You can streamline your house-hunting. Here?s how:

* Work out how much you can afford to borrow before you start looking at properties.

* Take into account what your monthly or fortnightly mortgage repayments, ongoing property maintenance and rates will be and to these add your other living expenses.

* Get pre-approval from your bank or mortgage provider before you start your search. Then you will be able to make a genuine offer when you find a property.

* Make a short-list of the essential features you want in a property. Include location, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, parking, outdoor living space and stick to your requirements, that way you won’t be swayed to buy something that doesn’t exactly suit your needs.

* Use websites such as www.natgroup.net to help you narrow down your search. You can search under multiple criteria including your price range, number of rooms and location.

* When you’re out inspecting a property, take notes or even a photo of each property to help you remember what you thought of it.

* Take your time in considering each property you inspect. Remember that the first one you see could be the most suitable.

* Too many people keep looking, miss out on the first one and then end up comparing all properties they see to the first one they missed out on.

* If you’re serious about a property, expect to pay approx. $200 for a professional building report and approx. $200 for a pest inspection report.