If you and your partner have decided the time is right to start a family, you will no doubt be looking for a home with more living space and making that jump from a small apartment to a two-storey home is quite a big step. There will be obvious costs and expenses involved, which you need to list and calculate what you can afford to pay per month, and if all looks good, you can start looking within your price range.
Property Valuation
You can easily discover how much your house is worth with LocalAgentFinder, a leading Australian agent-finding service that is completely free to the homeowner. It is important to know what price you can expect and your mortgage broker can help you crunch the numbers and tell you how much equity you have, if any.
Sourcing a Real Estate Agent
There are many real estate agents that cover all parts of Australia, yet some are obviously better than others, which is why we recommend using a real estate agent-finding service. Once on their website, you can find out:
- Total number of units sold so far this year.
- Average sale price
- Average number of days a property is on the market before being sold.
Other data includes the agent’s commission rate and how many units they currently have listed and when you are ready to make contact with an agent, you can do that through the agent-finder’s website. The agent-finder covers more than 30,000 suburbs across Australia and this free service helps you make the right decision when hiring a real estate agent. Click here for reasons to start saving at an early age, which we should encourage our kids to do.
Professional Listing
The real estate agent would have an in-house property photographer who would make an appointment to come and shoot a few stills and also video for virtual tours, which most agents offer now. The copy would be written by a professional and with their extensive online network, your property will receive many views and hopefully, offers that lead to a quick sale.
Fixed Fee Conveyancing
This is the best option, as the agent informs you in advance of what it will cost to sell your property and fixed fee is cheaper than the agent taking a commission on the sale, which could be as high as 1.5%. When using a real estate agent-finding service online, the details regarding fees would be given for each agent, allowing you to make an informed decision.
Stamp Duty & Taxation
Of course, selling your home and buying a larger one will incur stamp duty and possible capital gains tax, all of which needs to be covered. Relocating is never going to be cheap and there will be many fixtures and fittings the new residence will need, which might take all of your savings. Click here for Australian government information on buying and selling property.
Once you have crunched the numbers and can afford the move, then it is a question of listing your existing home and looking for something with more space and once you’ve sold your home, you can make an offer on a property that is perfectly suited for raising a family.
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