there are other buyers that are keenly interested it can affect the final selling price. For this reason it's best to consider what will happen to your budget if you end up competing with other buyers for a home.

For example, if your dream home is also the dream home for another buyer and they are willing to extend their budget to secure it, will you be in the position to do so as well?

Running through these hypothetical scenarios can help to prepare you for unexpected situations so that you don't get caught off guard.

3. Inspect, inspect, inspect

Attending a home inspection is a great way to get a feeling of a house after you've done your online research. There are also 2 other types of inspections that can help you better understand the during the purchase process:

Building inspections - These can help to identify hidden problems that aren't immediately obvious for a property.

Pest inspections - These can help to identify hidden infestations such as termites if they have invaded the property.

These types of inspections aren't guaranteed to uncover everything, but they greatly increase your chances of finding any outstanding points to consider - as well as helping to give you better peace of mind during the buying process.

Bonus tip - Don't try to time the market

There's an old saying that nobody rings a bell at the bottom of the market. I've seen many buyers miss out on their chance to secure a home because they were waiting for property prices to drop, but they never did.

There are many “experts” in the media talking about the impending crash of the property market, and while prices can drop a bit at times the market has never crashed by the huge amounts they talk about.

If you're buying a home to live in, it's better not to think of it as an investment because a more important factor is living where you want to live.