Borrowers warned to brace for across-the-board mortgage rate increases
It’s no secret that house hunting can most certainly be a daunting task. Regardless of whether this is your second investment property or your first dream home. Now that you have scanned through your local real estate listings and have spent countless hours investigating every “For Sale” sign in your dream neighbourhood, you may have finally discovered your perfect home. If you’re planning on attending an open house in order to give it a good and thorough inspection, don’t go in blind, and remember, never judge a book by its cover! In this article, we will be taking a look at some helpful tips and advice that can prepare you for finding out just about everything about a property, its features and its benefits.
Make sure you have the funds available.
Before deciding to head out to visit the property market and browse potential new homes, it’s important that you first discover how much you are able to borrow in terms of finance. If you finally come across the perfect property and your finances are not in order, there is a significant risk that you may lose out! It’s essential that you speak with your mortgage broker who can arrange for a pre-approval for the property loan before house hunting.
Prepare a detailed checklist.
Before you arrive at the open house inspection, it’s recommended that you spend some time preparing a checklist of all things to look for when you arrive at the property. Remember to add to your checklist the fundamental aspects of your dream property which are things you are certainly not willing to budge on. These things could be the size of the backyard, the minimum number of bedrooms, bathrooms and so on. You will also want to include negotiable items on your checklist, which are things that you may be curious about but are not necessarily deal breakers. By equipping yourself with a checklist before stepping into a property, you are allowing yourself to take out a large amount of emotion when inspecting the property which will allow you to think more rationally.
This is a perfect opportunity to ask questions.
When you arrive at the property, you will no doubt be greeted by the local real estate agent. It’s important that you take the time to speak to them. After all, they are the experts when it comes to real estate in the local area. It’s important to remember that they are more than likely working on the vendor’s behalf, which means that they will have a wealth of information and details about the property, for example, are there any developments planned in the area, how long has the property been on the market, and so on. So if you have any burning questions at the front of your mind, now is the time to ask!
Take down important notes throughout the inspection.
If you are scheduled to visit many open house inspections in a single day, it’s no surprise that things can often get confusing. You may have forgotten which property had that amazing backyard, or which one had your dream kitchen fitted. This is why it’s certainly worthwhile to take photographs and make specific notes of each property so that there is no confusion after the day is done. You may want to take notes of any wear and tear that the property may have, or how much road noise there is from passing traffic etc.
Make sure to receive an inspection report.
If you are interested in a particular property it’s fundamental that you ask the agent present at the open house inspection for an inspection report. An inspection report will provide you with all the nitty-gritty details about the property and is typically carried out by an unbiased third party. If you perhaps have any doubts about the data and information provided in the report, you may wish to hire your own property inspection professional to carry out an inspection on your behalf.
Related posts
