This list just touches on a few of the key points when considering buying your home. If you want more information or help call Sherelle and Don anytime.

Finance

It is always best to establish how much you can afford to spend on your new home. Your bank or mortgage broker will want to know what you earn and what your expenses are so they can help you calculate how much you can borrow and what your repayments would be.

What do you want in a home?

You can save a lot of your time by talking with Sherelle and Don about your requirements and what you are looking for in a new home. They will listen to your needs and record your criteria such as; location, number of bedrooms, price etc. These experienced agents may bring up criteria you hadn’t thought about. Discuss which criteria you have flexibility with and which you don’t. They will then go to work for you to find what properties are on the market or, in some cases, soon to be on the market that may meet your needs.

Inspect Yourself

When looking through a potential home take your time. Pause at the gate and take in the first impression. As you walk through the home try to imagine what it would look like with your furniture in it. Would it fit?

Sit down in the living areas and have a good look around at everything from the floors to the ceilings.

Calculate where the sun will come from in winter and summer. Walk right around the outside of the house.

Think about what maintenance needs to be done and whether you can do it or do you need to budget to get a professional in.

Ask about what schools are in zone, and the proximity to local shops, bus routes and motorway access.

Other Inspections

• If you are interested in a property it may be time to get some professionals involved.
• Get a LIM from the local council. Land Information Memoranda (LIM) are comprehensive reports containing all relevant information the Council knows about a property or section. This can include what structures have or haven’t been approved and signed off by the council or potential developments planned for nearby.
• Get a builder in to do a proper inspection. Walk through the property with them. Ask any questions you want. They know what can be done cheaply and what may need to be budgeted. They’ll know what can be easily changed and what can’t.

Don’t be afraid to ask

Sherelle and Don have years of training and experience in the residential property market. Don’t be afraid to supplement these few buying tips by asking questions, lots of them. They want you to buy a home you will be happy with just as much as you do.

Presentation

Ensure your house is clean and tidy. It sounds simple, but nothing says “an uncared for house” more than mould in the corners. Spring clean before the first open home and keep it clean for the duration of the marketing campaign.

Remove clutter and clear furniture tops. Hire a storage unit or ask family or friends if you could store some things at their place while you sell.

Think about hiring furniture if the property is vacant. Surprisingly, empty rooms actually appear much smaller than furnished ones and really confuse buyers, they just can’t ‘see’ where they should put their furniture, or whether it will even fit.

Make sure all doors and gates work well (handles turn and lock smoothly and doors do not jam). Some buyers will see things like this as a sign of poor maintenance and start to wonder what else may be wrong that you can’t see.

Take down personal photos and kid’s artwork. It’s easier for someone to imagine themselves living in your home if they aren’t constantly reminded everywhere they look that it isn’t their home. Take some of your personality out of the house so the buyer can imagine some of their’s coming in.

Create an office nook. Let’s face it, media and technology are now a large part of the way we live, so if your home doesn’t have an office, look for a small un-used corner or nook to create one.

Clean out gutters, mow the lawns and tidy the gardens.

Clean the letterbox – first impressions count!