Rich Harvey

What is super important to me and what can I live without?

And by writing down those things, you'll then have a much clearer target for what you can actually achieve when you actually start the searching process.

Well, the obvious thing is you can't compromise on location unless you just don't have the budget.

So the first thing you've got to look at is what's your journey to work?

Where is your social network?

Where's your friends located?

Where are your recreational activities?

And look at what I call the travel vectors that you have from where you want to live.

So you can try to optimise your lifestyle by choosing the position because once you choose where to live and you've bought that piece of real estate, you can't pick up the block of dirt and move it.

But what you can do is when you've bought that property, you can modify it, you can renovate it, you can bring it up to speed.

So the things you shouldn't compromise is if you can afford it, don't compromise on the location.

The other things to think about is the aspect and the slope of the land that you're buying on.

What's the street like?

I wouldn't be buying on a busy road.

I'm never going to buy next to a petrol station.

I'm never going to buy next to an industrial park where there's potential for noise and pollution.

All of those things are things you should never compromise on because once you've bought there, you're sure you can buy it cheaper, but you're always going to be selling it at a cheap price because it's got that impediment over the land.

So they're the things that I'd look for.

And the other thing is if there's like a easement or some sort of restriction over the land, like it might have an electricity staunch next door or a stormwater pipe running around the back, they're things that you've just got to take into account if you really want to buy in that location.

Again, this comes back to you writing down that list between the essential and desirable elements of your home.