12-Jul-2008
Every week many families try to realise the dream of owning their first home and there are a number of suggestions from REIV that may help.

Firstly, familiarise yourself with the two main methods of selling a property, auction and private sale. A major difference is that in private sale you can make the sale conditional on obtaining finance and there is a three day cooling off period.

Decide on what you want in terms of size, location and price range. Register your name and requirements with agents who service the area you are interested in and ask them to let you know when suitable properties become available. Regularly check the newspapers and set up alerts on real estate internet sites such as realestateview.com.au.

If you are not buying a brand new home it is also a sensible idea to obtain a building inspection report before you make an offer or bid at auction, this will provide guidance on what needs to be repaired on the property and how much it may cost.

Organise your finances before making an offer or bidding at an auction. If you are bidding at auction you need to be able to provide a 10 per cent deposit, immediately following the auction, should your bid be successful.

When you organise your finances make sure that you take into account stamp duty, cost of conveyancing, possible moving expenses and the repayments allowing a bit of room for the fact that variable home loan interest rates can move up.

Finally, research the different levels of State Government financial assistance that may be available to you. Assistance is available for first home buyers and different stamp duty rates are applied differently for newly built homes in the city and in regional Victoria than established homes in the city.

Source: REIV