If you’re looking at buying a property, there are few things you can do to help make it a less stressful experience.

Check out the surrounding area.  There’s no reason why you can’t knock on the neighbour’s door to see if they can give you any information about the area.  You probably want to know who’s going to be living next door anyway. 

See your lender to get a pre-approval before you start looking at properties.  At least you’ll have a clearer idea of what your price range is and once you find a property, the final approval process is much quicker if your lender has already been over your paperwork. 

Do your homework.  Make sure you get your pre-purchase inspections done so you know exactly what you’re buying.  No property is perfect and while some issues identified in these reports might be minor, others might require a substantial financial investment to fix.  Also check Council records to make sure all of the proper approvals have been granted for the buildings on the property.