4 Tips for buying in a rising market

Tips for buying in a rising market

When the market is hot – and in Sydney this is more often that not – it can be very challenging to buy a property.

Time is of the essence in a rising market, and each week you hold off or are unsuccessful can end up costing you money,  impact your desired property criteria or both!  We’ve put together our tips for buying in a rising market to give you a guide to the best strategies to improve your chances of success.

1. Know your market

This is number one for a reason.  Why?  You need to know your market intimately in order to be able to take advantage of any opportunities and also to know when to step away..

In the months before you are ready to buy:

  • get to know your suburb(s) of interest by visiting as many open homes as possible.  Talk to the agents and ask them for their price guides
  • follow up by attending the auctions of as many these properties as you can
  • determine the level of interest by seeing how many bidders there are.  Look for buyers that are  both actively bidding and also for those who have registered but have been inactive and haven’t raised their hand (you can look for bidders cards in the hands or pockets of the crowd).  Take note of how intense the bidding is and the eventual sale price. Compare this to the agents price guide.  Getting comfortable with the auction process will also help you feel less scared and more comfortable when it comes to having to bid at auction
  • subscribe to realestate.com.au and domain.com.au to receive the weekly auction results and call agents for the results that aren’t published.  Also don’t forget to look at the “sold” tabs on these real estate portals. There is a wealth of information there.

2. Be ready to go

Make sure you are organised!  In a hot market it can be important to act quickly and if you’re still working out the finer details you will find yourself the underdog.

  • ensure you have your your finance approved and you know what your limit is and remember to take into account any renovating costs.  Any offers you make will be a lot more attractive to vendors if they are not subject to any conditions (such as your finance approval)
  • engage your conveyancer/solicitor well in advance and establish the processes beforehand to enable contract reviews and resolving of potential contract issues to be completed quickly