First House purchase? What to do?

[chb]

Hi All,

I'm looking at a house on the weekend and so far everything looks great, if the viewing goes well and I like what I see then I will make an offer. Just wondering whats entailed in "making an offer"? Is this written? Can I just tell the real estate agent?

I've had a read of the "are you looking to buy a property" pdf which is great. But I just wanted to confirm the little details such as when do I put in the caveats for finance/pest etc? Is that in my initial offer or in the contracts?

Do I have to pay for all the reports? What are your recommendations for a house? Pest and building report?

Thanks!

 

[jezza]

CHB

What process did you follow when buying your first place?

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65329

You can do a search on process for buyers and what items to put in contract ( finance, pest & building etc) on this site and there is heaps of threads to peruse. You put it in when you sign contract as once its signed thats it, no coming back for added extras

Not sure what you mean by report ( RPDATA ?) and house recommendations?

Make sure you get a building and pest report done, as mentioned put it as a clause in contract that it will be done within 5 days and this can easily be done.

Jezza

 

[chilliblue]

Congratulations on finding a property.

Once you have established that this is the property that you want and have established the price you are willling to pay and have your finances sorted the next step is to place an offer.

This may be done either verbally or in writing (this being my preference).

I detail all items that are subject to the offer and submit a copy to the Vendors solicitor (noted on the contract of sale)

The offer can be something similar to:

Dear Agent Name

Please take this email/letter as a conditional offer for Address of Premises.

Purchasers Name: Your Name/s

Address: Your Details

Contact: Email address/telephone numbers

Offer Price: $ expiring close of business Date

Other Conditions of Offer:

- Subject to our legal review being satisfactory
- Subject to satisfactory building and pest report
- Premises are to taken off the market until 2 working days after Building and Pest Report is returned
- Subject to finance (if any)
- All locks to have at least one key supplied
- Any remote controllers to be nominated and supplied
- Premises are to be left in a clean state prior to settlement
- All appliances, fixtures and fittings are to be in working order
- Permission to access the property to show potential tenants and tradespersons through
- Any alarm codes, safe codes etc to be supplied
- Any agreed works the agent has stated the Vendor will complete is included
- Any fixture or fitting not stated on the contractor to be detailed
- Requirement of at least 30 minutes for the pre settlement inspection and that power and gas is to be connected

Hope this helps.

 

[The Y-man]

Hi All,

I'm looking at a house on the weekend and so far everything looks great, if the viewing goes well and I like what I see then I will make an offer. Just wondering whats entailed in "making an offer"? Is this written? Can I just tell the real estate agent?

I've had a read of the "are you looking to buy a property" pdf which is great. But I just wanted to confirm the little details such as when do I put in the caveats for finance/pest etc? Is that in my initial offer or in the contracts?

Do I have to pay for all the reports? What are your recommendations for a house? Pest and building report?

Thanks!

In Victoria, the offer is made on the contract attached to the Section 32.

So the first step is to ask for the s32.

Read through it carefully - including looking at the flood rating, easements, caveats etc.

If you are happy with it, the offer is made by filling in the offer price signing the s32 and giving it to the agent (who will give it to the vendors. If the vendors like the offer, they will countersign and the deal is done).

With inspections, conditions etc, these are all written on the contract page as special condtitions.
Read this forum carefully regarding the wording.
You pay for all the inspections reports etc.

Having said that, my preferred option is to go in with pest/building inspection already done, which I use as a negoatiating tool to "justify" a lower offer price.

The Y-man

 

[chb]

Thanks all very much for the advice! Looks like s32 is the way to go. As for "found a place" let's hope the viewing turns out ok. I've had a few experiences now where the house in real life was in a bad condition. My first place was a block of land and building a house on it so was completely different(I think?). Didn't have a chance to negotiate on the land anyway as it was from the developer


Y-Man what happens if you do all those inspections and someone outbids you?? Isn't that risky?

 

[The Y-man]

Y-Man what happens if you do all those inspections and someone outbids you?? Isn't that risky?

An inspection costs a few hundred dollars (well probably more these days)

But if you can talk down the price of one property $20,000 in purchase price, that pays for a lot of inspections.....

Remember that the someone who outbids/outprices you is either taking on a risk (no inspection), the same risk (has done inspection and is willing to go higher), or the vendor is taking a risk (they'd have to be confident there is nothing wrong, and that the buyer won;t pull a shifty and pull out)

As a vendor, I would always sell to a lower unconditional offer than a higher conditional (even if it was over 10% higher)

The Y-man

 

[chilliblue]

The purchase has to be non emotional and there are several threads on this site that people have not undertaken the correct searches, bid over their reserve to discover serious problems later.

With my last purchase, we lost $450 on an inspection report for a property that has an estimated $45 damage. We did not purchase that property but another investor did without undertaking any inspection.

They are now still working on repairing "their bargain" whilst we have had a tenant paying rent for several weeks in the next house we placed an offer on.

 

[chb]

Hi guys,

The previous place didn't work out too great.. but found another i'm interested in. It's a two years old house so some items would be under builder warranty still I'd imagine?(I don't think warranty ceases by change of ownership). Would you still get a building inspection?

Cheers

 

[chilliblue]

Check - never assume.

I would always unertake a building and pest report no matter the age.

 

[The Y-man]

. It's a two years old house so some items would be under builder warranty still I'd imagine?(I don't think warranty ceases by change of ownership).

No..... but I've had builder's disappear straight after building etc (to rebirth as a different company I guess) - so getting anything repaired under the warranty is very difficult unless you know the builders are astill around and they acknowledge they built it.

The Y-man

 

[neofite]

I detail all items that are subject to the offer and submit a copy to the Vendors solicitor (noted on the contract of sale)

Hi Chilliblue,

Quick question. Is it legal to submit a copy to the vendors' solicitor? At the moment, we are making offers to the agent and we are not sure if the vendor is aware of the offers (since the agent keeps rejecting all our offers). Our idea is to mail the vendor the offer letter (his/her address is in the Section 32). Is it a better idea to submit a copy to the vendor's solicitor instead?

Best regards.