When you are trying to save extra money for a new home there are a few practical things that you can do to help make your budget work better and also help your money stretch further.

• Make out a menu for your weekly meals. This will help with your planning and alleviate the need to order out because you don’t know what to make for supper. Having a menu also helps with planning what groceries to buy and cuts back on spending.

• When you go grocery shopping make a list of what you need, based on your weekly menu, and only buy those things. Look through the sales flyers prior to making your menu and base your menu selection on items that are on sale to save even more money. Avoid making impulse purchases and buying things that are unnecessary. Stick to your list.

• Never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach. This will cause you to buy more than what you actually need and blow our food budget for the week.

• Determine what you can do without. Do you have a gym membership that you never use? Cancel it. Eat out at restaurants a lot? Cut back. Every dime that you save can be put into your savings account to go towards your dream home. Have a goal and keep your eye on the prize.

• Also cut back on expensive things such as cigarettes and alcohol. Not only will this be good for your heath, but it will save you a lot of money. A good idea is to take all the money that you would have spent on cigarettes or alcohol and put that directly into an account. That way you can see just how fast that money adds up.

• If you can find a high interest savings account, put your money into it and leave it alone.

Sean Rasmussen
Property Options Australia
Property Options Blog © 2006 - 2009

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In the last blog post we talked about determining where to look for real estate property and explored using real estate auctions to find you dream home. In this installment we are going to be talking about a couple other ways to find real estate in Australia.

Check Out The Local Listings

One of the first places to check for real estate that is for sale in the area that you wish to buy in is the local paper. This will give you a good idea of what is out there for properties and how much they cost. If you are looking at real estate in more than one area you can purchase multiple newspapers to get a good feeling for what the properties are going for In those different areas. This may help you narrow down your search according to price and desirability.

Once you determine to purchase a piece of real estate property it may also be a good idea to get the assistance of a real estate agent to aid you in your search for property. Look for a Real Estate agent who is registered with the Real Estate Institute of the Australian State where you are looking for your real estate property.

Buying Real Estate The Conventional Way

In addition to using the local paper and hitting up the auctions you can also choose to buy your real estate property in the conventional way. This is probably the most popular way that real estate is bought and sold. The steps to using conventional methods of purchasing real estate are very simple:

• Find a property that you would like to purchase

• Make an offer of what you would be willing to pay for that property

• If your offer is accepted, a deposit can be paid to hold the property until a Contract of Sale is drawn up.

• If, for any reason, you decide not to go ahead with the purchase of the home the deposit is refundable.

• The Contract of Sale will outlive all the terms, conditions and restrictions of the sale. When you sign the Contract of Sale a 10% non refundable deposit is usually paid.

• The contract will undergo the usual round of inspections and searches and once all of those formalities are completed the sale is basically completed.

You can expect to pay an additional 5% of the purchase price of your real estate property in legal fees, mortgage arrangement fees and taxes. Prices will vary from State to State and your real estate agent should be able to give you more approximate figures of what to expect. Whenever you are in doubt be sure to ask any questions you need to until you are completely satisfied and happy with your real estate decision.

Sean Rasmussen
Property Options Australia
Property Options Blog © 2006 - 2008

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