When you start looking for a home, how do you know which is the right one?

Give some thought to what type of home you require and where you would like to live. It may be a brand new house in a new area (very uncommon in the Kiama area)  that appeals to you because of the kind of people – young families perhaps – who will be living there. Maybe you would prefer an established house, an older style home or a property with a lot of land. Are you interested in renovating? Importantly, you must consider not only what looks attractive, but what will suit the size of your family now and in the near future.

Make a list of your priorities. Do you need to be near public transport? Are there schools in the area that meet your needs? How will you get to work and what cost will be involved? If there is limited public transport will you require an extra car? If you are a one car family, are shops in close proximity? Is the garden relatively maintenance free? If you don’t enjoy the garden you may wish to consider a villa unit or a town house.

What can you afford

Finance it

The first thing to do is organise your finance.  Decide which bank or financial institution you want to borrow from and talk to them about your options.  Use our loan calculator – LOAN MARKET or PCL MONEY  as a quick guide to price and borrowing limits. Most lending bodies have strict guidelines concerning these issues and you’ll often find a great deal of variation in what’s offered in the way of home loans. The amount will depend on the lender’s conditions and your ability to repay the loan – don’t let repayments adversely affect your ability to pay bills or enjoy a normal life.

You can approach the lending bodies individually or take advantage of LOAN MARKET which can save you time and money by finding the most suitable housing loan package on offer at no charge to you. Once you know your borrowing limit, you’re all set to take the next step…  Call Suzanne Mansfield on 0412 700 381 or email suzanne.mansfield@loanmarket.com.au

You’ll also need to determine how you’ll pay the deposit. Generally 10% will be required on the day of sale. A cheque is usually fine, although it’s always a good idea to confirm this with your agent prior to auction or deposit on a Private Treaty sale.

Finally, don’t forget to factor in costs such as legal fees, stamp duty, insurance and loan application fees.

Research, research, research! (knowing what is available)

Call one of the friendly 8 sales staff at Ray White Kiama, and we’ll help you find the perfect place. Introduce yourself, have a chat about your needs and ask us to pop you onto our email alert.  At Ray White Kiama, we are a little different to most Agencies we do have 8 area experts all out there trying to find you that perfect house however you only need to deal with one chosen Agent in the Ray White Kiama office who will develop a close rapport with you and be your eyes and ears. They can show you all of the Ray White Kiama listings and new properties.  If you are a serious purchaser and keep the lines of communication open with us, your own special area expert will phone you to let you know about a property coming onto the market before it hits the main stream portal websites! Our mandate is to create happy clients for life!

You should also look at the White Magazine, which showcases properties not only from Kiama but all over NSW. It’s free and available every Thursday from our high profile office on the corner of Terralong Street Kiama (opposite the Old Fire Station) Open inspections are a great place to start your search also. Most of our properties are showcased via open viewings every weekend of the year so you can get an idea of what property is selling for and strike up a relationship with one of our Area Experts  On our website you’ll find every property we have listed for sale, often with floor plans and coloured professional photographs.  Of course your research will include print media publications such as The Illawarra Mercury Domain, RealEstateWorld, the Sydney Morning Herald Domain and also the electronic media outlets such as www.raywhitekiama.com, www.raywhite.com, www.realestate.com.au, www.domain.com.au, www.realestateworld.com.au & www.homehound.com.au.

You see at Ray White Kiama we advertise in more publications, across a broad spectrum of mediums for all of our properties for sale, which means you as a purchaser will not miss a single property!

Inspect it

When you see a property advertised that sounds interesting, check the inspection times or arrange a personal VIP viewing with your preferred Ray White Kiama agent and have a thorough look around. If, after that you want to pursue it further, you can organise with the agent to have a building and pest inspection company inspect the property to make sure is in good order . Of course unless you know someone who’ll do you a favour, you’ll have to pay for this speciality service.  You should also request a copy of the Contract for Sale and our suggestion is that you have a qualified Solicitor or Conveyancer check this document for you before you get too far down the purchasing track.

Make an offer

Ray White Kiama requires that all offers be put formally in writing so that we can submit this to our Vendor.   This step is optional if the property you’re pursuing is due for auction. But it’s pretty much unavoidable if the property is a private treaty sale. If a property is up for auction you can make an offer before the due auction date. Your offer would have to be an amount the vendor would be happy to accept at the auction. So it’s a good idea to be aware of the comparable prices  for similar properties in the area. Your Ray White Kiama agent can help in this regard, as they have access to figures of many properties recently sold. Of course there’s no guarantee the vendor will accept your offer and until exchange or they accept your offer the property will remain on the market.

Buy it

There are basically two ways to buy a property, either through auction or private sale. The method of sale is up to the vendor. There are several benefits to buying at auction. It’s an open and transparent forum, so you know who you’re bidding against and what they are offering. You can inspect all the legal documents and have any necessary property inspections completed before the auction. And the Contracts of Sale are signed and exchanged right then and there – with no delays whatsoever.

A property offered for private treaty sale will be advertised at a certain price, which may or may not be negotiable depending on the vendor. You still need to check the legal documents and of course the property itself. Whether buying through auction or private sale, we’ll advise you throughout the process of what steps you need to take to ensure a smooth transaction.

Congratulations!

You have now secured your dream property by way of exchange and the contract for sale usually dictates a 42 day (6 week) settlement period.  Your solicitor or conveyancer will usually continue onwards from here and will recommend a final inspection before settlement.  Your Ray White Kiama agent will organise this for you.