6 Tips and a Deep Dive into Buying a House using Location Based Services (Read Time 1:48)

Buying a house, especially one that will be your future home is stressful, time consuming and confusing. Everyone has an agenda and it isn’t necessarily in your best interest. There are some great tools and some great people in the industry. With today’s technology, location based services, mobiles and tables with GPS, that know where they are can make life a lot easier.

I want to buy where people are like me

Here are tips and a deep dive into a series of recent blogs I would like to share with you and if you feel they contain good information, I ask you to share with people you care about that might be considering a move.

1. Find a good real estate agent. Think from your experience, would you be wanting the same person when you are selling as you would chose when you are buying. Where can you find reviews and ratings about real estate agents? Who are the worst ones and why?

2. Neighborhood Crime. What are the crime statistics for the area you are looking at? Where can you find information like that. Do you want to live in the areas where kids can play safe and you don’t have to worry too much about whether your door is locked, or you don’t have a burglar alarm? Can you trust the neighbors?

3. The Barfoot & Thompson iPad application. If you live in the Greater Auckland, NZ region, and you have access to an iPad I recommend you give this nice app a try. Let me know what you think of it. Let them know what you think of it. Ask other real estate agents where to find their app.

4. I want to live in a area where the neighbors are like me. Don’t we all? Imagine living in an area where you felt you just didn’t fit in. The neighbors might all earn a much higher income than you, might have less education, might have loads of kids when you don’t have any, might be full of renters who don’t take pride in their houses and gardens. There are ways to learn about things before you even get in your car to go look.

5. Getting around Open Homes. This can be a real time consuming monster, but one you can tame by using location based services. Whether it is finding the ones that are relevant, either for research purposes, or because you are interested in buying, do it smart. Of course you might also just want to know what it is going on in your neighborhood, get an idea on your own property’s value.

6. A house is not a home. Getting it right using location based services such as  websites and mobile apps is about being smart now, rather than being sorry later. Your home is your castle, probably the most expensive investment you will ever make. You want to come home to your haven, the place where you feel happy and safe. Where you can raise you family and invite your friends over, sleep peacefully at night. Home, where the heart is.

There are many more blogs on the way on this topic and of course I have just published my new eBook Buying a House Using Apps, Maps and Location Based Services.  If you found this useful, please share it with a friend, bookmark it, because after all we don’t buy a house every day. You might also like to subscribe using the RSS feed.

Lastly, I invite you to comment. Tell me about your experiences.