So, you’re about to enter the property market for the first time – you’ve
cut costs, you’ve only gone out for dinner once a fortnight for the last two
years, and you’ve generally watched your pennies. Or, perhaps you’re looking to
put the equity in your existing property to good use for your future. What
are the next steps?

DO YOU WANT TO INVEST OR BUY?

First thing’s first. Do you want to buy a home to live in, or do you want to
give yourself a chance of making your money work even harder by investing in
property? The sooner you plant an investment seed for your financial future the
sooner you are able to start generating and growing your wealth. 

Perhaps you aren’t ready to anchor yourself to a specific property at this
stage of your life. Or, maybe you can afford to buy something but not that
dream home right now. There’s good reason for rent-vesting becoming more and
more popular.

Making an astute investment decision first requires a different mindset to
buying a property for you to live in. It means foregoing personal preferences
and focusing money-making fundamentals.

FIND THE BEST AREA

Don’t limit yourself to a handful of suburbs in close proximity to

Don’t limit yourself to a handful of suburbs in close proximity to where you
live. Key to making a good decision is starting with 100 per cent of your
options. For property investors, that means dozens of cities (capitals and
regional cities) across Australia’s 8 states and territories. You will be
surprised by how many really affordable locations there are with good
infrastructure and lifestyle. Keep an open mind.

You want to think beyond the present. Which locations will have higher
future demand through being affordable to a broader market? What markets might
be quite dormant now but have a really promising upside? Which locations have
the best combination of potential employment expansion, housing affordability,
and controlled supply? Are there some regional cities with encouraging
population trends and infrastructure investment? You don’t know what you don’t
know.

Feel like you need a fortune teller to project these scenarios for you? A
clairvoyant may not be the best option, but there are firms who specialise in
analysing property markets. Beachsea's team of specialists help everyday
Australians to, first, select a specific location and to, then, identify an individual
property and negotiate the lowest purchase price. 

MEAT-AND-POTATO PROPERTIES.

Contrary to all those lifestyle shows, the colour of the door knobs or the
tile scheme in the bathroom are not greatly important – everyone has a
different taste pallet. Remember, the objective is not to find a property which
you might be happy living in. The more important considerations are things like
local demographics, which dwelling types have smaller supply, proximity to
employment nodes, zoning changes, will new projects have a positive or negative
impact on neighbourhood property prices, and much more.

It’s a process to look at various pockets within each location from a range
of different angles. This is where those who invest in property every day have
more knowledge and more skill. They know what to look out for because they’ve
done it hundreds of times before. Beachsea is able to get their hands on
information that you may not have thought to look into, or known how to find.

NEGOTIATE

Negotiating the price (and contract terms) of a property can be pretty
scary. Remember, the real estate agent is paid by the owner to sell at the
highest possible price.

There’s much more to negotiating than haggling and driving a hard bargain. It
requires in-depth knowledge about a range of things and an ability to build
rapport while being steadfast.