Hegarty Properties’ top tips to buy your dream home
Buying a house can be the biggest deal you do in the course of your lifetime. It brings all sorts of challenges from finding your dream home to getting your finances in order and negotiating the best price.
Here are Hegarty Properties’ tips to help guide you through the process and reduce the stress.
1. Calculate all the costs for your proposed purchase – as well as monthly mortgage repayments, include the running costs of your purchase and consider the cost of stamp duty, legal and other professional fees.
2. Have your finances in order. Get rid of existing debt, if possible. Have you enough disposable income to repay the mortgage if interest rates rise? Clean up your credit rating. Obtain mortgage approval (if necessary).
3. List and prioritise your top requirements for the new property, for example, garden, 4th bedroom, open plan living space and keep these in mind when making decisions.
4. Remember the importance of location, location, location. Adrianna’s advice is “it’s better to buy the worst house on the best road rather than best house on the worst road”.
5. Always have a survey carried out by a qualified architect/engineer or surveyor. Never rely on a survey carried out by the lender.
6. Review the quality of any home improvements. If there is an extension for example - check that all permits, building regulations and planning permissions have been observed.
7. Consider the area. Look out for anti-social behaviour, how green spaces are used, graffiti, traffic patterns and proximity to schools and shops.
8. Ensure your legal affairs are in order if you start bidding. Have the deposit and solicitor’s details ready for the estate agent for when the sale is agreed.
We hope that you find these tips useful as you prepare to buy your dream home. This is not an exhaustive list but will point you in the right direction. We would be happy to discuss any of the tips in more detail with you.
For more information, call Hegarty Properties, The East Cork Business of the Year 2017 on 021 463 9411.
