Hello All

I've put this thread on because if we had known before hand it would of been a great help.

When purchasing a house it's quiet different to the UK, some good thing, and some not so good.

When you have found your house

1, You put an offer in, in writing (we verbally offered which was accepted, then we had to do it in writing)

2, if accepted you have 2 days (2 days working days) cool off period, and you have to arrange building inspection in this 2 days.
(My advice, put offer in on friday afternoon, this then gives you the weekend, then the 2 days start, 4 days in total)

3, after the second day you need to put $10,000 deposit on (this money is used to sue you if you pull out of the sale).

4, You need to get building insurance arranged, as in, you need to insure the house when you offer is accepted, even though the vendors are still living in the house and you're not, you must still get it insured.

5, after 30 days, the vendors legally have to move out, and you have to pay the remainder of the balance.

I don't know if it's the same when buying land.

The estate agents over here aren't as pushy as the Uk ones. We gave our contact details to around 10 estate agents, giving them details of what we wanted
4 bed, or 3 bed + office, want a garden, or garden space, we'll look at anything under $500,000, we had one phone call.
So, be prepared to search for yourself.

Take Care

Ozzy

Yes you are right Ozzy except on No5

You have to agree on a settlement period (ie when you want to exchange contracts, move in ) This can be 30 days or another time to suit both partys) We wanted a short settlement but the vendors wanted a long one (as they are building and have to go into rented )So we met in the middle and had a settlement of 45 days (ends tomorrow !!! :clap: )

LOL JulieWx

No 2 regarding a building inspection, you can get round this by saying "subject to" building report.

No 3 deposit can be as little as $1,000. And if you do pull out because of ANY "subject to" this is returned.

Stevo.

Hi Julie

Interesting about your comment on No 5,

We actually wanted an earlier settlement (be in before Xmas), our conveyancer told us that we could ask for a early settlement but if the vendors didn't want a early settlement then the quickest we can legally push for is 30 day settlement (exchange contract)

She also said that if the vendor required a longer period and we didn't, then likewise we can demand a 30 day settlement.

I also asked the estate agent who confirmed this, they said that if both the vendor & purchaser agreed then it could be an earlier or later settlement, but if no agreement could be made then the 30 day settlement can be demanded by either party, so in our case it became 30 days.

Take Care

Ozzy

Thanks guys

Very useful info.


Lesley + Martin

No 2, Yes you are right Stevo, as long as there is something wrong with the building then you can withdraw, however, if there is nothing wrong with the report then you are buying that house.

No 3, Intresting about the $1,000 deposit, we were told $10,000 , but in all fairness we didn't question this as we didn't put the deposit on the house until after we had the building inspection done which came out OK, and so we were buying the house anyway.

Take Care

Ozzy

Handy piece of info guys,thanks. :)

Steve

Thanks for the info, so once we find our dream house we can move in after 30 days, sounds great!! :bouncy:

Thanks Guys for all your in put maybe this could be fixed so it doesnt get lost in all the threads

Debs xxx

Thanks for this as it is really interesting to see how the system works here.
Susan

I've noticed many houses are advertised with a guide price. E.g Low to mid $400,000. That can be a good $50,000 difference..obviously we'd go in at rock bottom and negotiate. In your experience, when there is a unspecific price, do houses sell at the lower, or the higher price?

:loopy:

Thanks
Shirley

Hi Shirley

they don't seem to like to negotiate, unless it's over a $million!

When you go to an 'Open' (an open inspection, advertised in the Saturday newspaper - normally held on Sats and Suns for a 45 min period). If you are interested in the property, you register your interest with the agent.

The agent will usually give you a form on which you submit your offer - most of these forms are entitled, 'Best & Final Offer'; this means that the best offer, with the best looking outcome will be accepted.

You need to say whether you are going to buy subject to any conditions, ie. once you've had a building inspection, you need to sell your house, or whether you need any finance too.

There are a lot of property auctions held weekly, where the agents expect to get a higher price than with a non-auction sale. They don't like to ask people to bid against eachother without an auction and with the 'Best & Final Offer' scenario it helps to push the price up - especially when you arrive at an Open and there's loads of other people looking too.

TIP: Arrive 10 mins before the Open and stay for the whole thing, eavesdropping, if you're particularly interested in the property!! :sign20:

Jules

Thanks for your reply Jules.
Great tip to suss out the opposition !

Shirley

Just a thought-
What happens if your mortgage isn't approved-I presume you aren't still tied in are you?

Great topic

If its not an auction but just a purchase, how do you work out the high to mid type value or do you just put in an offer?

What about permission from the govt as a first time buyer/immigrant.

and finally is all this best done through a lawyer?

Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks

Thanks for the information. Always wondered what it was all about.

P&P

Bruce:

if you need a mortgage, then you need to have 'Subject to Finance' as one of your contract conditions (they will ask you how much you will be borrowing, as that might also tip the scales to your/against your side - I won't tell them, I just say an approx %; using poetic licence)!

If you are unable to raise the mortgage, then you are not held to the purchase.

ccuz: with a typical purchase you just put in an offer and :sign03:

Once you have your offer accepted, you sign a contract which the agency has drawn up. To complete the purchase, you will normally use a conveyancer, who should complete all the legal stuff, including the application for the 1st time purchasers grant.

Jules

Thank you, nice to see that :sign03: works in Aust as well :D

Just a point about real estate agents - we found when looking that just because you register with one branch of a company (for instance, L J Hooker) doesn't mean you get on the books of all the branches of that company - each branch seems to operate pretty independently, hence you need to go into ALL the branches and register at each! Having done that though, we still didn't get anything sent through by ANY of them! Best thing to do was drive around the area(s) you're looking at, looking out for For Sale boards, and then ringing up the person handling the sale.

Oh, and we just made a verbal offer, didn't put anything in writing till it was accepted! We must look trustworthy (snigger snigger)...

Diane

In short the agent has not got a clue, so they advertise say low $400"s, people then put in their offer. What happens then is the agent will ring round the 2 or 3 highest bidders to squeeze a little extra, by saying"is that your best offer because you are not quite there" Unless your offer is accepted at once by the seller.

Stevo.

Hi Shirley

It is quite scary, you land in a total foreign country and need to make a massive investment (a house purchase), plus, of course you don't want to be ripped off.

So when you try to find out what houses cost, and in what area it doesn't help you seeing things like

Mid 400's
Or
Low 500's
or 349 to 379

And it's right what people have said, you all put in an offer, the vendor looks over the offers and picks which one, been a cash buyer is a positive, not having to sell an house is a positive too.

But remember, real estate agents are sales people, they may tell you they have several people interested when theirs none.

Also, these estate agents dress up the house, they make a fantastic job, so be aware to look through these tricks.
things like

1, if theirs an office, the computer will be on (screen saver)
2, Music will be on
3, Nice smelly stuff will be everywhere
4, All curtains will be open, and every light will be on
5, If hot, the air con will be on (nice cool entry)
6, kitchen will be dressed and so on

The main reason for me starting this thread was I wish I knew something about purchasing an house before we got here, it really set us back having to sort things out in a rush when we went through it.

Take Care

Ozzy

Cuzz

Your coveyancer will apply for the $7K, just remember to tell them it's your first purchase.


Take Care

Ozzy

When you take out the buildings insurance and the people still live there - what happens if there's a claim. Do you pay the excess or do they?

Very good question Marco

I asked the question that
If the vendors have the building insured and the purchasers has it insured then which insurance covers the cost should there be a claim, that's when all the deaf ears came out.

The best response I could get was, should there be a claim then the 2 insurance companies would equally bare the cost.

In my opinion it's one big rip off, and as long as these insurance companies can get away with it they will keep on doing it.

Take Care

Ozzy

Thanks for the tips! :)

So I guess you need to turn the lights off as you go to make sure the house isn't too dark!

Thanks Jules

Very similar system to South Africa-Everone knows where they stand and nothing left to chance, I like it.

Bruce :D

bumping this up for whoever was looking for it.

You'd have to stipulate "subject to finance" . . . or, "subject to the sale of our house / land", etc.
You can put whatever conditions you like on the contract. If they don't like it, then they can either get back to you or knock the whole contract offer off.

We only paid $1,000 deposit too.