A Checklist Of Things To Do Before Investing In Property

While it may not always be the best time to invest in property, property is always a good investment. This may sound like a contradiction. But the reality is that housing is a basic necessity and, although its value might drop, at some point your investment will show dividends.

Whether now is a good time to invest in property is up for debate, but if you plan on doing so, you need to know how to start the process. The basic steps to buying a home are not too difficult to follow. It doesn’t have to be a drawn out process either.

If you are looking to invest in property, here is a checklist of what you need to do.

You may be planning to pay cash for the property or to get a loan. Either way, you need to assess your finances to figure out what you are able to spend. It is crucial that you do so before you look for properties, as you can waste a lot of time looking at houses that are out of your price range.

If you plan on getting a loan, you should get pre-approved at this point. Pre-approval gives you the confidence to look for the right properties and, eventually, make an offer on them that you know you can afford.

Investing in property is very different to buying your own home. Whereas you need to fall in love with your home, you can invest in any property that fulfils your basic criteria. These criteria will depend on you, but will generally have to do with who you want to rent the property to, how much you want to profit, and similar factors.

Realtors generally price properties at what is essentially a starting point for negotiation. You will have to determine what you should be paying and if you can get the property to that price. In order to do so, you need to do some research.

Your research will involve looking at the prices of homes in the area, checking for housing market trends throughout the state and throughout the country, and trying to parse the abundance of factors that will influence pricing in future.

You can discuss prices with the realtor before making an offer. They will generally give you an idea of what the seller might be willing to accept. You can then decide whether to go lower than that. All of this can be part of the negotiation.

But making an offer has legal implications. You are signing a statement of intent, and cannot withdraw it so easily. Make sure you are confident about the value you have chosen before making the offer. Don’t be afraid to go lower than the listed price. Sellers find it difficult to reject an offer, even if it is lower than what they want.

Buying property comes with a fair amount of admin. These are things that are not all that difficult but can be tedious and time consuming. The main things you will need to do are:

• Notify the lender who gave you pre-approval
• Nchedule an inspection and appraisal
• Speak to lawyers about the transfer process and transfer fees
• Get homeowners insurance – you’ll want to do this before the transfer of property, as owning a home without insurance is a big risk, even for a small amount of time

With all the documents you need and all the admin complete, you can take a final walkthrough of the property in preparation of buying it. Good sellers will give you all the information you need to know in order to take care of the property.

The above might seem like a lot, but it can all be done pretty quickly. Once you’ve closed on your new property, you can finally start to make money off your investment.