Basic Buying Process

Make an offer

If you are buying at an auction, you are required to pay a deposit (usually 10% of the purchase price) immediately.

If you are buying privately, you are usually required to pay a holding deposit (can be anywhere between $1,000, $2,000 and 10% of the purchase price).

Contract of sale/Offer and Acceptance

The Contract of Sale/Offer & Acceptance, prepared by the agent or by the vendor’s (the current owner of the property) solicitor, outlines your offer, the date of settlement and any conditions that must be met before the sale goes ahead. Discuss the Contract of Sale with your solicitor before you sign it. There are two kinds of offers – unconditional and conditional.

Unconditional offers

This is an outright offer to buy the property. You should be 100% sure that this is the property you want and that you have access to the money to buy the property. Once the vendor has accepted your offer, you are legally obliged to go through with the sale.

Conditional offers

A conditional offer is also a binding contract, provided that all your conditions are satisfied. You can only back out now if one or more of your conditions are not met. Conditions may include:

• subject to valuation – the sale will only go ahead if the valuation is acceptable to both you and your bank.
• subject to finance – the sale will only go ahead if your bank approves your finance.
• subject to acceptable title search – the sale will only go ahead if there are no ownership, access or other claims recorded on the property title. Your solicitor/settlement agent will do this for you.
• subject to an acceptable builder’s or engineer’s report – the sale will only go ahead if you are satisfied that the house, or land it is on, is sound.

You may wish to set other conditions eg subject to certain repairs being carried out, white ant inspection etc. Talk to your solicitor/settlement agent or real estate agent about anything you are unhappy or unsure about. Don’t sign your Contract of Sale/Offer & Acceptance until you are happy with the conditions.

Negotiation, acceptance and deposit

The vendor may accept your offer straight away or may negotiate on the price or other aspects of the sale. The real estate agent will act as the ‘go-between’ until you and the vendor reach a happy medium. If you cannot agree on a price, you can withdraw your offer.  Once both you and the vendor have signed the agreement, it is legally binding.

You will normally be expected to your deposit directly to the real estate agent on signing the agreement. It will be placed in a trust account until all conditions have been met.

Finalise loan

It is a good idea to have already had your finance approved in principle/ pre-approved.

If you haven’t, you have two choices – You can go to the Bank/Lender directly or you can use a Mortgage Broker.

If you have already engaged a Mortgage Broker they will need a copy of the Contract of Sale/ Offer & Acceptance. Your Mortgage Broker will proceed on your behalf. If you have obtained a pre-approval  the process should be quick and smooth and you would have already supplied the required documents.