Challenges buyers face when searching for a property

Buying property comes with its own set of challenges, the biggest being decreasing affordability due to increasing property prices. Other challengers’ buyers face is increased competition, insufficient savings to use as deposit and stagnant wage growth.

While the challenges listed above tend to be uniformly known, what’s not commonly acknowledged are the two listed below, which buyers encounter while actively searching for a property.

1. Unqualified experts

As with demand for property, there’s increasing number of property advisers and buyer’s agents willing to “advocate” for you because they can supposedly find property’s, you can’t and get better prices than you can.

While there are some advisers genuinely looking out for their client’s interest, there are lot more dodgy ones, the key is to the differentiate between the two, and to recognise who’s got your back.

There are bad apples in every bunch and the property industry is no different, especially as this sector is largely unregulated and you don’t really need any formal qualifications to describe yourself as an “expert.”

Strategies to identify the good from the bad include checking whether they belong to a reputable professional industry association, googling advisors or business name as well as looking for independent recommendations like Google Reviews rather than accepting potentially fake testimonials on their websites.

2. Fear

Fear stops many of us from doing a lot of things. Whether it’s deciding to ask someone out on a date, changing jobs, or investing in property – the fear of what might “go wrong” is a powerful inhibitor.

Fear commonly comes from not knowing where to start or being overwhelmed and confused by the many mixed messages the media likes to offer us.

And then there are all the opinions that your friends and family have – they love to offer advice when they hear you’re interested in property. But you know what they say about opinions…they’re like belly buttons. Everyone has one, but in general they’re useless.

Strategic property buyers can overcome their fears by educating themselves about the long-term fundamentals of our property market.

Buyers can also boost confidence in their property choice by seeking information from reputable sources and then taking a long-term perspective when purchasing.

The bottom line:

Buying the right property is by no means easy, there are plenty of challenges for the inexperienced.

The key is to overcome your fear of missing out is to educate yourself with aspects of buying and financing property and then surrounding yourself with a team of independent experts who can fill in any gaps and guide you towards a better financial future.

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This article via Property Update does not constitute advice; readers should seek independent and personalised counsel from a trusted adviser that specialises in property, a tax accountant and property design specialist.