#1: Buyer Tips

As an agent dealing with rural and residential property sales, my team and I are lucky enough to meet and speak with lots of lovely people. Each of them has their own personal stories to tell, and differences in what they are seeking in a property. It’s this variety that makes our work so interesting.

As much as I’d love to be able to recall each one of these details to share with you, my brain capacity just won’t allow it!  So to assist me and my overwhelmed agent/boss/wife/mummy brain, I’ve come up with a checklist of things to help you as a potential buyer. I hope this list makes preparing to buy your dream property a breeze.

As a minimum, as a potential buyer you should:

1. Work out what your budget is, what type of property you are seeking, and the criteria the property has to have. Break the criteria down to the absolutely essential as well as simply preferred (ie. the things that you’d like, but which aren’t a deal-breaker). Have some sort of finance at least pre-approved.

2. Request that you be added to the Real Estate Agency database, along with the criteria of what type of property you are seeking. Even if you’re not 100% sure, at least give us a rough guideline. That way we can notify you of properties either on the market that you may have missed or be alerted to new ones coming up. This can always be updated as we move along in the process of property searching.

3. Keep an eye on or subscribe to the Facebook and Social Media pages of your preferred Real Estate Agencies. Sometimes listings get placed on here first as sneak-peeks, which can alert you to enquire about an upcoming new property listing that looks appealing.
4. Does your agency have a podcast that you could listen to for tips and latest listings or a radio segment where they feature a property of the week? If so subscribe to it or schedule it into your diary to listen to.

5. Also keep an eye out for letterbox drops/flyers as they may be promoting a new listing which might just suit you.

6. Build a relationship with your preferred agent. They will remember you and you will become front of mind if they speak with you or email you on a regular basis. And of course always be nice, and respectful of their time. Make sure that what you are inspecting at least for the most part fits part of your guidelines and criteria.

7. When completing an inspection with your agent, especially if viewing a number of properties in succession, take your camera or phone and take some relevant snaps so that you can remember which property had which features you liked or disliked. By the end we find that buyers become confused with the list of inspections and they tend to blend the features and benefits for each property.

8. On a similar point … don’t try to fit too many inspections into one visit! Especially if you are looking at rural properties, as these can be a good distance apart and depending on size could take quite some time to inspect. Book an overnight stay in the area. This will let you explore your chosen area a bit more as well.

9. Have a checklist of what features you are seeking in your next property. Take that with you on inspections for each property. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy but it will help you to narrow properties down to a definitely interested or not interested You can also jot down short notes for each property on these sheets.

10. Sometimes you have to compromise. Not very often a property matches your criteria and visualisations by 100%. We find that those searching for a 100% match to their dreams and checklist very rarely buy. Those that have exercised a little give-and-take have forgotten about that as soon as they move in, loving their new home just as it is.

Overall you have to put in the hard yards, inspect and narrow properties down until you find the right one for you. This may happen quickly or it may take some time, depending on your wants and needs and the supply of properties in the area you have chosen. Patience is key!