Property Investment Tips for First-Time Buyers

Purchasing real estate for the first time is both exciting and potentially anxiety-producing, particularly when looking at it from a property investment tips and perspective. Yet with a combination of preparation and research, you can gain the confidence you need to make a sound financial decision.

Property Investment Tips for First-Time Buyers

Get Educated

First-timers often feel overwhelmed when it comes to purchasing property, particularly if you have no prior knowledge of the booming Australian real estate market. Our online learning center is a great place to brush up on the latest home loan news and eligibility requirements.

You can also complete a beginning real estate investment course online, and search for E-books and other printed materials to expand your knowledge of the market such as this extensive guide by industry experts, RWinvest. By knowing what to expect during the buying process, you’ll be better equipped to handle the demands of brokers and sellers.

Get your Finances in Order

Before you can even start looking at property, you’ll need to ensure that your credit is in peak shape. This will directly impact your ability to secure a home loan, so it’s worth taking care of in advance. You can request a copy of your full credit report, which you can then peruse to make sure there are no unwelcome surprises that need to be disputed.

Lenders prefer to see at least one year of timely rent and utility payments before approval. You’ll also need to set realistic financial goals and create a budget that you can stick to when it comes to borrowing.  There are many costs for a first home loan in addition to the cost of the house itself, which must be accounted for.

As part of organizing your finances, it’s best to save a minimum of six months’ worth of mortgage payments, if not a year. This will help prepare you for any snags that may arise when you are managing an investment property, such as covering the cost of maintenance and repairs or paying the mortgage during quiet times in between renters. A decent side benefit is that having more money in savings will help make you more attractive to lenders.

Research Locations Carefully

Location is important when you are purchasing a home for you and your family, but it’s even more vital from an investment perspective. It can make a world of difference in a property’s investment potential and affordability. Some factors to consider when looking at investment property tips and locations include:

• Home prices
• Rate of growth
• Population growth
• Transportation and infrastructure
• Tourism facilities

If we consider the Australian market, home prices have more than doubled in cities like Canberra, Brisbane, and Melbourne over the past ten years, with growth expected to continue. This makes it certainly a sound investment for those willing to buy a house in Canberra, Brisbane or in recent popular destinations like Hunter Valley, Port Lincoln, and Tasmania.

Meanwhile, when comparing other popular New South Wales real estate investments, you’ll want to think about choosing areas that are well-populated, exhibiting continual growth, and connected to urban centers. This will make it easier to rent your property out or renovate and sell it as needed.

Enlist Professional Help

Using an estate agent with investing experience is highly recommended, as they will have a thorough knowledge of the local market. A good agent will also be able to give you referrals for insurance professionals and home inspectors in the area. It’s advisable to work with an experienced mortgage broker, such as our financial advisors, to ensure that you chose a loan that is compatible with your financial situation.

Purchasing an investment property is something that doesn’t need to be overly complicated, but it does take time, research, and professional assistance. By taking the time to plan ahead, you can make the current real estate climate work for you.

Investing in Real Estate with Roofstock

But, you don’t have to buy homes and rental properties to make a great ROI, there are several different crowdsourced real estate investment options that have a small minimum initial investment such as Roofstock, PeerStreet, and Fundrise. For just a few hundred dollars in many cases, you can now invest in real estate.

Roofstock is the #1 marketplace for buying and selling single-family rental homes. Roofstock has listings in over 40 markets across the US. 1 in 10 homes in the U.S. is single-family rentals (SFR), which equates to over 15 million households.

Single-family rentals are a stable asset class with considerably less volatility than stocks. Single-family rentals prices have remained almost perfectly uncorrelated with stock prices since 1971, with a correlation coefficient of only 0.07.

Their online marketplace empowers everyday investors to own cash-flowing income properties and build wealth through real estate. Roofstock makes it easy to invest remotely. Over 60% of their customers are buying a rental property located more than 1,000 miles away. With their market analysis, Roofstock provides research and data analysis to help you determine which locations meet your investing objectives.

Roofstock’s marketplace offers rental homes for sale in 40 markets and 21 states nationwide, and they are continuing to expand. Roofstock surpassed $1 billion of collective transaction volume within two years of its marketplace launch, making it one of the fastest-growing FinTech startups of all time.

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