How to buy a House
How I did it: We looked over the Christmas/New Year period, found a house we loved. Came home, applied for the finance, put in an offer (conditional on finance approval), waited for the finance approval, hired a conveyancer, organised all the building and pest inspections, got the finance approved, waited for settlement.
Lessons & tips: go with your gut instinct on things. Ask a lot of questions - even if you think they sound silly. Don't forget that the people you are dealing with are doing this every day and so things that are second-nature to them will seem confusing and strange to you.
Try and have your finance at least pre-approved before you look. I wish we had of done it this way as it would have saved a lot of stress while we were hoping that all the timing would come off.
Don't go with the cheapest deal with the conveyancing. I did, and I regret it. They were cheap because they offered absolutely nothing over and above what they had to do. I don't know if paying more would have got me better service, but next time I'd be willing to find out.
