Tag: first time buyers

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Expert Tips

How to find your perfect suburb

By Michelle May

It’s easy to fall in love with a property and jump in without researching the suburb you will be calling home for the next five to 10 years. Trust me, there aren’t many feelings worse than unpacking in your dream home and then finding out your neighbourhood is a nightmare. Luckily, there’s plenty you can do to stop that from happening, and it all starts with playing detective.

Do some digging before they start digging

It’s not a real estate agent’s job to provide you with information about any development that will affect your property. It’s ‘buyer beware’, and you have to do your own investigations into what’s going on around, underneath and above your potential new home.

There are many risks associated with major works (such as tunnels) that can cause cracks and devalue properties. Check out local zoning details, where maps and visuals of planned tunnel routes are available. Likewise, if you’re not aware of local zoning, you might find your property dwarfed by high density and industrial developments in the coming years. 

Also, trawl through council websites for news of developments and Google the name of the suburb and the keyword ‘development’ to see what pops up. 

Use social media as your guide

Before you become part of the community, it pays to become an active member of the digital community of your target area to see what the issues are. Local Facebook groups are a valuable source of intel. So, jump on and comment. ‘Hey, I’m thinking of buying a property in this street, what do I need to know?’ You won’t get a completely unbiased view of the suburb, but people are glad to help out and certainly are the experts. 

Follow council and local police social media pages to see what’s going on and hit Google hard with all the keywords that you can think of attached to your suburb’s name: Noise, crime, robbery, flight path, building works, etc.

Don’t ignore traditional media, either. Local newspapers are packed full of the good, the bad and the ugly things in the region.

Hit the streets

No matter how much research you do, there’s no substitute for spending time in the suburb to get a feel if it’s right for you. If you’re going to commit to a property for 10 years, you should be prepared to spend at least 10 hours immersing yourself in the area. I give my clients homework every week as they close in on a property.

For example:

  • Go to cafés and parks and see what kind of people are there and what the vibe is like. Do you feel comfortable?
  • Sit back in your car, open your windows and watch the world go by. Is it noisy or right under a flight path? Are there dodgy people around?
  • Stick your head over the neighbour’s fence. You can tell a lot about people from the state of their garden.

Get educated

For those with children, the quality of the schools is going to have a significant impact on their lives. Catchment areas and NAPLAN results only tell a tiny part of the story, so visit the school and talk to the parents and principal. Just because people rave about a school, it doesn’t mean that it will suit your child and your family’s philosophy.

There are a million and one things to consider when selecting a new suburb, and I hope you find this guide useful as a starting point. As always, please get in touch if we can help with your search.

Michelle May is the founder of Michelle May Buyers Agents.

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Expert Tips

How life is different as a homeowner vs. a renter

Young couple hammering in nail for framed picture in living room

Sponsored by Stockland

As someone who has rented many homes and bought three, I can tell you that there are a lot of differences between buying and renting — some good, some bad! Either way, it’s best to do your homework and make sure you’re prepared for some of the bigger changes ahead when you become a homeowner. And for the purposes of this post, we’re talking about buying a new build (although many of these things will apply to buying an older home too).

You’ll have a mortgage!

While it’s of course important to pay your landlord, and on time, when you buy a house, it’s even more important to pay the bank every month. So make sure you know how much is due and by when, especially that first payment! These days, it’s more than likely that your mortgage will be more than your rent was for a similar home, so make sure you budget accordingly. However, unlike rent, you will eventually pay off a mortgage (with a lot of interest, let’s be honest!), and with rent, you’ll have nothing to show for your money. Before you buy, make sure you find out if you’re eligible for any government grants for first-time buyers, especially if you’re buying a new home.

New payments

As a homeowner, I’m afraid there are now some costs (what I call boring, grown-up expenses!) which are your responsibility (which previously were your landlord’s). These include council rates, fixed charges (as well as usage) for water, and of course maintenance. It’s a good idea to have a budget set aside for little surprises that creep in, like the dishwasher breaking or your back fence falling down in the wind.

You now need to insure the home itself as well as its contents and you should definitely consider getting life insurance. You also need to factor in the cost (and/or time required) of maintaining your home, from mowing the lawn to clearing the gutters and so on. On the plus side, if you buy a new home, those maintenance costs should me much less than say, buying a home with a roof that could need replacing before you know it. Scary stuff!

Flexibility

When you buy a home, you’re hopefully in it for the long haul, as the costs of buying a home (stamp duty, removals etc) are substantial. If you decide you fancy a different suburb, state or even country a year down the line, it’s definitely a lot harder to simply move. But if you’re building a brand new home, I’m pretty sure you’re excited about putting down roots, making it your own.

Stability

On the other side of the coin, buying a home means you have confidence you’ll be in the same place for a long time. This becomes more important if you start a family and want to plan for schools, putting your kids’ names on wait lists, making sure you’re in the right catchment area for that great public school, and so on. As a mum, the feeling that I may be in my current home for as long as a decade, is amazing. It is a real mindset shift! I love knowing that it’s worth my while putting in the effort to become part of the local community, befriend the neighbours and get involved with local activities.

As a renter, at the end of the day, you never know when your landlord might want their house back, which is not a nice feeling if you’re looking to settle down.

Total choice and control

When you buy a home, it is absolutely up to you how it looks and what you do with it (subject to council approval if necessary and of course, budget). And if you’re building your home, you get to choose what kitchen, floor, paint colour and landscaping you’ll get. There is no better way to get control over what your dream home will be like than building from scratch! No more having to live with someone else’s bad taste or dated fixtures and fittings. Oh, that blank canvas excitement! Not to mention you can put as many holes in the walls and hang as many pictures as you like!

Risk

There is of course a lot of risk involved in borrowing what is, in most cases, the largest amount of money you’ll ever borrow. So make sure you get good financial advice before doing so to ensure that you can continue to make the repayments and that you have some left over as an emergency fund.

Thinking of buying your first home? Stockland have partnered with Adam Dovile from Better Homes & Gardens to put together a great guide full of useful information. Find out more about making the shift from being a renter to a homeowner.

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Interiors Addict

Colourful, practical home for first time buyers

Anna Williams of Ethos Design furnished this display home for a Queensland builder targeting first time buyers.

“I mixed affordable contemporary furniture from local chain stores with Mid Century styles to create a home that feels perfectly suited to a busy family lifestyle, all complemented with quirky accessories and colourful artwork,” she says. “My aim was to create a comfortable family home that felt practical, colourful and stylish.”

“The focal point for the dining room had to be the gorgeous abstracts by a local artist. To keep them centre stage, I kept the furniture simple. A round table allowed a better flow of traffic in the small space, while Louis Ghost style chairs are a practical option for a young family.”

Continue reading “Colourful, practical home for first time buyers”