Smart Ways To Find A Property

Hunting down a new place to live can be one of the most stressful times of your life.

The pressure is on to find a property that will fit the requirements of you and your family over the next few years. It needs to have enough space for you to grow into, and to meet the changing demands of family life.

It also needs to be in exactly the right location, taking into account where you and your partner work, and where the children go to school. You need to look at the position of local amenities, and whether the property is in the right place to fit your desired lifestyle.

On top of that the house needs to be in a good state of repair, or fit the requirements of any renovation project you're looking for. And of course you need to find a property that sits within a certain price bracket.

When all of those conditions have been satisfied, you then need to make sure it's a house that you can fall in love with! Phew... it's a lot of hassle, and you can see why some people prefer to stick with property letting, no matter how much money they are wasting. At least when you rent you can move on after a few months if you get your choice of property wrong.

To help you find a property that's perfect for you, here are a number of things you can do to ensure you are in the right place at the right time when the right property becomes available.

Know what you want

Before you start looking, draw up a detailed spec for a house. Start with the "must haves" - the price it must be, location, the number of rooms you need, car parking, etc. Then move onto the "nice to haves"; the things that will make the property perfect for you. Be tough at this stage and don't try to fool yourself. The better the spec, the easier your search will be.

Brief every estate agent

Most agents love it when active buyers trot in through the door to present themselves, as it can make their job of matching sellers and buyers a whole lot easier. Type up your brief and present it to every agent in the area. Ask for their help to find a property that's suitable. Smart agents will compare your requirements to their current housing stock. If they don't have anything straight away, you can be sure you will be the first to know when a suitable house does come up. If an agent can get a potential buyer into a property before it's been advertised, they could save themselves a lot of time and money. It's at this stage that you should also ask agents how often homes of this type come up for sale at this price. If your spec is wildly unrealistic, the agents will tell you, and you should revisit it.

Read everything

To find a property you should buy and read every local newspaper and visit property portals every day. New houses come onto the market each day, so you need to ensure you are on top of everything. Keep a list of properties that you have looked at and why you rejected them. This will help to stop you from duplicating your efforts.

Pass the word around

Don't forget to spread the word in the area you're looking to buy, especially if it's a small community. Having a drink in the pub and chatting to the right person will help to open all the channels of local gossip and information to you. It's possible to find a property before the owners have formally put it up for sale.