Whether you’re buying your first home, your next home, or an investment property, there are three essential questions you need to ask yourself before embarking on that journey: why, what and when do you want to buy?
Why do you want to buy a property?
Whys can be really unique, and they’ll vary widely from person to person.
Here are some examples:
- You want housing security
- You don’t want to rent anymore
- You’d like to start diversifying your investment portfolio
- You want to be able to change the colour of your walls (probably not a good why)
- You feel like you need to keep up with your friends (also not a good why)
It’s absolutely essential to know your why to ensure you’re buying a property for the right reasons.
Extra tip: if you’re buying with a partner, make sure your why matches theirs.
What kind of property do you want to buy?
Now it’s time to dig a little deeper. The ‘what’ question is an extension of your why.
If you’re an investor, you’re likely driven by numbers, so good schools are probably not on your priority list. Instead, you’re probably more interested in buying a property with growth potential or positive cash flow.
If you’re buying a family home, on the other hand, you’ll probably be more interested in knowing if there are good schools and parks around.
And if you’re someone that really values their lifestyle, you might be willing to sacrifice space to secure a place in the suburb you love.
When are you planning to buy it?
Now that you’ve got your why and what, we can move to when.
The real question to be answered here is not when you want to buy a property (most people would say as soon as possible), but when can you afford to buy one that aligns with your why and what.
Say you want a home to live in and you have recently found out that a property in the suburb you love costs a lot more than you can afford at the moment.
What do you do? Would you choose another location, or would you save more to buy a property in that suburb?
If you do choose another location, how long are you going to hold this property before selling or upgrading to a new one?
That’s another very important point to consider. Because there are so many expenses involved in buying and selling a property, specialists advise you should be prepared to hold a property for at least five years.
UFinancial can help you answer those questions and support you through your journey from start to finish to make sure you get the best possible property outcome.
Click here to book a free property strategy session today.
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