Hack your house research in a day

If you’re looking to buy, you better be ready because the property market is a big bad world and there’s a lot to understand. Buying a property is a tiresome and occasionally confusing job…BUT it doesn’t need to be.

Don’t spend days chained to your desk doing homework when you really want to be out exploring properties, or more importantly, enjoying your weekend! Follow these hacks to nail the groundwork in a day.

9AM: Decide your budget

Unless you’ve found a pot of gold under your bed this morning, you’ll need a home loan. And this will depend on a variety of things including your income, your repayments and desired interest rate.

Check out the Borrowing Power Calculator. This bad-boy leaves nothing to the imagination and lets you work out how much you can borrow based off a range of factors including interest rate, loan period, number of dependants, income of participants and other expenses like loan repayments and credit card limits.

Be aspirational, but do yourself a favour and save some money for any unexpected costs, including a celebratory dinner at your new local, of course.

11AM: Consider going in with your mates

You’ve crunched the numbers and if you can’t afford a property on your own then why not put your friends to the test and explore joint home loan options? More Australians are cluing onto this handy hint and pooling their savings to go in with friends in order to secure their first house.

Who you join forces with is up to you. But choose wisely, as property is a long term investment and picking pals is no easy feat. We’ve listed three golden rules below to help you choose wisely.

Golden rules for choosing friends to invest in property with:

1. Make sure you’re on similar salaries: Because if you’re making significantly more (or less) than your friend, then determining repayment amounts could get really awkward
2. Similar property aspiration: Make sure you have similar ideas of what you want to invest in and the type of place you want to live
3. In it for the long haul: If you haven’t been friends for a while then look the other way, property is a long term investment that you can’t unfriend

If going in with a mate just doesn’t work for you – don’t sweat it – there are other options available. You could think about looking into mortgage insurance or maybe even family guarantees.

1PM: Seek advice and speed-date agents

You wouldn’t give a bad date a second chance, so why settle for less than the best with real estate agents. Before you can truly commit to an agent, you need to play the field to see what options are out there.

Our advice is to talk to as many people as possible. Whether it’s your friends, family or professionals, good advice can come from anywhere, it’s important to balance out as many opinions as you can. Grab coffee with a handful of local real estate agents to get the low down on the area and make a connection.

Find and invest time in the agents you gel with, who have your interests at heart and are not just in it for their sale. To get the convo rolling, we’ve listed some quirky little questions that will put potential agents to the test.

Real estate agent quiz:

1. What’s your dream property
2. How long have you been in real estate and is it your dream job
3. What is the worst property you’ve ever sold

3PM: Make checklists for everything

We mean everything. Create a checklist that goes through the things you’re assessing a house against. Are you after size or location? Perhaps you’re looking to snag a bargain and price is your key factor.

Decide what your priorities are and make a check list that outlines the ‘must haves’ and the ‘nice to haves’. Wunderlist is a nifty digital tool that allows you to plan and manage checklists from your smartphone. It might seem like a simple concept, but make checklists and you’ll feel confident and at ease knowing there’s going to be no surprises.

We all know that this is kind of a big decision, being one of the most important lists you’ll make and all, but best not to stress