Checklist for a New Home Buyer

AKLNZPINOY put together a seminar for new home buyers last Friday night. It was sponsored by ANZ and the event was free so I went.

1. Learn how to use a mortgage calculator. This was a tip from Ka Uro himself. Yes, finally met him in person. These free apps should give you an idea on how much you’re actually shelling out in a periodic basis. This is a good indicator if you are actually financially ready for this.
2. Talk to your bank (or whoever will be providing the loan as I believe NZ Home Loans is another competitor in this trade).
3. By the end of the conversation, you should be able to
• Determine how much money the bank is willing to loan you
•  Determine the payment options (fixed term, flexi, or a combination)
• Understand what equity means
4. Talk to real estate agents
   Now that you have your virtual money ready, then it’s time to look at houses. From what I gather, it’s always better to deal with real estate agents than with direct sellers. This is because agents by law are obliged to declare information on the property. And no, you’re not paying these agents. They get paid for by the seller, based on a % value of the property.
5. Get a LIM report and a Builder Report
   If you already have a property in mind, before making an offer, get a LIM report and a Builder report.
   A LIM report gives you a summary of the compliance report on the property by the local council. Once you’ve bought the property and there is work that the council requires, which may have been neglected by the previous owner, then you’ll be responsible for it.
   The Builder Report would cost around $500 and this provides you with data on the actual state of the house (structure, moisture level, etc.). The report is able to capture things that are not visible to the naked eye and may impact the value of the property. Both the agent and the solicitor have advised us how important this is, coz $500 is worth the amount for a $500K that you’ll be spending for the property. Sometimes, it may result to letting the vendor know and the vendor may do the repair/ fixes themselves or it can be something that you can use to negotiate with especially if it impacts the value of the property.
6. Talk to your solicitor (lawyer)
   Let’s say you already want to make an offer, it is best to talk to your solicitor first and make sure that he signs off on the contract before you submit it to the agent. Once you’ve made an offer, that is already considered binding. We’ve been warned to sign only 1 contract. Signing two contracts at the same time means you are tied to two properties, and no, you cannot back off from it unless conditions have been breached, thus impacting the value of the property. Atty Garcia said that here in NZ, hindi trabaho ng lawyer ang makipag-areglo. Taga-advise at guide lang sila. And he cautions us to have the contract be under your terms, not the vendor’s because this is all about you making the purchase. Hence, you need to be comfortable with the terms and conditions in the contract.