Buying a house

New law: home buyers who get legal advice don’t lose cooling off period

by Chris on February 21, 2012

From March 1, 2012 home buyers in Victoria have 3 days to change their mind and withdraw from the sale, even if they obtained independent legal advice before signing the contract. Before this change to the Sale of Land Act came into effect, there were 6 cases in which home buyers weren’t entitled to cooling [...]

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House and unit prices declined in January 2012

by Chris on February 13, 2012

“Am I paying too much?” is a big question on any prospective home buyer’s mind (and if it’s not – it should be). Of course the only way to answer that question is to watch the property market. In the past some used to argue that watching the market won’t achieve you anything because the [...]

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5 Ways to Deal With the Stress of Buying a House

by Chris on February 9, 2012

Let’s face it – buying a house is stressful. This process can completely take over your life and change many things about it. First you start giving up activities you used to enjoy, then your priorities change, suddenly there is tension in your family, which can escalate to frequent conflicts, and so on. You need to be aware of the cause of all that, to get your life back to normal.

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

by Chris on December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas to the readers of ‘Home I Own’! Thanks for returning here for this whole year, and for spending your precious time at Homeiown.com. We wish you happy celebrations, relaxing holidays, enjoyable family reunions, and nice surprises under the tree! Looking forward to welcoming you back, when you’re done partying and are back to [...]

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Homeiown.com has a new look!

by Chris on December 1, 2011

To everyone who’s been wondering what on Earth has happened to Home I Own – it’s gone through a complete makeover. We reckoned it was about time this popular, unique, independent real estate blog became faster, easier to navigate, more intuitive – and much nicer to look at. A lot of work has been put [...]

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Are you leveraging technology to fast track your house hunting?

by Chris on November 23, 2011

Before the Internet and smartphones came into being, all we had to assist us in house hunting was newspapers, estate agents and word-of-mouth. But now that we have all these wonders of technology, what’s our excuse to insist on pen and paper as best tools for house-hunting? According to the new survey by real estate [...]

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Home Energy Ratings In 2012

by Chris on November 23, 2011

There are eight million homes in Australia today and they have been reported to use up 13 percent of the total energy use of the country and are responsible for emitting 10 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. These figures are expected to grow in the future because of the trend towards building bigger houses. [...]

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7 Practical Tips for Saving for your First Home

by Chris on September 12, 2011

Buying your first home can be a wonderful experience, picking out the perfect place, moving in and feeling as if you can just put your feet up and relax and that you won’t be moving for a very long time is comforting. Of course, there are some things you need to do before and to [...]

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Interesting Facts: Top Aussie States for Migrants

by Chris on September 8, 2011

Australia has been welcoming more and more overseas migrants over the years. People from many countries (especially from the UK, New Zealand, China and India) are choosing to move here and call Australia their new home. It is interesting that in the recent decade there were fewer newcomers from the UK, the traditional source of [...]

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Are property auctions going out of favor?

by Chris on August 30, 2011

Property auctions historically were the most poplar selling tool in Australia, but in the current market the clearance rates are significantly lower than they used to be. Even on the popular reality show “The Block”, 3 out of 4 renovated houses failed to sell on auction – an auction that was witnessed by close to [...]

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“Hot Property – Bidding Wars” DVD review

by Chris on August 10, 2011

I’ve just finished watching the “Hot Property Bidding Wars”. It’s a new DVD with 8 episodes of this show, hosted by Michael Caton (you may remember him from the movie “The Castle” ). Personally, I found it fun to watch, and educational in a way. This DVD takes you “behind the scenes” of many property [...]

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