The Property Hunt Pressure Cooker

There are usually a few compromises we need to make when buying a property.

But there’s a big difference between compromises that are perfectly reasonable and that we can happily live with, and compromises that create long-term problems, stress and anxiety. Those compromises are often the ones made when we’re under pressure or emotionally exhausted by the process.

It’s not uncommon for me to speak with property buyers who have been searching for months. They’ve inspected countless homes, missed out at auction, lost properties in negotiations and watched prices move beyond where they hoped they would be.

Then something starts to change. Suddenly, they’re considering properties they probably wouldn’t have looked twice at when they started their search. Often these are the properties that have been sitting on the market for a while. They might have significant building issues, an awkward floorplan, the wrong aspect, be positioned on a main road or even back directly onto a train line or level crossing.

And after months of searching, it becomes very easy to start rationalising those compromises.

Maybe the road isn’t that bad.

Maybe we can fix the floorplan.

Maybe those building issues aren’t as serious as they sound.

Maybe this is just what we have to buy.

 This is where my job sometimes requires me to get a little raw with my advice — to act as a metaphorical defibrillator and shock buyers back into reality. Because sometimes the answer isn’t to compromise further. It’s to reassess the search.

Take a step back and look at the area you’ve been focusing on and what the properties you genuinely wanted have actually been selling for. Is there a reason you keep missing out?

Perhaps your budget and expectations have become slightly disconnected. Maybe a neighbouring suburb gives you much better options. Maybe keeping the suburb means losing the third or fourth bedroom.

Another trap buyers often fall into is seeing a property that appears similar to what they want sell within their budget. It gives them hope.

“See — they do sellfor this price.”

But my job as aBuyer’s Advocate is to look a little closer. Why did that property sell for less? Was it on a main road? Did it back onto an industrial site? Was there something in the building inspection? Was the orientation poor? Was there an issue with the floorplan, location or title that made buyers less willing to compete for it?

Two properties can look very similar online while being completely different propositions in the real world.

Sometimes my job is to realign a client’s expectations. Other times, it’s simply to hold them back from making a bad decision. To remind them that being exhausted by the property search isn’t a good enough reason to buy the wrong property.

And sometimes the best advice I can give is to be patient, wait for the right property to come along —and then strike with gusto when it does.

Because there are compromises worth making when buying a home. And there are compromises you could spend years wishing you hadn’t made. 

A fresh set of eyes on a property search can make all the difference, particularly when you’re exhausted, frustrated and disillusioned by the process.

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