Upgrading, moving out of your parents home, investing, expanding your family or getting out of renting. It is important to have clarity as to why you are embarking on this journey so that you can go forward with a clear plan in mind.

You need to work out your budget and deposit requirements. Once you know these you can work out a list of the suburbs that are within your range and what homes you can afford. There are also variables that you need to take into account – site works, legal fees, government grants, house prices and inclusions and the land price. It is at this point that you should talk to The Local Loan Company – this way we can proceed to obtain for you a pre-approval prior to you signing any contracts. We normally suggest that you allow 12 months for the process to be completed – so when we sit down with you we will discuss budgets at this point. There are different issues that we will need to discuss at this point and often the requirement for a 95% lend is quite different to an 80% lend – so we need to discuss these differences.

There are 3 important factors to look at here. Titled versus untitled, land versus house and land package and the price. Remember the cheapest block may not always be the best block for you.

Most important understand what you want most from your home – is it lowest price, excellent service and reputation or quality of finish.

You need to be very thorough at this stage. Make sure that everything you want is included in the agreement.

This is where you sort out all of the finer details – power points, colours, tiles etc. Try to include some allowance for you to use at this stage.

There are several stages to the construction of your home and these are where progress payments come into play. As each stage concludes the builder will ask the bank for a part payment – your repayments will increase as each payment is paid. You need to make sure that you have budgeted for this as you may be paying rent at the same time.

This is where the last payment has been made to the builder; you have insured your home and the keys are handed over to you. It is now time for you to move into your new home.