Since a home buyer apportions the bulk of his savings and income to a single investment, he wants to save as much as possible. Property developers exploit this penny-pinching penchant by offering various innovative schemes that are laden with freebies. At face value, most of these options appear tempting, but when you scrub off the gloss, you’ll discover that they are riddled with traps.
Starting a search without clearly knowing what you want and then “hoping the ideal property will turn up!” With this approach, chances are you will waste plenty of time and energy and possibly purchasing something that doesn’t meet your needs or is beyond your budget!
Not doing the hard yards – the temptation is to cut corners on your research because you’re sick and tired of giving up your weekends looking at property but this is likely to be one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll ever make so you want to get it right! The better you know the area, the better you will become familiar with prices and importantly you’ll know how to spot great value when you see it!
5Forgetting about buying costs – remember to add stamp duty and settlement costs into the mix. This is usually up to an additional 5% on top of the purchase price that needs to be factored in when setting your budget.