Be ready - property is on the move

With spring in the air many home buyers are on the streets looking for that perfect home. Whether it be an investment or owner occupied home, the heat is on with auction clearance rates increasing in the Hunter over the past few weeks.

Australian Property Monitors recently reported out of ten properties across The Hunter that went under the hammer, seven were sold with four selling prior to the auction.

With this in mind it is essential that you do your research and position yourself in the market ready to buy with a written pre-approval.

There are many tools out there to assist you with your search such as obtaining suburb profile reports to find out more about the area the property is located in, including schools, transport, shopping and general demographic information. This can help you identify if the facilities are located close to you or if you need to travel for services.

Another good idea is to set up e-mail alerts from sites such as realestate.com and domain. Although this is a good way to hear about properties that come on the market sometimes this is not enough. Talk to your local agent about the type of property you want and see if they know of any properties that are almost on the market that match your needs, you may get the first inspection this way.

If you're in the market to buy and are looking for a mortgage broker in the Newcastle area who provides that extra service, get in touch with John Paine.

So make sure you are ready to buy with a written pre-approval and at no obligation, a property profile report to help you assess the property value compared to other properties in the area.