Three house buying tips you need to know

Buying a home is an exciting time for anyone, but there are a number of tips that you should take into consideration to ensure that you don’t make a beginner’s mistake.

When looking at purchasing a home, one of the first things you should ensure is that you have good legal advice. Conveyancers and solicitors are able to identify areas of a property that may cause a sale to fall through including potential issues with strata management fees, illegal renovations or building additions that could be removed by the council and complications with existing title deeds. Conveyancers and solicitors will also review your contract of sale to ensure that it protects your interests.

If you think you’ve found a home you would like to buy, it is vital that you organise a building and pest inspection on the property to check for termites, structural defects, damp, asbestos and more. It is also important that when you have your own inspection of the property that you search for mold, damp, sagging ceilings, buckling walls, etc. It is also important that you find out the council rates and strata fees of the home because many underestimate how much these actually cost.

A final tip that you should definitely take into consideration when purchasing a property is ensuring that you get an accurate valuation of the property. In many cases, sales fall through due to an inaccurate property valuation. This can become a troublesome situation if you have signed an unconditional contract or purchased at auction and your chosen bank lender values the property at a lower price than what you paid for, as it can mean you need to borrow more money than you were originally willing to.