Things not to do when buying property

When buying a house there are so many things to consider. There are the obvious things like ensuring that the electrics are in order and that there are no beetles in the woodwork. But there are so many other important considerations as well. The to-do list can be seemingly endless and it can turn into quite an ordeal. But while most people will tell you what you should do when buying for the first time, there are very few people who will give you advice on what not to do – but we thought that we would give it a try.

 

Don’t be emotional

There is no room for emotion when you are spending such huge amounts of cash on an investment. Quite simply you have to find the one that works financially and which cater to your needs. Anything else is a bonus. So if you went out and bought the weekend paper and saw an advertisement with house for sale Balwyn as its headline, and you happened to have grow up in Balwyn many years ago, it does not need to follow that you should buy the house. Sentiment clouds good judgement and you need to make sure that your brain is in charge, not your heart.

 

Don’t over extend yourself

There is no point in owning a lovely house if all you can afford to do is service the mortgage and nothing else. So be smart and make sure that you are not over-extending yourself with the purchase and that there is some spare cash left over to do the alterations that you wanted to do or to entertain people with a dinner party. Whatever it is be smart, there is no point making an investment if you are unable to enjoy it.

 

Life insurance

Banks will always try to get you to take out life insurance if you are getting a mortgage. They claim that this is their way of covering their risk in the event that you die. But unless you have a large dependent family there is no reason why you should have insurance. The property is security for the bank already and whatever happens to you, the bank will own the property and they can sell the property if they want to - which shouldn’t really bother you as you will be dead.

 

Make changes

Unless the house that you have bought is in a serious state of disrepair, do you very best not to make changes to the house immediately. There is often a temptation to perform major alterations on a place before even moving in. It is an understandable inclination as it means less disruption to your life. But it also means that you are making changes without really knowing the house and how it all comes together. So sure, if you are gutting the place completely then go for it, but if it is about some tweaks or knocking down some walls and slightly less serious alterations, maybe wait a little while before you bring in the builders. You won’t regret it and you won’t end up wanting to make more changes in a year or two.