How to Prepare For Your New Home During Lockdown

How to Prepare For Your New Home During Lockdown

So, you were thinking about building and three weeks into level 4, you’re not sure where to start or even if you can do anything! A couple of positives, interest rates will be at an all time low and household spending is also down so with some careful planning now you could be in a position to take advantage of the current economy.  Here’s a couple of things that will help get you started on a how to prepare for your new home during lockdown.

Talk to the lenders to establish your budget

Your financial situation may have changed or be changing. Getting a home loan pre-approval in place, means you know exactly how much you can spend when it’s time to buy.

The banks and brokers are still working via online and phone so now is the time to start the conversation to find out what information you need to gather and what you can start doing to be in the best possible financial position (if you’re not there yet).

Shop around. Look for the good deals and approach different lenders (both banks and brokers) to hear what they have to say.

If you haven’t confirmed your finance yet have a chat with your local Longview Homes franchisee, we have great relationships with mortgage brokers in each of our franchisee locations.

Once you’ve got your budget in place, you can move to the next step.

Find a piece of land you like

Have a clear idea of what you’re looking for to help narrow your search. As you’re considering the location where you want to build think about:

  • work opportunities
  • school zones
  • family and friends
  • lifestyle

Think about if you want to be close to medical assistance? Do you need public transport? What about schools and shops? Is the sun important to you? What about views and privacy?

If you want to move towns or cities, take a virtual tour of the country. You can search land by size or geography. Once you’ve established where you want to live, research the cost of sections in the areas you’re looking. Check online property sites such as Trade Me Property and Realestate.co.nz.  Call and ask a local real estate agent for recent land sales in the area.

Check out Land Information New Zealand for high quality, accurate information about land throughout the country. From land tsunami risk to the location of waterways.

When you’ve narrowed it down, remember to make sure the boundary lines are clearly marked. (This may have to wait until we move out of level 4)

Ask what services are available to your land. Things like water, sewerage, electricity, natural gas and the internet. Keep in mind, if you build a long way into your site, your service connection charges will increase.

Choosing your builder

Once you have your finance and land sorted, you’re ready to choose your builder.  We’ll cover that in our next article so do follow us on Facebook or bookmark this site so we can help you on the road to your new home.

Longview Homes has locally owned franchises around the country. It would be our pleasure to take on your building project in any region in New Zealand once we move out of level 4. Get in touch with our team or call 0800 100 945 now to start your new build journey today.

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