You need a newer version of Adobe Flash to view this website. Click here to download the latest version.

Once you've made the decision that you are going to buy a new home, there are various factors that need to be considered:

Where do you want to live?

Check how much you can borrow early in your search as this will affect where you can afford to buy.

You will need to identify a suburb (or suburbs) that you would like to live in. Consider what is important to you about location and then carefully choose your suburb.

Lifestyle:

If being close to pubs, clubs and entertainment is important then you may wish to be in, or very close to, the city. Or do you value privacy and quiet above all else? You may wish to be close to the country, the sea, parks or even a golf course!

Check with the local property guides to help assess the median price of your chosen suburb. If this is too expensive then try looking at an adjacent suburb that may be more affordable and even up-and-coming.

What type of property would you like?

There are a great number and type of properties available to suit practically all needs.

There are a number of features to consider when deciding what sort of property you want:

Try to see as many properties as you can of the type you are looking for in your chosen suburb this will give you a feeling for the price you can expect to pay.

We've found a property. What now?

When you're viewing a property for the first time, have a look at the surrounding homes this will give you an idea of whether the neighbourhood is well looked after.

Once inside, request any information and flyers that the agent may have for the property. This should provide you with details of the size of section, floor size of the house, government valuation, age, and chattels included in the sale.

Ask the agent if they are aware of any problems with the property they are obliged to tell you if you ask!

If the property is still of interest to you after your first viewing you may wish to see through it again, perhaps with an evening viewing in order to check on traffic, heating adequacy, and local noise factors.

We want to make an offer!

Excellent! Let the agent know that you want to make an offer. This will be in writing on a standard form called a “Sale and Purchase Agreement”. The agent will write it up for you based on how much you are willing to offer on the property and what extra clauses and conditions you wish to add.

You will need to have a date in mind that you would like to take possession of the property and also an amount you will be happy to hand over as a deposit (usually between 5% and 10% of the total price) when the contract becomes unconditional. This deposit is held in trust by the agent and is protected by law.

If you are not already pre-approved for finance you should ask for a finance clause and you may wish to have a building report to check on the parts of the property that you can't see, and also a LIM report that will check that all the property's permits are ok and will give you details of surrounding properties' building applications and permits. Other conditions you can impose include; valuation, electricians report, plumbers report amongst others.

Remember being pre-approved for finance makes your offer more appealing.

Ensure that all extra conditions you request are to be completed to your satisfaction.

Be certain in your own minds how much you are prepared to pay. If you've done your homework on price then you'll have a good idea how much you should be paying.

However, be prepared to haggle. You may not want to start with your best offer! Once you've made an initial offer the agent will present it to the vendor (property owner) who will accept it, reject it, or counter offer. If they counter offer, it means that the price that you offered is crossed out and a higher price written in its place. The agent then comes back to you with this new price that you can then accept, reject or counter offer again! This will continue until a price that is acceptable to both parties is reached.

For example: You offer $210,000 but the vendor counter offers at $220,000. You then counter again at $215,000, which is accepted by the vendor.

If you wish, you can talk to a solicitor prior to making the offer, for advice on clauses and conditions.

Once both parties have signed the agreement and initialed all the changes, the agreement becomes binding in law. You are now “under offer” on your chosen property! Provided that all the conditions you have put on the contract are completed to your satisfaction within the time allowed (usually 10 working days) the property will soon be yours.

What happens now?

The signed contract now gets sent to your solicitor. They will arrange for the LIM to be ordered from the requisite Council and also order and check the Title to the property.

You will be responsible for arranging building reports, valuations etc. Generally, if you contact the person who you wish to conduct the report they will talk with the agent directly to arrange a time to access the property. Contact us and we can arrange this for you.

When all the conditions are satisfied, your solicitor will contact the vendor's solicitor and inform them that the agreement is now unconditional. You are now committed to the sale and your deposit (detailed in the front of the contract) is now due. Please pay promptly. The agent can put a sold sign outside the house and you can look forward to moving in!

Shortly, your solicitor will require you to sign mortgage papers and will undertake other duties on your behalf such as checking council rates have been paid up to date and arranging for your home loan to be transferred.

Is that it?