I met with a client this week who is just starting out on that initial journey of finding her first home to buy after years of renting.

Bree’s life center’s around New Farm, an inner city suburb of Brisbane, where she can walk to work, go to the gym, restaurants and shops – all within a 5km radius of home.

This Saturday she will hit the streets in search of open homes and hopes of being able to maintain the convenient lifestyle she cherishes.

Bree’s feeling confident and full of constructive advice on how to tackle the hunt head on.

Bree is not unlike many other home buyers, filled to the rafters with ‘free advice’ from family, work colleagues and friends.

Although this advice is well meaning, my experience, has been that a lot of this volunteered information focuses on emphasising very logical guidelines under the guise of being a “sensible long term investment”.

Common ones are, always buy 3 bedroom homes on big blocks of land, only buy a place that faces north with a balcony, don’t buy QLDer’s as they need a lot of painting and the list goes on – sound familiar?

My personal experience has been, that for the best outcome, find a house that stacks up on paper, ticking the box of that sensible, list making, rational self, as well as choosing a home where you’ll just love living and you have that gut feeling, that ‘this is the one’.

This is my Head, Heart, Gut decision making approach to property.

I’ve learnt that those who rely on their gut, just as much as their head and heart, end up the happiest, and often with the best outcome financially.

 

Head, Heart, Gut test to buying

Head, Heart, Gut has been my formula for my own success as well as something I’ve observed in hundreds of clients who have a knack for doing property well.

Head 

Intellectually, rationally, how does the property stack up on paper? What boxes does it tick? Is it big and light enough? What condition is it in and can I afford the required renovations?  Am I buying in the right market, will I make money?   The more research you have done, the more properties you have looked at, the easier it is to get an idea of what is good value and a fair price.

Heart

When I’m standing on the street looking at the house, or sitting in the living room, how does it make me feel in my heart?  Is it pulling on my heartstrings? Do I just love love it or are there things that might bother me down the track? If I don’t love parts of it, are they things I can fix such as painting the walls and polishing the floors?

Gut 

What is my instinct telling me, can I feel the answer in my belly?  Does it feel like the right decision for me now? Go for a walk around the streets and get a feel for the area, does it feel like the kind of area you’d really enjoy? Learn to trust your gut, as research shows, there are just as many neurons in your head as there are in your gut.

It’s likely that you’ll spend over 5,000 hours in a year in your home, so it makes sense to find somewhere that you really enjoy and feel relaxed and at peace in.

Make better property decisions. If you’re looking to buy or know someone who is, give him or her the Head, Heart, Gut decision-making approach and use the Blackk House Hunting Checklist.

Happy hunting!