One-Eyed Richmond Forum

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dougeytherichmondfan on June 20, 2016, 06:26:01 AM

Title: House Hunting.
Post by: Dougeytherichmondfan on June 20, 2016, 06:26:01 AM
So the darl and I have started looking for our first place together, suffice to say its pretty intimidating.

Wondering if any of the OER's have any hints and tips or personal experience they might like to share? At this stage I'm all ears for whoever wants to lend their two cents.

Cheers all!
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: The Mole on June 20, 2016, 07:18:54 AM
be carefull of the under quoting to get you sucked in happens all the time
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Dougeytherichmondfan on June 20, 2016, 07:34:40 AM
be carefull of the under quoting to get you sucked in happens all the time

Yeah fallen for that a few times. You have to add 20% more every time. How its legal I do not know...
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Francois Jackson on June 20, 2016, 08:25:24 AM
First home? Don't go for the best area first up unless your both on or close to 6 figures.

My first home was in endeavour hills and my wife's was in hoppers crossing.

Kids these days want to jump straight into the big money.

Anyway tip.

www.realestate.com.au and go under "sold" to get an idea of what prices really sell for in ur chosen area.

Good luck
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Stalin on June 20, 2016, 10:37:44 AM
Something in  an average suburb went for 2.9 yesterday....

It'll crash just a question of when

The debt levels are unsustainable
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Dougeytherichmondfan on June 20, 2016, 02:47:57 PM
Wish I had 2.9 to play around with...
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: yellowandback on June 20, 2016, 02:57:04 PM
Dougey,
Work out what you can afford - both in servicing the loan and also having enough money to get a deposit.
Based on that, look at all suburbs which have a median that is just below what you can afford.
Check out the key things that make a suburb liveable ie. retail, public transport, parks, schools, health care, roads etc
Agree trade offs with your missus up front. The reality there will be trade offs - for instance, we agreed that we would live in a house which would need work but not a full reno job so went extra bedrooms but didn't worry about the paint job, blinds, crappy kitchen
Look at those suburbs you can afford and compare their growth against the overall growth across Melbourne.  For example, suburb x might have a  3 year growth 10% compare to melb metro avg of 5. It helps to understand how strong the market is where you are looking.
Some suburbs are growing faster than others  and might be out of your price bracket - see if you can get those suburbs flanking the really fast growing suburbs as they will hopefully be affordable and also will probably grow next.
Then decide if these are areas you want to live in.
 Don't be put off if some of these areas aren't suburbs you want to live in - if there is growth it is a way of building equity.  If you're not familiar with them, don't rule them out - have a coffee in the local cafe or walk the main drag and see what you think.
Might sound odd but you may want to rent out the first house for a few years before moving in, some people aren't even living in their first property but using it to build equity and then moving into their second house.
Go to auctions to understand that dynamic. There is a technique that can really help you which you will pick up when observing auctions.
Good luck, I'm sure glad I'm not looking right now - money is cheap and while growth is slowing of property where I'm living - it won't be dropping anytime soon!!!
Cheers
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Yeahright on June 20, 2016, 05:08:49 PM
Just don't move where Bo lived, lots of dark alleys and people crossing the street to tell you things.
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Penelope on June 20, 2016, 05:19:48 PM
is "hunting" a PC term to use?

I hope no houses get shot as a result of this.
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: 🏅Dooks on June 20, 2016, 06:42:08 PM
The usual of what the experts say, along the lines of

Dont pay more than 30% of your income on loan repayments. Work out what you can afford from there.

Make sure you can allow for a 2-3% interest rate increase within your household budget.

Get a full offset acct so your pay offsets the loan amount. Also keep 3 months wage as a buffer for getting sick/redundancy etc

Pay the loan off as quick as possible particulary at the start if you can.

Dont forget to live and dont be a slave to it.

Despite all of the above, do what works for you
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: WilliamPowell on June 20, 2016, 07:06:09 PM
I am a firm believer in locking in the 1st two or three years of a mortgage into a foxed interest rate. Have recommended this to a number of folks

Gives peace of mine regarding repayments. If rates go up, you repayment doesnt change.

Actually  we've always had fixed interest rates and because our repayments have never changed we have cut years off our mortgage term.

We've paid the same repayment sonce day one. So when interest rates have gone down, we pay less interest and more off the principle

Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Dougeytherichmondfan on June 20, 2016, 09:33:56 PM
Some great tips, thanks guys. I think we've managed to lock in 4% for 2 years with possibly an option for a third, which is handy ;)


Get a full offset acct so your pay offsets the loan amount. Also keep 3 months wage as a buffer for getting sick/redundancy etc


Great ones Dooksey, will make sure I follow up on those. Specifically I've heard about the need to create an offset account but I'm not sure exactly how it works. Any chance you can elaborate?
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Francois Jackson on June 20, 2016, 09:43:07 PM
Something in  an average suburb went for 2.9 yesterday....

It'll crash just a question of when

The debt levels are unsustainable

yeah by 20% and everyone will call it a crash, but in reality is its a slight correction and will just come back to 2013 levels.

massive land shortage unlike what happened in the states so a us style crash will unlikely never happen.


Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Stalin on June 20, 2016, 10:03:49 PM
5.8 trillion in debt

The Chinese don't want the crap we dig up anymore
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: 🏅Dooks on June 20, 2016, 11:08:15 PM
Some great tips, thanks guys. I think we've managed to lock in 4% for 2 years with possibly an option for a third, which is handy ;)


Get a full offset acct so your pay offsets the loan amount. Also keep 3 months wage as a buffer for getting sick/redundancy etc


Great ones Dooksey, will make sure I follow up on those. Specifically I've heard about the need to create an offset account but I'm not sure exactly how it works. Any chance you can elaborate?

Ill tell you.my experience. It works in our situation so bare in mind its not for everyone and as always do your research.

Our bank offers a premium loan customer service, whereby if you take out a loan over a certain amount you can an auto .25%-.75% of the standard rate plus get a full offset acct subject to an annual fee.

Basically its linked to our loan acct and the amount in it offsets the loan, therefore reducing the interest, cost and time of the loan but theres a full redraw on the money in the account. Income goes straight into this offset and acts like weve paid extra off the loan (until we use it).

Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Stalin on June 24, 2016, 02:47:25 PM
Something in  an average suburb went for 2.9 yesterday....

It'll crash just a question of when

The debt levels are unsustainable

yeah by 20% and everyone will call it a crash, but in reality is its a slight correction and will just come back to 2013 levels.

massive land shortage unlike what happened in the states so a us style crash will unlikely never happen.

Stocking market spluttering Atm

I for one welcome our new overlords total financial colapse
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Dougeytherichmondfan on June 24, 2016, 08:58:03 PM
One of my favourite quotes; from Warren Buffett

"Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful"
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Stalin on June 24, 2016, 09:07:14 PM
My fav is:

"I pay less tax (%) than my assistant"

Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: tony_montana on June 26, 2016, 09:59:22 AM
some good advice in here, what area are you looking at? North, west, east, south east, inner?

Agents really shouldnt be underquoting now. If there is no price listed do your own research like Angus suggested. Once youve dialed in on the area you are set on then attend as many open homes and auctions as you can, as well as looking at sold history in the suburb on realestate.com.au. That way you'll get a good idea of market value.

If bidding at auction, make sure you have your finances approved and deposit ready, don't start bidding early, but if you really want the property and it looks like it will pass in, make sure you are the final bidder before it gets passed in to give you first rights of negotiation. So many people dont bid and are then surprised they didnt get a chance to negotiate after the auction bc the highest bidder has gone inside and negotiated the sale.

Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Dougeytherichmondfan on June 27, 2016, 06:17:54 AM
some good advice in here, what area are you looking at? North, west, east, south east, inner?

Agents really shouldnt be underquoting now. If there is no price listed do your own research like Angus suggested. Once youve dialed in on the area you are set on then attend as many open homes and auctions as you can, as well as looking at sold history in the suburb on realestate.com.au. That way you'll get a good idea of market value.

If bidding at auction, make sure you have your finances approved and deposit ready, don't start bidding early, but if you really want the property and it looks like it will pass in, make sure you are the final bidder before it gets passed in to give you first rights of negotiation. So many people dont bid and are then surprised they didnt get a chance to negotiate after the auction bc the highest bidder has gone inside and negotiated the sale.

Yeah we're looking at that inner north area at the moment, which varies a lot depending on suburb. Have been going to a lot of inspections and attending auctions recently.

Actually had a really good crack at a place on the weekend, but got smashed in the end. Had the highest bid when it was initially passed in and then came out and reset and it was officially on the market to the highest bid. Enter 2 bidders that hadn't said a word at this point.

Ended up finishing 10% higher than what I had.

Good experience but I've got a lot to learn.

Would anyone suggest going through a buyers agent? I hear it can help with the process, but I don't like the idea of having to pay thousands on top of the settlement price (stamp duty is already a massive mood killer). I'm thinking of looking into it as we had a look at some of the places that sold on saturday in our price range in the areas we're looking at and half of them were as good (if not nicer) than the one we missed out on.

Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Diocletian on June 27, 2016, 12:55:09 PM
Dougey living in the inner city.....there's a surprise.....
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: tony_montana on June 27, 2016, 01:42:56 PM
some good advice in here, what area are you looking at? North, west, east, south east, inner?

Agents really shouldnt be underquoting now. If there is no price listed do your own research like Angus suggested. Once youve dialed in on the area you are set on then attend as many open homes and auctions as you can, as well as looking at sold history in the suburb on realestate.com.au. That way you'll get a good idea of market value.

If bidding at auction, make sure you have your finances approved and deposit ready, don't start bidding early, but if you really want the property and it looks like it will pass in, make sure you are the final bidder before it gets passed in to give you first rights of negotiation. So many people dont bid and are then surprised they didnt get a chance to negotiate after the auction bc the highest bidder has gone inside and negotiated the sale.

Yeah we're looking at that inner north area at the moment, which varies a lot depending on suburb. Have been going to a lot of inspections and attending auctions recently.

Actually had a really good crack at a place on the weekend, but got smashed in the end. Had the highest bid when it was initially passed in and then came out and reset and it was officially on the market to the highest bid. Enter 2 bidders that hadn't said a word at this point.

Ended up finishing 10% higher than what I had.

Good experience but I've got a lot to learn.

Would anyone suggest going through a buyers agent? I hear it can help with the process, but I don't like the idea of having to pay thousands on top of the settlement price (stamp duty is already a massive mood killer). I'm thinking of looking into it as we had a look at some of the places that sold on saturday in our price range in the areas we're looking at and half of them were as good (if not nicer) than the one we missed out on.

Yep, a lot of serious bidders wait till the end before they start bidding. I wouldn't recommend a buyers agent - you will pay fees and also pay more for the property. Agents love dealing with buyers agents as they generally have clients pay top dollar to make sure get the property. Not worth it mate, find a few agents you like to deal with that understand your needs and deal with them. I sent you a PM.
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: yellowandback on June 28, 2016, 07:34:51 PM
Don't worry about a buyers agent. Fully agree with TM on that one. Waste of money, in fact when I do see a buyers agent, I normally step away from the auction as they end up paying overs on behalf of their "client".
I've bidded for a few auctions, normally go early - not the first bidder but fairly early on. Generally speaking, if you are there and bidding at the end - and bid assertively - people can get to thinking you're not going to buckle and end up buckling themselves.
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Red Ranger on July 15, 2016, 11:12:13 AM
I like the auction results from realestateVIEW for Victorian auction results because theirs go up before the other big sites and get them emailed to me every week.

http://www.realestateview.com.au/sales-and-auction-results/victoria/a/

Go find your suburb by the letter it starts with. It's a good way to get an idea about your area right now.

Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: 1965 on January 26, 2018, 01:17:42 PM
Dougy

Did you ever buy a house?
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Dougeytherichmondfan on January 26, 2018, 11:57:23 PM
Dougy

Did you ever buy a house?
Hey mate,

Cheers for the question. I really should have followed up with the news. We actually got ourselves a little place, more or less where we were hoping. We've been settled in for well over a year now, absolutely loving life. What a year it was for us last year with the flag, the new place! Does life get any better?

Thanks for all the tips and help guys. We really did use a lot of it. I'm a little shattered that TM doesn't post here anymore, shout out to him for giving me some fantastic help during the journey. Gave me some time and help that he didn't have to at all.

Go tiges!  :gotigers
Title: Re: House Hunting.
Post by: Yeahright on February 26, 2018, 06:20:30 PM
Did you follow my advice? If you didn't, I'm concerned for your safety

Just don't move where Bo lived, lots of dark alleys and people crossing the street to tell you things.