Buying Property

Thinking Noosa and Sunshine Coast

Buying property is an exciting opportunity in everyone’s life, especially with the lifestyle opportunities of the Sunshine Coast While the prospect of buying a new home or expanding your your investment portfolio is liberating, it can also be stressful.

Agood way to minimise this is by being mindful of certain requirements and expectations when purchasing. These include considering elements such as your financial situation, the Contract, loan requirements and having realistic time expectations. Acquiring property can be the most expensive and important purchase you’ll ever make. With sensible research, planning and patience it can make for a very smooth and stress-free transaction. Before you start, consider how you will be entering in the Contract to gain ownership of the property. This may be as an individual, a company, a trust, by a superannuation fund, as joint tenants or tenants in common. A conversation with your Accountant, Solicitor or Conveyancer will determine what is in best your interests, as tax implications and estate matters will also need to be considered and addressed. Most people need to borrow finance to purchase a property in today’s market. Before committing to a purchase, you should first determine your financial situation. Be mindful of how you intend to pay for the property and how all other related costs will be accounted for. Prepare yourself for this by arranging a meeting with your accountant or financial advisor and with lending bodies such as a bank or credit union. Be honest and direct with how much you are able to borrow and within what timeframe. Calculate what you can afford to spend by combining the amount already saved with the borrowed amount and your living expenses. Remember to plan for lender fees, stamp duty, legal/conveyancing and moving costs. You may wish to have a valuation done on the property if you are unsure of the appropriate price for the area you are purchasing in. A valuation will help establish a realistic estimated value by analysing recent sales information and giving you and your bank piece of mind that your offer is suitable. It is quite prudent to prepare a checklist before you consider formally entering into a Contract for sale or purchase of real estate. It is also important to be mindful that the preparation, negotiation and execution of a Contract can take time. The standard time period between exchange and settlement is 42 days, but if you wish for an earlier settlement, this can be discussed with your solicitor or conveyancer and negotiated with the other side. Talk to us. You’ll be inspired! Emily A N Stephenson Licensed Conveyancer The deposit amount is usually required to be paid on exchange. Exchange is when the contract is dated and becomes a formal agreement. The deposit amount is normally 10% however, you may have an option to negotiate the reduction of the deposit to 5% or some other amount or use a deposit bond. If borrowing, written unconditional approval of your loan will need to be provided before contracts can be exchanged. It is also vital that you have good knowledge of the condition of the property that you intend to buy before exchanging contracts. The best way to ascertain this information is by ordering a pest and building inspection report. These reports consider the quality of the buildings and improvements and will indicate whether there are any substantial faults or infestations in the property that you may not have previously been aware of. Most lending authorities also require these before finance will be approved. The benefits of having these reports are knowing in advance what (if any) problems there are with the property. You may use the information to negotiate a lower price or gain specialist advice about any major problems and how it will affect the property over time. Check that the companies carrying out these inspections have professional indemnity insurance. This will cover the company and therefore your costs should any mistakes occur.