Simple guide on what to look for when buying a unit

People usually fear what they don’t know but at the same time, depending on market conditions rush into a purchase without knowing what to look for.

Since the development of the pandemic in 2020 the property market globally has gone crazy. Australia didn’t stay far behind.

With property prices rising over 25% just in Sydney alone and some blue chip suburbs seeing increases of 54% in their house prices the current price discrepancy between Units and Houses hasn’t been this big since 2017.

This is why most Corelogic reports and economist are predicting for 2022 to be a strong year for the unit market.

All those that couldn't get a house in the past 2 years for either taking to long to act or for being priced out will be starting to look into the unit market.

When we talk about the unit market people have various opinions, some love to steer away from brand new and prefer to choose an existing older unit when others love the technology and updated looks of the newer developments.

With an older building you basically know how that building is ageing, how it is being maintained and most likely how much it is costing to repair.

Instead when looking at brand new and off-the-plan there are some pretty cool advantages like most new buildings have sustainable features that help reduce cost long term. 

Newer apartments are cheaper and have great depreciation benefits to investors, plus result in higher rent returns as people pay more to live in a new place.

Newer builds have 6 years warranties and if you stick and buy units from big names in the market like Frasers, Lendlease, Payce… you know they will do everything that’s needed to keep their reputation.

But how to buy an existing unit with confidence then?

Well here are some things you must do before making a decision:

1. Get a Strata Report
2. Who is the building manager and what’s their relationship with the builder?
3. Have a building inspection done.
4. Find out if the builder or developer is still in business.
5. Check out the developer past projects
6. Ask for a copy of the owners manual.

When purchasing an asset is very important to perform all these due diligence, some people skip these steps as they are costly but what they don’t realize is the cost of not doing them is much greater down the line.