When you go and buy a car do you look on the internet, on websites such as Trademe and do you go to the LTSA website and pull up the history on the car. Well if you don’t you should.
But the same type of actions should be taken when you go to purchase a home. This is even more important at the moment as the market is very unpredictable. Buying a home is often one of the biggest financial commitments that you will ever make in your life. You need to know both what financial implications you will have and also what things will happen when you buy the home. Here are a few things you should do before you look at buying a home. Some of these things can be done before you even leave your home you’re in now. This is the power of the internet.
The first thing you should do is decide where you want to live or buy. This is something that is often taken for granted but you need to stop and think for a second, “why are we moving, where is it we want to go” this will ensure that you’re not waiting your time looking in areas you won’t want to be. The next thing to do is to then write down the features that you’re looking for in your new home. This is probably the key to the whole process but is often overlooked and taken willy nilly. Set down clear guidelines to start with and go with that. Remember as you look you can change these.
The next thing is to start searching. This is where technology and the internet is your best friend. Especially as the price of fuel goes up, it makes it so convenient to just sit at home and browse the internet and then get a feel for what’s out there in your area. Here are some useful websites that may help hugely in the search.
www.realestate.co.nz
www.trademe.co.nz
www.open2view.com
www.taranakiharcourts.co.nz – This is a great website for the local Taranaki market
www.harcourts.co.nz
These are just a few of the many that are out there to look at for property. Make the event a family time. Get everyone involved and participating. Make a list of the ones that fall into or near your criteria and then after you have about 5, 12 or 20 different ones, (it doesn’t really matter) start to compare them. This can be fun. See what each of them can offer and talk about the disadvantages of them as well. This process can be done in the comfort of your home or anywhere there is an internet connection. The great thing as well with doing it this way is if you do have further questions you can email the person connected to the property and get a response.
After this step you will have a great idea of some of the properties that you may want to inspect. But before you do this you should have a look on www.qv.co.nz and you can do a few searches that will give you a greater indication of the area, what prices they have obtained and if you want you can get a total property report on the property that you’re looking at. Some of these services do charge so make sure the properties you’re looking at are the ones you want. The Full property report does include…. (if you click on any one of the links below it will take you to the relavant example.)
§ Property details
§ Rating valuation
§ Sales history
§ E-Valuer (Estimate of market value) – where available
§ Property trend (graph only)
§ Local sales
§ School zones
§ Demographic Profile (Neighbourhood)
Once this is all done and you have a list of possibles that suit what you’re looking for get out there and have a look at them in the flesh. This has to be done as there are always things that the photos don’t show.
But in short the internet has opened the doors for possibility in searching for property. It is the best tool to get out there and look at the things you want and do your research without having to really leave the comfort of home.