In today’s top tip, we are talking about buying a house without the stress that can so often come with the process. The key is preparation, and to buy a house without stress – you need to be prepared to do your due diligence on the house. This is sometimes referred to as your conditions in a sale and purchase agreement.

This due diligence normally includes some or all of the following 5 key things:

1. Title Search – A title search is like the birth certificate of a plot of land. It gives you the formal legal description of the land and will also tell you if there are any third parties who have a particular interest in that particular property. Some common examples of these are

• a lender who has taken the property as security for a loan
• OR the local council who has drainage pipes running through the front yard

Having this info, will help you make an informed decision about the property – and what its worth is to you.

2. House Insurance

• In todays ever changing insurance market, you want to make sure that you can get full insurance on the property.
• If you cant get full insurance – then you wont be able to get finance to purchase the property

3. Building Inspection – This is about the structural integrity of the building – on the property you are buying.

Its always advisable to be at the property during a building inspection if you can as you generally get some more specific info on the property then you would get from just reading a report. Well worth every dollar spent

4. Land Information Memorandum (LIM) Report – You want to make sure that this particular house has no problems relating to overdue maintenance, moisture or existing damage.

• A LIM gives you all the info that a local city council will have on the property.
• Some examples of this are that it tells you if any renovations on the house have been permitted OR
• If the land is prone to flooding or subsidence

It is well worth the read and gives you more info in order to make an informed decision.

5. Finance

• When you’re potentially competing with many other buyers – you don’t want to have to spend time working on finance once you have found a house.

• Ideally, you should get a pre approval of finance BEFORE you start looking at houses, so that you can take action quickly when you do find the right house – This way, you can focus on the other 4 key aspects of the due diligence.