Top 5 Things You Can Do During Lockdown To Prepare For Home Buying

7 Apr 2020

You were planning to buy your first home but suddenly lockdown happened. Forced by a 120 nm virus, you put on hold your dream, leaving with you a hopeless feeling that you can now do nothing but wait. Nevertheless, there is hope in every step. So, save your valuable time and effort and nurture your aspiration in constructive ways.

Here are our useful checklists:

1. Go Online

You prepared yourself to buy a home, perhaps a particular property, but wait there might be something you would have been missed. Now, you have enough time to go research deep and to understand what developers, real estate agents truly represent. Go through all developers’ websites, see what they offer, the reputation, how much honest they are. If they are selling an under-construction property then see whether they post their under-construction work progress on their website or not. Also, verify the authenticity of the company through social media, understand the voices, read the reviews etc. Takedown all your research in a proper way so that when life returns to something closer to normality, you will have something substantial to negotiate with agents.

2. Learn to Read Floor Plan

You may have seen floor plans but floor plans can potentially be quite confusing, and it doesn’t mean much to novice buyers. You see two different properties of the same floor plans. However, it is possible that by experience, both homes feel different. So, you need to understand how open a floor plan is designed. All room sizes are generally presented in feet and inches. So, if you are looking at the floor plan of the master bedroom from the builder – just measure your current bedroom and compare the length and width. This exercise will help you to visualize the difference between the two spaces. Another important feature in the floor plan is the ceiling height. The taller the ceilings, the more airy space feels. The devil is in the detail. So, if you go minutely, and compare it with your current living space, you will have a good idea what type of property you are looking at.

3. Prepare Your Paperwork

If you are planning to take a home loan then it is better to prepare your paperwork in this period of time. Getting a home loan seems easy but there are lots of paperwork, eligibility issues, credit rating etc. Along with your ID card you need 6 months’ worth of bank statements, income tax return documents and payslips. If you are a business owner then you need to produce your income tax documents and GST. Also, in many cases, you need to produce a document where your name is mentioned on at least one utility bill at the current address. When the market starts to normalize, you will be in a better position if you have already prepared all the documents.

4. Sharpen Your Negotiation Skills

Due to the Coronavirus crisis, there is expected to fall in house prices across 2020 and return to growth in 2021. In this scenario, the number of forced sales will also be reduced. If you are under multiple offers, you should definitely renegotiate. In this scenario, you can negotiate the price for a 10-20 per cent reduction. There is a downside to it. You need to be careful about the developer because in this situation many substandard developers will try to sell their houses with much fewer prices. If somebody is doing so, please go through the profile and check all the details.

5. Create An Alternative Income Source

You may work from home or you are not at all working, in both situations you’re saving lots of time while sitting comfortably at your home. This is a crucial time when you can think of starting something that will help in future to generate income. This passive income source will be a great help in minimizing the burden of home loan. Everybody has certain skills, soft or otherwise. Suppose you are into accountancy but you write well or a knack for designing. Maybe you are a good conversationalist or speaker, so you can start online learning lessons. Do not think as a hobby; keep your hobby aside and think like a professional that how you can generate income from the skill(s) you have.