​​The 4 Levers To A Successful Purchasing Strategy​

After purchasing hundreds of properties across our careers, we’ve witnessed countless individuals grapple with the competing considerations that influence their purchasing strategy.  

Which suburbs do we like? What type of property are we looking for? What is our budget? Whether you're a first-time buyer or an experienced investor, crafting a successful property purchasing strategy hinges on mastering four key levers: Time, Budget, Location, and Property. 

Time 

Time is a pivotal element in your property purchasing strategy. It's not just about the duration of your property search, but also the constraints you face. Are you in a hurry to secure a property, or do you have the flexibility to take your time? Understanding your timeframe can significantly impact your approach. 

The main consideration here is how long you have before either an internally or externally created deadline may force your hand. Being forced into a property purchase may restrict your options and the likelihood that the eventual purchase meets all your criteria. On the other hand, waiting too long may mean you’re paying more for the luxury. Whether that’s in increased house prices or additional costs incurred in waiting. 

Your availability and personal commitments also influence your property search. If you're juggling a hectic work schedule and family responsibilities, you might need a more streamlined search process. Alternatively, if you have the time and flexibility, you can afford to be more selective and patient in your search for the ideal property. 

Budget 

Your budget is the second lever you can pull in order to make your property strategy more or less flexible. It goes without saying, more money equals more choice. However in our experience, whether you have $1,000,000 or $5,000,000 to spend, there will always be a perceived need to have more.  

Before you move on from this point, ensure that you’ve exhausted all options for increasing or decreasing your budget to an appropriate level. Some of our clients rely on capital gifts or selling other assets to fund a purchase, while others reduce their borrowings below their borrowing capacity to feel more comfortable with interest costs. Either way, having flexibility in budget whilst not pulling levers 3 or 4 will have a big impact on your purchasing strategy. 

Location 

Aside from budget, your preferred suburbs list may be the most powerful lever to pull in developing a successful purchasing strategy. The best way to accurately develop a suburb criteria is to compare your budget with recently sold properties in your suburbs of interest.  

We strongly recommend you avoid looking at price guides of properties that have not yet sold, as there is little to no correlation between the marketing strategies of different real estate Agents. This means two Agents may guide the same property at vastly different prices which may eventually lead to a similar sale price. 

If you can’t see yourself living in properties that have sold in that suburb within your budget, this may be a sign the suburb is out of your price range. Conversely, if the sale prices are much lower than your budget, you may consider opening your suburb list to more affluent areas.  

Lastly, the number of suburbs in your search criteria will naturally influence your purchasing strategy. A higher number of suburbs will allow you to see more properties suiting your Property criteria, and therefore shorten the search timeframe, while a smaller list increases the timeframe. We regularly work with clients to find properties within single suburbs, and even small groups of streets within a suburb. Our natural caution is that we must allow an adequate buffer of time for the search to be successful. 

Property 

The fourth lever in your property purchasing strategy is the property itself. This includes various characteristics such as land size, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, property condition, building age, slope of block, shape of block, presentation, school zones, aspect and many other factors. 

Your preferences and needs should guide your choices here. A growing family might prioritize more bedrooms and bathrooms, while a retiree might prefer a low-maintenance, single-story property. Older properties may offer charm but require more maintenance, while newer ones may come with modern amenities but a higher price tag. Its critical to again review recently sold properties inside your suburb list (from the Location lever) against your property criteria to ensure your budget will allow for the criteria you create here. 

The larger the number of ‘must-have’ characteristics on your list, the lower the number of suitable properties in the suburbs list. This naturally reduces the consistency of properties becoming available for sale and therefore impacts the Time lever. Therefore, if you’re under time restraints, one way to increase the chances of a successful purchasing strategy is to reduce the property criteria. 

To sum up, crafting a successful property purchasing strategy involves mastering the four levers of Time, Budget, Location, and Property. It's crucial to find the right balance between the four, which ultimately delivers a result that satisfies your needs. Working with Chamberlain Brown, we help you navigate these levers effectively and establish a purchasing strategy that meets your needs whilst also accommodating both budget and time constraints. By leveraging a local buyers agent in Newcastle you’re making the process of crafting your purchasing strategy easy.