How To Buy Your First Home

To be prepared when you find your dream home, or to make sure you’re ready when the time comes, we’ve created a checklist of things you can do to prepare for purchase.

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How To Buy Your First Home

If you’ve found your dream home or are preparing for the time when you will purchase a home, we’ve created a checklist of things to do to prepare for purchase.

Organise Your Pre-approval

A pre-approval is a conditional approval you receive from a lender to borrow a specific amount of money — before you’ve even found your ideal property. A pre-approval is great if you want to narrow down your search and want to be able to put in an offer with confidence.

To learn more about the process, please refer to our pre-approval guide. Your local My LMI Group broker can assist you with the paperwork for securing pre-approval.

Get Your Conveyancers On Your Side

A conveyancer or a solicitor can help you to arrange a property ownership transfer. They will review the contract of sale when you are ready to buy, ensure that everything is in order, and may help arrange pest and building inspections before you exchange contracts.

We have put together a guide to conveyancing that will help you understand the process. It’s a good idea to find legal representation early—when you’re ready to buy, you’ll want someone by your side who you feel comfortable with.

Understand Market Trends

If you’ve been house hunting, you probably have a good sense of what’s happening in your local real estate market. If not, it’s worth doing your homework before making your first offer. You’ll have a clearer picture if you know how much properties have been selling for and how long they have taken to sell.

If you don’t have time for research, consider enlisting the services of a buyer’s agent. Buyer’s agents are experts in price negotiation and will have a good sense of what your chosen property is worth in the current market.

Practice Your Negotiating Skills

Before negotiating a purchase, be sure to cover these basic points:

• Know the market value of the property you are considering buying.

• Make your offer in writing.

• Have your preapproval arranged.

• Build a relationship with the real estate agent who is representing you. Negotiate with the seller.

• Be willing to walk away from a deal if it doesn’t work out.

To help get your offer accepted, you might consider offering the seller a ‘sweetener’, such as a shorter settlement period. You should always check with your solicitor and mortgage broker about any legal implications and ensure that necessary property inspections have been completed.

There Are Two Main Ways To Buy Property: Private Treaty and Auction.

When buying a home, you have two options: private treaty or auction. Each entails its own advantages and disadvantages.

Private treaty is an agreement between a buyer and a seller in which the seller sets the price, and then you negotiate with them until you reach a price you’re both comfortable with. In many cases, most of the negotiation is actually done between the seller’s real estate agent and the buyer.

The auction process is different from the traditional real estate market. At an auction, potential buyers who are interested in a property come together to bid on that property. The highest bidder gets the house. If there are many properties that you like going up for auction, it’s likely that one of them will be sold at auction as well. It’s a good idea to attend a few auctions as a spectator before you attend one as a buyer.