Looking for a new home or perhaps an investment? Here are our property hunting tips for 2017

How do you keep up with the property market when there are hundreds of new properties featured each month and only shortlist the homes that could potentially be the one you’ll end up purchasing? Make your property search more stress-free by following our tips that could also save you a bit of time.

Know what you can afford Make your wish list

Although there are lots of buyers out there, the good news is not everyone is chasing the same style of property. Taking a good, long look at your lifestyle and priorities will help you come up with a wish list for where you want to live and the sort of home you want to buy. If your budget can’t get you everything you want in your ideal suburb, you may need to settle for a trade-off between the type of property and location. Is it more important to buy in the right spot and settle for a smaller property or one that needs a lot of work? It all depends on your own needs and what you’re looking for from your new home.

Stay on top of the latest listings

So which should be your go-to app for the actual search? Well it’s really a two-horse race with realestate.com.au and domain.com.au both offering a complete house hunting resource and app. Whichever you decide to choose – and there’s no harm in using both to make sure you’ve got every listing covered – you can make good use of their tools and alerts to keep you posted about new properties hitting the market.

But even in the digital age, there can still be some value in telling local real estate agents in your target area what you’re looking for. Having an inside track to a new listing might just help you get the jump on buyers relying on apps and websites to deliver the right home into their hands.