Module 3 – Lesson 1 – What to look for when buying a house (5 Min)

Now that you have found a property, what sort of research should you conduct? There are number of searches that you need to conduct on the property prior to signing the contract, and paying your deposit. We cover what you need to do in this lesson.

Summary of Key Points
Units
– Strata Inspection Report
– Property Valuation Report
– Review the contract with your solicitor
Houses
– Building & Pest Inspections
– Property Valuation Report
– Review the contract with your solicitor
– Any other searches recommended by your solicitor

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Prefer reading? Here is a transcript of the video:
Hello and Welcome, this is Paul Pappas from Mortgage Choice. So, what are the factors that you should be looking for when you’re buying property, especially as a first-time buyer who’s never done it before? Look at the first things and some basic concepts is what is loosely called the 3 Ps in terms of position, price, and potential.

What to look for when buying a house checklist

find your property

In terms of position, what area do you work, in what area do you socialise in where are your family and friends? So these little issues or big issues really all come into play in terms of determining the area and the position that you want to live in. Of course, this has got to match up with the price in terms of what you can afford and so forth, but you’ve also got to look at the future in terms of the potential, in terms of your where are you going to be working, where are your family and friends going to be the lifestyle that you want to have in the future. And so forth, ultimately it comes down to this, and that is you’ve got to strike a balance, and this is the hard part that you’ve got to strike a balance between your emotions and the numbers.

In other words, look we’d all love to live close to the city, close to work, and not have to travel too far to go out and see our family and friends but still work and enjoy some good recreation and so forth, but it all comes down to matching all this up with the budget. And this is something that it becomes a very, very critical personal decision that you need to make trying to get this balance right very, very important.

So, what do you need to do once you have found a property? Well, it all depends on what you’ve bought so or what you’re looking at buying. I should say so as far as units are concerned, the first thing that you need to do is obtain a strata inspection report. Now your solicitor or conveyancer can assist you with obtain this and go through the report with you to explain the report. What you’re looking for, of course, is defects and the cost of the quarterly strata repayments and what benefits you get for what services you get for that. Obviously, if the property has more pools and lifts and other types of services that are available to the general community, then, of course, the strata rates are going to be higher.

What to look for when buying a house in Australia

once you have found a property, then what?

We can assist you with the property valuation report, and we can provide you with a computerised report that provides you with an estimate as to what the property could be worth in terms of its current value. What similar properties in the area have sold for? What units in the complex may have sold? For what that property most recently sold for? To give you a guide on really what the property is worth, you need to talk to your solicitor about reviewing your contract to negotiate any conditions that you don’t like or would like to include but certainly get your solicitor to review the contract for you. We can certainly recommend some good solicitors to go through that process with your houses is a little bit different.

As far as houses are concerned, you need to do a pest and building inspection report to make ensure that there are again that there are no defects with the house and no pests that you need to worry about. Either and that most there are qualified inspectors that can do that again your solicitor or conveyancer can organize that for you property valuation report same as what I said before. We can organize the same report for you again review the contract with your solicitor. Any search is recommended by your solicitor, you need to consider as well. Now, this could be a council certification. It could be several things depending on the uniqueness of the property.

What your concerns might be when you view the property and what are some of the things that the agent is indicating to you? As far as the property is concerned and how they’ve marketed the property to you? You need to make sure that you’ve ticked the right boxes for yourself. Council building approval is something that I touched on earlier to make sure that all the improvements of the property have been, in fact, the council approved as always.

We’re here to help you, guide you through the process in terms of making sure that you do all your right due diligence and helping you select the right property in the right area for you and do all the due diligence for you. Thank you for attending!

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Disclaimer: The information provided on this website is for general education purposes only and is not intended to constitute specialist or personal advice. This website has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of this, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice to your own situation and needs before taking any action. It should not be relied upon for the purposes of entering into any legal or financial commitments. Specific investment advice should be obtained from a suitably qualified professional before adopting any investment strategy.

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