THE FEAR OF MISSING OUT AND LOOKING BEFORE YOU LEAP
November 27, 2019
We all understand that home buyers, especially first home buyers, are nervous and excited when they start looking for their first or next home purchase.
Let face it, buying a home is going to be the biggest and most involved purchase 99% of us ever make.
As a buyer, Better Choice strongly recommends that in an effort to take some of the stress out of the process, surround yourself with good people.
A great place to start is to have a meeting with a Better Choice Mortgage Broker to ascertain what your borrowing power is and how much that dream home is going to cost you in repayments.
Location
This all ties in with where you want to live. The variables that determine where you want to live include:
- How much can you afford
- Proximity to work
- Proximity to educational facilities
- Proximity to transport
- Proximity to health facilities
- Proximity to family and friends
You then need to determine the importance of these variables and rank them. This will enable you to filter down to the locality where you would like to purchase.
Type of property
Simultaneously you need to decide what type of property you wish to live in, i.e.
- A detached house. How many bedrooms and bathrooms?
- A town house or a villa, or a unit?
- Do we want small or big yard?
- Are we happy to spend our weekends renovating or are we not into that at all?
- Do we want a pool?
- Aircon, solar panels, etc, etc, etc
- Proximity to café strip, beach or river
House hunting
Once you have decided on locality, type of home and borrowing power, can you get what you want for what you can afford in the locality you want to live in?
You might have to look at the next suburb on.
Once you have worked out the price of the property, the type of property and the location, you are then ready to start house hunting.
This is where we recommend that you don’t rush for fear of missing out (FOMO).
Word of warning
We really understand that this may be difficult in a red-hot market. There have been a number of instances over the years when clients have called Better Choice on a Monday morning to advise that they have contracted on a property, their offer has been accepted by the seller, but the client now has ‘gone off’ buying the property and wishes to exit the purchase contract.
Now, depending upon the conditions you have written into the purchase contract, it may be extremely difficult to exit the contract.
There is little issue with you exiting the contract if you have included the following conditions and the conditions are not met, i.e.
- You are declined for finance
- The property fails the structural report you have commissioned
- The vendor does not satisfy any reasonable conditions within the contract
But, if all of the above conditions (amongst others) are satisfied, you cannot just exit the contract because you changed your mind.
Unlike Queensland, in Western Australia there is no ‘cooling off’ period once you sign the contract to purchase. You have just signed a contract that may be many be hundreds of thousands of dollars and the seller is highly likely to try and hold you to the contract.
At times clients have asked Better Choice to get their finance declined when we fully know their finance would be approved.
Better Choice mortgage brokers cannot get your finance declined; our role is to get your finance approved.
How do you eliminate the chance of contracting on a property you change your mind on?
- Make a plan, i.e. locality, property type, price, features you want in a property.
- Cast your net far and wide, visit a large number of home opens.
- Have a pool of properties you are researching.
- Visit properties more than once.
- Take the family and friends to home opens
- Take photos and videos.
- Explore the surrounding area.
- Talk to the local council about issues affecting where you may live and what the future plans are.
Better Choice Mortgage Services is not responsible for, and expressly disclaims all liability for, damages of any kind arising out of use, reference to, or reliance on any information contained within this website. While the information contained within this website is periodically updated, no guarantee is given that the information provided in this website is correct, complete, and up-to-date. Although the Better Choice Mortgage Services website may include links providing direct access to other internet resources, including websites, Better Choice Mortgage Services is not responsible for the accuracy or content of information contained in these websites. Links from Better Choice Mortgage Services to third-party sites do not constitute an endorsement by Better Choice Mortgage Services of the parties or their products and services. The appearance on the website of advertisements and product or service information does not constitute an endorsement by Better Choice Mortgage Services, and Better Choice Mortgage Services has not investigated the claims made by any advertiser. Product information is based solely on material received from suppliers. Advanced Finance (Pty) Ltd t/a Better Choice Mortgage Services are not financial planners or accountants and we would encourage our clients to seek professional advice before acting on any a financial or taxation information in this news post.