Step 4: Finalising your loan
The real estate agent will negotiate with you and the seller to come to a final price. Once you and the vendor have agreed, the real estate agent will then ensure that the contract is correctly executed. The contract will outline the amount you are offering, your finance details, the date you need to have your building & pest inspections completed by and any other special conditions you wish to have inserted. It’s a good idea to get your solicitor to check all these clauses and explain them to you before you sign anything.
The basic steps for this stage of the process include the following:
- You’ll be asked to pay a deposit to the agent to secure the property when you sign the contract. A good tip is to pay the minimum deposit the agent will accept at this point so you don’t lock up any more of your savings than you need to. The rest of your deposit can sit in your savings account until the time comes to finalise your purchase;
- Contact your credit union to arrange insurance cover immediately after you sign a contract to buy your home;
- Get the details of the searches that you should undertake from your solicitor. Pay special attention to the timeframes for things like getting a pest and building inspection and meeting the deadline for finance approval, which may only be 7 to 14 days from when the contract is signed;
- Ask your solicitor to explain the cooling off periods that apply to the contract and what penalties might apply if you need to pull out of the contract – both within and outside the cooling off period;
- As soon as you have your copy of the contract, bring it to Queenslanders so we can begin or resume the process of getting your loan finalised;
- Once we know there are no issues with the building and pest inspection, we’ll organise a formal valuation of the property by a qualified professional;
- The valuation is a bit like a road-worthy on a car – we need to make sure the property is worth what you are paying for it. There aren’t usually any hassles with the valuation, but in cases where the property is valued less than the agreed purchase price, we’ll work with you to explain your options on how to proceed;
- We’ll then issue a letter of approval which you can provide to your solicitor to confirm the contract will proceed. Shortly after this we will provide you with all the necessary loan and mortgage documents which you will sign, have witnessed and return to us. On the date of settlement, we’ll meet with the solicitors from both sides. We’ll hand over the money we draw from your loan and in return we get the Title Deed from the seller’s solicitor. We keep the Title Deed and register it with the Land Titles Office. You’re then right to move into your new home!
If all these steps seem a little daunting, don’t worry! As part of our commitment to provide ‘banking that’s personal’, we’ll help you through every step of the process, ensuring your home purchase runs as smoothly as possible.
To get started on buying your first (or next) home,
call Queenslanders on 1800 QLDERS today!