Hello, hello, and welcome to part two of the conveyancing process in New South Wales if you are purchasing a property. Hello, hello, and welcome to part two of purchasing property in New South Wales. If you haven't listened to part one, I suggest you go back and listen to that before you listen to this podcast, because it will make more sense. In podcast one, I went through three tips to start you off. In today's podcast, I'm going to go through the balance of the steps that will occur. So I'll recap quickly what part one was about, but I'm not going to go as in depth as what I did. So in part one, I said, there are three steps that you should, again, I'm holding up five fingers. Three steps that you should do if you are looking at purchasing property in New South Wales. So the first step I said was to go check out a bank or a broker to make sure there are no skeletons in your closet and to get pre-approval. So that pre-approval is going to put you above other people that are looking at property and it will let you know how much money they can go spend on a house effectively. So that was point one. Point two, I said, go check out the real estate agents in the area you were looking at buying and say, hey, we have pre-approval straight up. They're going to love you because you're ahead of some other people that don't have that process started yet. I want a three bedroom house. This is how much money I've got. They'll put you on their mailing list and they'll know that you're obviously actively looking at buying something in the area. I would also suggest you subscribe to download domain or realestate.com as well. And then the third step I said was to find yourself a conveyancer or lawyer. to go, hey, I've got pre-approval, I'm going house hunting, heads up. There may be some things that you need to discuss with them before you commit to an offer because sometimes things have to be done maybe a different way to what you have been told and that's based on the area, the agent, the vendor how hot the property is like if you have ten people going for one property that's going to change how you approach this purchase it could be auction um conditions in there as well which I didn't think to to mention until now so I probably need to do a separate one about auctions but um yeah so that process could be different so having that commands are all lawyer um giving them the heads up that you're actively looking can also come in handy when you have found a property. So a few other things that I just want to mention. So your broker should be taken into account the additional costs um with the purchase so that could be stamp duty and that's going to be legal fees and it's going to be called disbursements so that's counter rates water rates strata levies it could be community title levies whatever that might be so there's generally a standard buffer that a broker will use so that should be taken into account What a broker should tell you to do is to not try to change your spending habits. So we have had clients. So sometimes you'll have to put in a certain amount of money. So, you know, if you have a ten percent deposit or twenty percent deposit, it's an eighty percent lend, for example. And you've got to put in twenty thousand, fifty thousand dollars, whatever it is. We have had clients spend that money thinking that they were sorted. Please don't do that. If you are meant to contribute money towards a house, leave that where it's meant to be. Don't go spending it because you're going to get caught out on settlement. Similarly, probably don't go buying a car or something while you've got your pre-approval amount because that could change things as well. Same as changing employment. So try to not spend. change what you are doing while you're trying to go through this process and please definitely do not spend the money that you're meant to be contributing to this purchase because it has happened it's gotten a little bit yuck and stressful we've got them over the line but if there is money you're meant to be kicking into this purchase please do not spend it please keep it in a bank account somewhere So we can use those additional funds on settlement. So there could be, depending on the state and your circumstances, there might be government concessions as well. So you may not be paying stamp duty. You may be paying a portion of stamp duty. In Queensland, if you're living in the property, there's a concessional duty based on that as well. So just depending on your circumstances, so your broker, your conveyancer and your lawyer or conveyancer slash lawyer, depending on who you use, should know what you're entitled to, and that should be taken into account. But you're going to have to say, yes, I'm a first-time owner, no, I'm not, depending on the state. If I have owned property before and my partner here hasn't, it's probably still wiped me. So just be super honest. But, yeah, your broker and lawyer slash conveyancer will be able to let you know any concessions that are available to you. Due diligence is, it's called due diligence in Queensland. I call it due diligence because it's just the terminology that I use. You could refer to it as inspection. So I would recommend that you get, if you're buying a block of land, you probably won't need these three. But if you're buying a unit, you'll want a strata report. If you're buying a house, you will also want a pest and building report. And I also recommend pest and building reports for strata because we have had that go to shit as well. Most agents will tell you you don't need a strata report. Sorry. pest and building report for strata going to you I will still recommend it because we have had pest and building reports show up things that are not in the strata report like termites everywhere rotting away at this apartment that the strata report has not picked up so definitely still recommend you do pest and build for strata you might want to consider a survey report not many people get those if you're buying a block of land you might want that if you're buying land I generally suggest that you speak to a builder just to make sure that the house that you want can fit on the land and it could be Covenants within the land, which means that, you know, your build has to look a certain way and be done in a certain way. So you have all of those things to take into consideration. There could be building envelopes, a whole pile of things. So that's going to be your lawyer slash conveyancer's world but from a due diligence point of view strata report if you're buying a strata pest build you might want to do a survey report some people do like electrical reports there's really a whole pile of things so I don't think I've ever got an electrical report if I was buying like a really old property um I might because the whole place needs to be rewired I'd have to take that into consideration that can be like ten twenty thirty k but I physically have never ordered a electrical report with property that I have bought, strata, pest build, and what I've ordered. So take that into consideration and that will be at an additional cost as well. Consider if you're buying in a flood zone or bushfire zone as well. So again, your conveyance or lawyer should be going through that with you in the section or ten point seven certificate in New South Wales. that can add insurance premiums. So especially if you're buying in a land, like I use Lismore as an example, that's flooded a few times the past few years, their premiums are probably like absolutely ridiculous. Now I would think, so if you're buying in a pest, sorry, if you're buying in a pest and build, if you're buying in a flood zone or bush zone, take into consideration that the insurance could be more. If you are building in those areas, your build may be more because you may have to be up on barriers and joists. You may have to comply with different, like, ballot ratings, so fire ratings. So your house may have to be constructed a certain way out of certain materials, depending what that fire level is. So that's things to take into account as well. Again, your conveyance and your lawyer should be mentioning Whether you're buying in that area, they might not mention the extra part I just said about the insurance side of things, but that's something to take into consideration as well because your insurance is likely to be a little bit more. Auction. I'll mention auction briefly here. So auction, if you are successful at an auction and you sign that contract, that contract is binding. There is no out. There should be a clause in there to say if you die, the contract is probably at an end. But that contract is binding. There is... nothing you can't get out of it unless you know the vendors lied and hasn't disclosed something which I don't think I've ever had happen but um that contract is it's binding there is no calling off period there is nothing so you are expected to get your pest and build report done strata report if you need it whatever other due diligence that you need. That contract needs to be amended to how, with whatever is agreed. If that needs to be amended, usually you probably won't get finance approval before auction. So you have to be comfortable that you're going to get finance approval post auction. And that's where you definitely have to work with your bank or your broker. A con of that is that the valuation that the bank or the broker does could fall under what the purchase price is, which I have seen before. And that has meant that the buyer has had to kick in extra money. So that is something to take into consideration as well. I have not bought at an auction unless I was really cashed up. I don't know whether I would buy at an auction. I find the process quite stressful and it would be really easy to just keep bidding and bidding and bidding. And if you bid, like if your loan limit is five hundred K and you bid eight hundred K and you got that eight hundred K property, there's a couple of grains in there that you need to find somewhere. So Don't get into the hype. But if you buy at auction, you definitely have to have that contract reviewed prior to going to auction. Discuss with the agent about deposits. So usually it's like a ten percent deposit. If you don't know what the property is going to go for, you can't have that. So just work out what they want done with a deposit. Sometimes they will say, hey, I want a bank check for this much money and then fix the rest up on the next business day if there is a shortfall. But yeah, please know that an auction is binding. There is no cooling off period. You're expected to proceed with that contract. And if you don't proceed with that contract, then there could be, or there will be, damages and you will lose a lot of money. So just know an auction contract. The other way is called like a private treaty. So that is where, you know, you might have a cooling off period or you might have time to get your ducks in a row, then exchange. So auction, binding straight away. Private treaty, at least in New South Wales, is not binding straight away. A lawyer or conveyance has to sign a six W certificate to work that calling off period. So just explaining quickly the difference between auction and private treaty. Settlement process. So contracts are usually four, five or six weeks. So, twenty-eight days, thirty-two days or forty-two days. Thirty-four days, sorry. Now I'm doubting myself. Yeah, either four, five or six weeks. Anything above that, you probably need to negotiate. Would not recommend you go any less than at twenty eight days, which is four weeks, because it can be consequences if you don't settle on time as well. But in, you know, in that time between like exchange and settlement, make sure that you don't spend that money like I've mentioned before. Pack, get your utilities sorted, organize your truck. If you're renting, I'd suggest that you don't give notice until a few weeks after you've moved because sometimes settlement can be delayed for whatever reason. Yeah, so there's kind of not too much from that side. From the lawyer perspective and the broker side, yes, you would have signed mortgage documents in there somewhere. So there's tasks that your lawyer and broker will need to do. Basically, if they need you to do something, you drop everything to get that done to make sure that you settle on time. So there'll be forms, there'll be stuff to sign. Just make sure that you do everything in a timely manner so there's no delays. If you are transferring funds as well, and I can't stress this enough, you have probably seen articles where people have received bogus emails looking like they're from a law or a bank or whatever, and they've been losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cannot stress enough. One, if there's an authority account that you can use, so the bank debits that money from an account, go that way. If you have to transfer money to your lawyer or conveyancer, please get those details on the phone. Do not rely on email at all. Emails can be intercepted. From an email perspective, like IT legal perspective, our internet and our systems are pretty well locked tight. But we have had clients whose emails have been compromised. So they're not hacking into our system. They're hacking into our clients' systems. email system they're seeing the emails that the lawyer is sending them and then they're doing fake emails of us saying hey we've changed our bank account details pop it into this account now or you know something and that's how that money is getting missed so do not rely on email to transfer any type of money whatsoever please make sure that you either get it in person from your lawyer or conveyancer or you get it on the phone and double check it and recheck it. If you get an email saying it's changed, call them. I know one of our clients had Her email intercepted, and so they were doing fake emails that looked like ours, but they were not ours. And we banked with a certain bank. The email that came through, it was through a different bank, and she was a long-standing client. So she had used our trust account heaps of times. Why she didn't save it into a bank account, I'm not sure. Oh, no, she did. So she had it saved in her account to transfer money to us. She just rang to say, hey, I just got an email saying that you've changed accounts. your trust account can I just double check that we're like nope it's been the same for like nearly nine years haven't touched it so her email was intercepted to for like a bank account to transfer and she was cash so that was like a million bucks it was a lot a lot of money and it was just lucky that she had rung us to say hey just checking you've changed banks nope we haven't made sure that the bank details were correct and the funds came to us so If you don't do that, that is where your money can get lost. And then you're going to be running into all sorts of issues with Solomon because that money is not going to be there. And chances are, you're not going to get that back. So please be very, very careful. We have warnings everywhere. We don't give a bank account details via email. We'll only do it in person or on the phone. Please double check that some clients might do like a five dollar like test first. Say, hey, do that five bucks come in? Yep, cool. I'm going to transfer the rest. So you may want to do that. But please just be very, very, very, very careful when you are transferring funds. A few mistakes to avoid. So again, don't go spending money that you aren't meant to be spending because you're meant to be putting it towards your house. Try not to change jobs or anything in between. Don't go over your budget because that is going to cause issues as well, especially if you're going to auction because you're Don't skip inspections. If you decide to exchange with no finance, with no calling off or do not get a pest bill strata report, we will make you sign an authority to say, hey, we told you to get this stuff. You haven't wanted to. We're not proceeding until you sign it. So we want to make sure that we're covered. So if you go to buy that house and there's something wrong with it, it's like, hey, you had the opportunity to do that over here and you haven't, whatever's there, you're stuck with it. So there would be no, unless you're knocking down a house, perhaps you might not need pest and building report, but there will be limited circumstances where you would be not getting those reports, but please do not skimp on them. Um, they are very important because sometimes you may not proceed with a property. You may need a reduction in price. Things may need to be fixed, whatever it is. So they're very, very important. Um, I wouldn't be signing an auction contract with no legal advice. If you are signing a contract and there's a calling off period, a little bit different. But if the contract needs to be amended, it's probably doubtful whether that will be agreed to. So before you sign anything, I would definitely be reaching out to your lawyer or conveyancer to say, hey, they want me to sign contracts. Can you have a quick flick to make sure that everything's okay? Because we've had clients sign contracts. They've come to us. We say, hey, do you know this room is not approved? They're like, nope. I'm like, well, big condition here saying that the addition or whatever it is, is not approved. Client hasn't been happy with it. They pull out, lose point to five percent. Had they come to us first, they wouldn't have lost the money because we would have looked at the cause, for example. So definitely would recommend that you reach out to your lawyer or conveyancer before you sign a contract. And really, if you're in doubt at all, please just reach out. I said, you know, I've probably known conveyancing for close to twenty years. My business partner in Queensland who runs our Queensland stuff, she's the same. We went to uni together. Be careful in price. Sometimes people, you know, charge nothing like really really cheap if you're paid cheap you're probably going to get cheap quality so be very careful if you are running around for prices make sure that it includes everything gst searches whatever Make sure there's no hidden fees, all of that. So if you are price hunting, go for it. Just make sure that they're giving you the total price and not just what you want to hear. And be very careful if somebody's selling you cheap conveyancing. It could mean that they're getting a kickback. from somebody and that's where they're making up their money or they might be cheap and nasty as well, which is what we've seen. So conveyancing generally is not a cheap process. There's a lot that goes into it and a lot of experience that goes into it. So, you know, standard price is probably around two grand-ish, at least in New South Wales, that would be pretty standard. If you're paying significantly more than that, I'd probably question it. I don't even think... in sydney you'd be kind of getting to the five k mark but yeah if you're paying kind of maybe three I'd probably be um or maybe yeah four I'd maybe be questioning that if you're paying something that's super super cheap like five hundred bucks I would be questioning that as well to make sure that there is nothing nasty that is going to pop up and also make sure that they're going to be doing their job for five hundred dollars so if they're not going to be reviewing the contract and negotiating on your behalf and stuff, you're probably not going to want to use that person because that's kind of, you know, big part of the conveyancing process. So yeah, just be those things in mind. If you are getting quotes, most businesses, I know we do do a cost agreement. So like, Hey, here is our costs. So definitely make sure you try and have something in writing from somebody, but yeah, That's pretty it. So recommend or for this podcast to anyone that's looking at buying, I say this is part two. There was a part one in relation to the initial three things that I recommend if you are buying. This podcast was obviously in relation into the balance of it. I could go into so much more detail, but I don't think you need to know what the other detail is. I think what I've shared today should be more than enough and obviously reach out if something has happened because sometimes those curly ones do get thrown in there but hopefully that helps you in relation to the conveyancing process other states are kind of similar but the process is also different as well like Queensland's different to New South Wales New South Wales is similar to Victoria. So today is purely New South Wales. But you know, at least the first three steps in part one would be Australia wide, the terminology and the processes would be a little bit different for the states outside of New South Wales. But if you get caught out we have any questions at all please reach out to your lawyer or conveyance though if you don't have one reach out to us and we'll be happy to answer them so thanks for joining me on another episode and I will catch you next time
