When you start searching for a home, you should consider the following:

• First and foremost, what is your budget?
• Which area do you prefer to purchase in?
• What type of home would you prefer to purchase, eg unit, townhouse, semi-detached, freestanding house, old or new?
• Do you want something you can renovate yourself or would you prefer something you can move straight into?
• Is suitable transport available close by?
• What schools are in close proximity?

Ensure that once you have inspected a property that you feel suits your requirements, you register your interest with your agent.

Properties can normally be inspected either by appointment or by open for inspection.


Request a copy of the contract for sale and have your solicitor take a look at it.

Bearing in mind that if you are looking to purchase at auction, you should allow enough time to have a professional building report or inspection carried out on the home if you require.

Similarly, if it is a strata unit or townhouse you are thinking about purchasing, allow ample time to have a strata inspection report carried out. This will inform you about the history of the work carried out on the building, outstanding repairs and also any special levies that are being.

Remember, if purchasing at auction, you need to register and receive a bidder number prior to the commencement of bidding. Therefore you must ensure that you must bring along identification (such as a driver’s licence or passport) in order to register.


HOW TO BID SUCCESSFULLY AT AUCTION

1. Attend similar auctions in the weeks leading up to your auction to better understand the system.

2. If the auction is to be conducted in-rooms, familiarise yourself with the venue’s location and parking facilities, to avoid a last minute panic.

3. Arrive early and get comfortable. If you need help, bring along a friend or solicitor to bid on your behalf.

4. Establish a limit on how much you’re willing to send on the property.

5. Get a feel for the bidding process before you start.

6. Know what is happening around you. Don’t hide, otherwise the auctioneer may miss your bid.

7. Bid strongly and with confidence. This shows people that you’re serious about buying.

8. Bid quickly. If you hesitate, others think it’s your last bid, encouraging them to keep going.

9. Start bidding when the figure is below or within your price range. Don’t be shy about opening the bidding at a figure to suit you. You should participate, otherwise you could miss out.

10. The auctioneer will set the bidding increments depending on the price bracket of the property.

11. If you have been advised not to bid until the auctioneer announces that the property is “on the market” you have been badly advised. A professional auctioneer won’t say this as the terminology is false. After all, the property has been on the market since the day the signboard was erected and the first advertisement appeared!

12. When the bidding slows or stops at a figure acceptable to the vendor, the auctioneer will announce that the property is to be sold. The auctioneer will give the first call and repeat the price, then the second call and repeat it again and a third and final call confirming the property is to be sold The auctioneer then brings the hammer down. “SOLD!”