Know your platform for compromise
Balancing affordability and lifestyle is a huge factor for many buyers, and generally one for first home buyers too.
Whatever stage in life, it is highly likely that at some point purchasers may encounter the complex issue of ‘compromise’.
Getting your head around ‘compromise’ is important enough when you are a single buyer, but essential when you are ‘co-purchasing’ as in an owner-occupier couple.
Assuming you are buying to occupy the property yourself, what should, and would you be prepared to compromise on?
Location? Block size? Home size? Prestige? Great for children? Well set up for pets? Just a walk to XYZ?
There are questions and considerations every way you turn!
The worst thing you can do when you set out to buy property is to stick your head in the sand.
That’s because you can’t even begin to compromise without having a fully considered and
articulated start-point to compromise from.
Start with a platform.
It might go something like this:
Holding this house is a five, 10, 20 + year plan. The home is for me alone, partner, children…pets. I/We need (What’s the bottom line?). I/We want (What’s the ideal? Is there room to create what I/we need? What sort of investment (financial, time, effort) am I/are we prepared to make?
Don’t over-complicate things at this point. The important issue is that you are clear in your own mind, and most importantly, if it involves more than one of you, that you are both on the same page.
When you have a platform, you give critical positioning information to your agent, and that information tells far more than how much you would like to spend.
If you are not prepared to compromise, nobody is accusing you of any foolishness or wrongdoing. You just have to accept that some properties might be out of your financial reach and move on.