There is a famous saying in business that “Time Kills Deals”, and the same can be said for property buying. The biggest impediment to acquiring your next home is starting and stopping the process and ending up nowhere.
As finance brokers, we’ve helped hundreds of First Home Buyers get into the market with their first home. As our clients’ careers have developed, their home values have risen and families have grown, more of our time has been spent helping our clients with upsizing and switching into their next home.
In this “How To Buy Your Next Home” series, we wanted to share with our clients everything we know about successfully buying your next home, while avoiding all the tricks and traps along the way. First, you need to know what makes up the next home mindset.
Getting Into The Next Home Mindset
The next home mindset is about the preparation it takes to swap, move and upgrade into your next home. And we have FOUR tips.
Tip #1 – start with the why
What is your true motivation for buying your next property? And how important and urgent is it to you? Upgrading your home can be a risky, time-consuming and challenging process, and having a strong enough why will help see you through difficult times.
Some common “why’s” we see include:
- Wanting a bigger home, and a better future for your growing family;
- Wanting to live closer to family or grandparents;
- Having a change of scenery to be closer to or even further away from work; and
- Rewarding yourself for doing well in your career or your business.
Knowing your why is the starting point to goal setting, and is the difference between your next home being something you want or need versus something that is simply “nice to have”.
Tip #2 – do your homework
You need to make sure you do the research and hard work upfront to put you in the best position to securing your ideal property.
This means working with a broker to truly understand your borrowing capacity, the deposit you require, and to solve any policy-related problems to help you set an accurate property budget.
Clearing up these details first will help you understand whether buying your next home is something you can do now, or if there is a clear goal that you can work towards.
Knowing the numbers and the relevant loan criteria will also help you set realistic targets given your unique financial position and stage in life.
We also strongly recommend getting a pre-approval to translate those numbers into a firm commitment to lend from a bank so you can bid on properties with confidence.
Tip #3 – commit to the process
Our next tip to getting into the next home mindset, is you need to commit to the process. There is a famous saying in business that “Time Kills Deals”, and the same can be said for property buying. The biggest killer of a client achieving their next home is that they start and stop the process and end up nowhere.
Perhaps they can’t be bothered with the initial paperwork. Perhaps they got put off by their first auction. Maybe they got tired of looking at properties every weekend.
You need to realise that in the process of upgrading your home, it’s a competitive process and the stakes are higher. You need to develop a resilient mindset and be prepared for the mental bumps and bruises along the way. You need to be committed from start to finish if buying your next home is truly something you want to do.
And finally, our fourth tip is to take advantage of everything.
Tip #4 – take advantage of everything
Buying a property is also about luck and destiny. This is because each buyer’s individual tastes and preferences are unique; every property is different, and it’s hard to know when a property you like will come up for sale.
Being in the right time at the right place can be a big factor. To counter this, ask yourself what ways you can create your own luck. Can you form a closer relationship with popular real estate agents in your area? Can you afford a buyer’s agent to give you more access to off-market deals? Can you use speed and the contract terms to your advantage to secure a property before auction?
The above questions are about utilising soft skills like relationship building, networking, and negotiating, rather than simply offering the most money.
So, in summary, our tips to get into the next home mindset are:
1. Know your why
2. Do your homework
3. Commit to the process; and
4. Take advantage of everything.
These are the factors that make up the NEXT HOME Mindset. Happy house hunting!
If you have any questions or comments on this topic, you are more than welcome to get in touch with me () or anyone in our broking team.
For more tips on getting your next home, please stay tuned or head to our Youtube channel – “The Next Home Series“