Leading buyers advocate Cate Bakos explains why buying your first home is not unlike taking your first overseas trip.
Buying a first home can be both daunting and exhilarating, and many first home buyers experience a huge range of emotions during the home buying journey.
At first, some of the steps and processes involved with buying your first home may seem quite unfamiliar, so why not think of it as you would an overseas trip? After all, from the planning stage through to settlement day, you’re on an epic adventure!
Planning makes perfect
When planning an overseas trip, the most important must-have item is your current passport. The same can be said for loan pre-approval when planning a home purchase.
Without a current passport you will be stopped at immigration and sent packing. Clearly this wouldn’t be a good start. Despite the disappointment of being rejected before your journey has even begun, you’d also likely face financial losses due to the wasted airline ticket and hotel/tour bookings.
Now think of a home buyer who puts down a deposit and finds they can’t finance the property they tried to secure – cue major disappointment.
Think of your travel itinerary as your property search strategy. Just as you’d research where you want to go on holiday, how much it’s going to roughly cost and where you can afford to stay, home buyers must research where they’d like to live, how much their budget can stretch to and what types of properties are suitable and within reach.
Careful planning is essential for both travelling and home buying and not every destination, or property, will offer a positive experience. However, both the traveller and home buyer will learn more about the places they venture to along the way.
Choose your property service providers carefully. Picture: THINKSTOCK
Choose your support system wisely
The travel agent and airlines you choose to go with are often selected carefully for their reliability, cost effectiveness and excellent service. The same approach should be applied to professional service providers within the property industry, including solicitors, conveyancers, buyers agents, and building inspectors.
Good travel buddies made during an overseas adventure often heighten the overall enjoyment of your trip (especially when you run out of snacks). They aren’t necessarily going to be friends for life but bonding over your travel experiences and any similar interests can create a solid, supportive bond right when you need it most.
Likewise, the person you look to support you during your home buying journey doesn’t necessarily need to be family or close friends, in fact, sometimes it’s better if they’re not. Unbiased guidance and help can be a godsend during the home buying process.
Get your documents in order
The equivalent of booking the travel itinerary when it comes to buying a home, is the shortlist of properties you’ve deemed purchase-worthy. These are the properties that due diligence is conducted on and acquisition plans are determined for.
Part of the due diligence involves a legal contract review, particularly when facing an auction situation with no cooling off period or conditions permitted. Thinking of a legal review in the same light as obtaining a travel visa is a good idea. In other words, without these vital documents, things could get messy.
Seek expert knowledge and experience
At this exciting step of the home buying process, deciding if you need help with the negotiating or bidding is akin to calling in a tour guide. Whether a professional bidder, buyers’ advocate or experienced family member/friend, knowing when to call in some key knowledge and experience throughout the home buying journey is important.
The travel pictures that we enjoy for many years to come capture special, once-in-a-lifetime memories. Most first home buyers never forget the proud moment when they smile in front of the newly plastered SOLD sticker and have their photo taken. One for the fridge door alongside your favourite holiday snap for sure.
It’s important to remember that most overseas trips have bumps, sweat and tears along the way, as do most home buying journeys! But learning from the experience, becoming more knowledgable, worldly and celebrating at the end when the hammer falls on a winning bid – or when the vendor accepts the offer – is a wonderful thing.
Visit Suncorp’s home buying guide for more tips about auctions and buying a home.
