How to do Your Buying Homework

By Sarah Lefebvre on Nov 25 2014

Tagged as:

• Buying
• Home
• myLJHooker

With the Housing Industry Association recently noting that dwelling commencements are expected to break 20-year old records and rise above 190,000 in a year, there could be a lot of property coming your way on the market. But with this wide range of homes being built, how do you boost your knowledge of the market to make a great purchase? It is time to go back to school and do some buying homework, but never fear - we are here to give you some tutoring tips!

How to do Your Buying Homework

Preparing to purchase a home? It pays to research

Accessing Resources

With the Housing Industry Association recently noting that dwelling commencements are expected to break 20-year old records and rise above 190,000 in a year, there could be a lot of property coming your way on the market. But with this wide range of homes being built, how do you boost your knowledge of the market to make a great purchase?

It is time to go back to school and do some buying homework, but never fear - we are here to give you some tutoring tips!

The information superhighway is open and waiting for you! From research sites like RP Data, to downloading our free myMarket report, for regional snapshot, market news and house prices.  It is also recommended you ask your local real estate agent for a suburb market report or snapshot on the suburbs sales trends. Local agents live and breathe property in the area you are looking in and are best placed to give you an accurate summary of what is going on. 

It is also worth investigating any future infrastructure projects that may benefit or take away from the area.  Local councils can help provide you with this information along with heaps of other facts about services, child care, events and much much more.  Additionally if you have kids, sites like My School are a good resource to investigate the quality of educational facilities in the region.

There is an endless list of sites to visit, and so many tailored to exactly what you want to find. Jump online and get researching!

Get on the Ground

Doing hands-on research in the area you want to buy in is another great way of finding out about a suburb or town. You can see if parks are kept clean, roads are maintained, test out the public transport, or even pop down to a local cafe to try out the coffee and food.

Another idea is introduce yourself to people who live in the area - perhaps spark up a conversation with the corner shop or cafe owner and find out what they enjoy about the suburb, what the community is like, are there any big building projects they are aware of that may impact the value of property in the area. 

If you are picking a place to live for the long term, first-hand experience is an excellent way to gain some valuable insight.

Speak to an Agent

As professionals who constantly work in certain areas, real estate agents can be a fountain of wisdom and experience.

By having knowledge of how much homes sell for, how long they spend on the market and also having experience with local tradespeople and vendors,  they can give you an accurate depiction of a suburb just by giving them a call.

An agent can also give you tips on council rates, and perhaps even the tax breaks or subsidies you can qualify for!

Attend a Few Auctions

To get a good idea about buyer interest in the suburb you are looking at, attend a few auctions.  This is a great way to firstly see the different techniques people use at auction which may help you when you come to buy, but it also gives you a good indication of how popular a suburb is, how 'hot' the market is and what properties are selling for. 

By spending a bit of extra time doing your research early, you can really work out if this is an area you want to live in and understand how much you should be paying for a home, which could save your money when you go to buy.  Put the home in your homework, and experience the benefits!