Conveyancing / Buying & Selling Property

I’m a first home buyer and am looking to purchase a property…. what do I do??

At Access we know how daunting it can be for first home buyers when they purchase their first home. To help you purchase your first home we recommend the following steps be taken in order for you to be in the best position to make an offer on a property when you find it.

FIRSTLY:-

Obtain a pre-loan approval from your financier so that you know how much the bank is willing to lend you to purchase your first home. You will then have an idea as to what your maximum spending capacity is for your first home and have less of a chance of going over your budget.

You should also have a rough idea as the costs of obtaining a Pest and Building Report, Strata Inspection Report (if the property is a unit or townhouse) and legal fees in relation to your transaction that way you will be able to apply a budget for the whole cost of the conveyancing process.

If you wish to know more about the costs involved in purchasing property, please contact our conveyancing department on (02) 4220  7100.

SECONDLY:-

Find the property you are looking for (even if it’s an auction):

• Ask as to review the marketing contract at no obligation;
• obtain a pest and building report or strata inspection report and if alls well;
• make an offer with the agent;
• if your bidding at an auction please get advice from us about how to compete at the auction.

If you are selling at auction we will also attend to make sure we assist with the negotiations and the exchange of the contracts after the hammer falls.

We will also be free to talk to you by mobile if the auction falls outside of hours.

Put simply we make sure we support you through the process so you secure the property.

Once your offer is accepted the agent will send a sales advice to the Vendor’s Solicitors and they will prepare the Contract for Sale and forward it to us for review.

Once the Contract is received by us we will contact you to make an appointment to go through the Contract in more detail. We will also arrange for any pre-purchase inspection reports required by you at your request (as mentioned above) and provide a copy of the Contract to your financier so that a formal loan approval can be given prior to entering into the Contract.

You may also like to obtain other reports like a survey report from a qualified surveyor or building certificate from Council. We can advise you further as to the reasons for obtaining other reports and whether it is recommended you do so.

Following the receipt of satisfactory reports and a formal loan approval we will proceed to a formal exchange of Contracts and continue on to settlement of the matter for you. The formal settlement of the matter is when payment is made to the Vendor for the property and the Title Deeds for the property are registered in your name as the registered proprietor.

We have owned property before but wish to purchase again!

As well as helping our first home buyers with their first home we also enjoy helping others that have already previously owned property.

Once you have found your desired new property and your offer is accepted we will contact you upon receipt of the Contract for Sale from the Vendors Solicitors.

We will then organise a time for you to meet with our team and we will explain in detail the provisions of the Contract and the property you are purchasing.

As with first home buyers the following specialist reports can be obtained on your instruction in relation to the property:-

• Pest and Building Report – This report will indicate whether there is any pest infestation (like termites) or whether there was previous pest activity. The report will also advise of any rectification works needed to be undertaken on the building and if there are any major problems with it.
• Strata Inspection Report (for units or townhouses).
• Survey Report – which will confirm the dimensions of the land you are purchasing and where the building sits inside the dimensions of the Land. The report will make sure there are no encroachments on the land. Your financier may require this report and if it is needed we can organise it for you.
• Building Certificate – this certificate can be obtained from Council to confirm that the structure on the property was built in accordance with Council’s plans and regulations. Once again, your financier may require this certificate, and if needed, we can organise it for you.

Following the receipt of satisfactory reports and a formal loan approval we will proceed to a formal exchange of Contracts and continue on to settlement of the matter for you.

We have a property we would like to sell… What do we do?

If you would like to sell to sell your property the first step is to contact us to organise the necessary searches to complete the Contract. You may choose to market the property with or without the  help of an agent, in New South Wales a Contract for Sale must be available prior to the property being marketed. It is illegal to market a residential property for sale without a Contract.

We will organise the following searches on your behalf in order to complete the Contract:-

• Title search indicating the formal legal details of the property.
• The Plan of the land showing the location of the property.
• Any easements, rights of way, or covenants that may be attached to the property.
• The zoning Certificate from your local Council.
• Sewer diagram indicating the location of the sewer mains and/or connections to the property and improvements on the land.
• If the property is part of a Strata Plan we would also obtain the Common Property Certificate for the Owners Corporation and any by-laws created by the Owners Corporation for the Strata Plan.

We will also obtain details form you as to:-

• The list of items that are to remain with the property upon selling like insect screens, dishwasher, stove and range hood.
• The list of items that you may wish to take with you upon selling the property (called exclusions) like an outdoor BBQ.
• Any works you may have undertaken on the property since you owned it and details of any Council Approved Plans, Final Occupation Certificate or Home Owners Warranty Insurance Certificate.
• Any matters which may require us to draft special conditions for the Contract to protect your interests.

Following ascertaining the above details from you we will arrange for a copy of the Contact for Sale to be provided to the Agent for marketing purposes.

All you need to do then is sit back and wait for the right purchaser to offer the right price for your property.