Real Estate - Chris Hines

REAL

ESTATE

with CHRIS HINES

FROM UNREAL ESTATE

Buying a home is very stressful and purchasers sometimes lack confidence when making their final choice. Having started out with a “wish list” they find themselves sacrificing up to half of what they originally set their hearts on.

The problem is deciding which fifty percent to sacrifice, people get very confused about their priorities, especially if they “fall in love” with a property even though it does not actually meet many of their more practical needs. The best way to end up with your ideal home in the long run is to buy prudently from an investment point of view and plan to get your dream home second or third time around. Above all, make sure you don’t ignore the old wisdom about location taking up places one, two and three on your list of criteria. Decor, even house style and size can always be changed or improved but location and land size (apart from extraordinary circumstances) are basically there forever. Focusing on location can help purchasers be more objective so they avoid letting their hearts rule their heads. Location aside, there are many ways of ensuring that you make a good buy from a structural and amenities point of view. Checking thoroughly before making an offer can save time and money, it means you can rule out most of the properties that won’t come up to scratch before you spend money on a professional building report. It’s only natural that home buyers want to save money on the costs associated with their property purchase. They shop around for legal/ conveyancing deals, removalists and so on. Sometimes, especially on newer properties, they decide that the recommended pest and building reports are an unnecessary expenses. Purchasers should never take anything for granted even on relatively new houses. Most real estate agents have a story or two of purchasers that were wiser after the event. The fact that a house is new doesn’t mean that a purchaser should bypass the pest report. White ants can enter even a new home if a tradesman has been careless. They have been known to enter via formwork that has been left around concrete steps, for example. Reports that cost a few hundred dollars could save thousands even tens of thousands of dollars if the damage turns out to be extensive. Home buyers should make sure they use licensed tradespeople that have professional indemnity insurance. There should be no question of the buyer being out of pocket as long as the tradesperson is covered if they fail to analyse building faults that later become apparent. If your building and pest report does

One way to uncover problems that doesn’t automatically mean you should pull out of the sale. One way approach the to approach the issue is to re-negotiate the issue is to re-negotiate sale price to allow for repairs. Prudent vendors the sale price to allow usually see the wisdom of making adjustments for repairs. Prudent to retain their purchaser. Sometimes vendors vendors usually see prefer to arrange for a tradesman to carry out the wisdom of making the work before settlement takes place. Even a adjustments to retain termite infestation doesn’t necessarily mean a their purchaser. purchaser should pull out of the sale. A surprising number of homes have had termites at some stage. It’s a case of quantifying the damage and taking a calculated risk. However, in the case of serious structural damage which is often unquantifiable it is usually safer to give up the idea of purchase no matter how much you like the property. The ultimate choice is up to the purchaser. Building and pest reports are a tool for assessing the property’s structural condition and ultimate suitability. In most cases they enable purchasers to reinforce the feeling that they have made the right choice.