Tips For Buying Your Next Home
Kia Ora Neighbours!
Six tips to help you with your journey on the property ladder.
1. DECIDE WHAT YOUR LOOKING FOR
Before selling, figure out what your next steps are going to be. Are you upsizing or downsizing? Are you aiming to become mortgage-free? Or do you have pre-approval on a new loan? Then you can start investigating the number of homes in your search area that fit the bill and how much they may cost you.
2. PURPOSE
Why are you considering a move? Are you looking for a larger, long-term family home? Are you willing to sacrifice a longer commute time for a better lifestyle? Or are you looking for a property to invest in, with a good capital gain forecast? A long-term plan vs a short-term investment will each paint a different picture.
3. PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE
It’s important to think ahead when buying a home – around seven years is a good benchmark. Your kids will become teens, your teens will leave home (or not) or your parents may need to move in as they grow older. Ask yourself “will this home still work for me in seven years’ time?”.
4. EMPLOYMENT
Factor in your current commute times and travel costs, but also think down the line. For example, right now you may be a young couple both working full time, but are you preparing to start a family? If one person will stay home with the child, it makes sense to purchase a home closer to the other person’s office.
5. DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE
Just like a first-time buyer, it’s important to do your due diligence. That means the usual LIMs and building reports, but should also include things like a meth test. Make good use of your real estate agent – they are a wealth of knowledge not only about the home, but the local area.
6. KEEP AN EYE ON THE MARKET
Your property journey doesn’t end once you’ve signed on the dotted line and moved into your new place. For most New Zealanders, a home is the biggest investment made in a lifetime and, in many cases, it’s relied upon to help fund retirement. So, like any big investment, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on trends or changes in the market. The realestate.co.nz New Zealand Property Report or REINZ sales data are two handy sources of information.
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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63.3% Summer
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35.4% Winter
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1.3% Other - I'll share below
EMPIRE BUILDING TRUMP
So Donald Trump does not want to start any wars and is a peace maker.
And yet he is seriously seeking to annex the world's largest island, Greenland from Denmark, take over the Panama Canal from the sovereign country of Panama who have owned it since 1977 and even forthrightly suggesting that Canada ceases being a nation and become a state or series of states of the USA.
Greenland above everything else, harbours minerals vital for todays and tomorrows world and that is what probably attracts Trump most. His son is looking things over in Greenland as this thread is being produced. Climate change is also changing Greenland which despite its name is currently mainly covered in ice and snow all year round. Greenland has a population of 55,000.
Panama's major asset after tourism and services is the canal with a current revenue of $5 billion. It operates its shipping charges through an international organisation so that the USA gets an unbias deal for its ships etc that use the canal. Panama is a poor country on the improve and has a population of 4.5 million.
Denmark is a member of NATO. But Trump has threatened many times for the USA to pull out of this Europe-USA defence alliance and Greenland may be the straw that finally breaks the pact.
Canada is surrounded by the USA but it is so much unlike the USA and much more akin to Australia and NZ. In contrast to the USA, Canada is one of the happiest countries in the world and in total land area is the world's second largest.
NZ is going to come under the scrutiny of Trump and his henchmen/women. He will probably look to cut NZ away from its free trade arrangements with China with some kind of ultimatum.
New Year, New Questions You Won’t Solve!
I get smaller every time I take a bath.
What am I?
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