Author Topic: House Hunting.  (Read 5855 times)

Dougeytherichmondfan

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House Hunting.
« 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!

Offline The Mole

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2016, 07:18:54 AM »
be carefull of the under quoting to get you sucked in happens all the time

Dougeytherichmondfan

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #2 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...

Online Francois Jackson

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #3 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
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Offline Stalin

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #4 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
Then he grabbed two chopsticks and stuck them in his mouth , pretending to be a walrus

Dougeytherichmondfan

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2016, 02:47:57 PM »
Wish I had 2.9 to play around with...

Offline yellowandback

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #6 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
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Offline Yeahright

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #7 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.

Offline Penelope

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #8 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.
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Offline 🏅Dooks

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #9 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
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Offline WilliamPowell

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #10 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

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Dougeytherichmondfan

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #11 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?

Online Francois Jackson

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #12 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.


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Offline Stalin

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #13 on: June 20, 2016, 10:03:49 PM »
5.8 trillion in debt

The Chinese don't want the crap we dig up anymore
Then he grabbed two chopsticks and stuck them in his mouth , pretending to be a walrus

Offline 🏅Dooks

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Re: House Hunting.
« Reply #14 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).

« Last Edit: June 21, 2016, 06:17:31 AM by Dooks »
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