How to Buy a House

It’s Spring – The family has grown, you want to be closer to schools… Or … the kids have left, it’s time to downsize … It’s time to shift house.

Spending your weekends going to open homes and after a while – it becomes so confusing…

My brother recently asked for help… so here is the Ask Alan suggestion – it’s a way my wife and I have used successfully many times.

Step 1: Grab a champagne… or a coffee… and sit together and JOINTLY list all the important things that matter to you in a house:

• Location
• Price
• Bedrooms
• Bathrooms
• Kitchen
• Main Bedroom
• Ensuite
• Yard
• Garage
• Storage

BUT… it MUST be your list – and keep going till you agree and are finished.

Step 2: Give a number between 1 and 5 for how important it is to you BOTH – you must agree (keep the drinks going until you do).

• Location 4
• Price 5
• Bedrooms 3
• Bathrooms 3
• Kitchen 5
• ….
• Until you have finished and until you agree

This might evolve as you search – the list might expand, the rankings might change – but the list has to stay “agreed”.

Step 3: House Hunting – and now you get to have your own opinions.

Each house you look at – write down (after days end) a number between 1 and 5 for how you liked each aspect.

For example; house 1 might have a perfect location = 5, but an average kitchen = 3

Step 4: Multiply each agreed item’s importance by your own item’s ranking

So

• Location 4 x 5 = 20
• Kitchen 5 x 3 = 15
• And so on…

Add them all up – you have a score for the house.

So does your partner.

If you look at three houses – you can rank them.

Keep a spread sheet if you like (we do when we look).

It’s worked for us …

Then the best part – Ask Alan for finance.

And then, if you weren’t drinking champagne earlier – There could be plenty now to celebrate your new home!

As always if you’d like advice tailored to your own personal circumstances please call or email me anytime… It’s what I’m here for.

Alan Heath, Brisbane’s Mortgage Broker of Choice