It is important that a buyer checks out the area in which he wishes to purchase a property to find out what prices have been obtained in the area. If it is an investment unit, you must buy in a building and location where people want to holiday; close to beach and shops and on the beachside of the highway.

Not having finance organised before offering to buy a Property!

 

By having finance already approved, it enables the buyer to sign an Unconditional Contract of Sale and gives better bargaining power to ask the owner to reduce his price by offering.

 

The buyer must know whether he has signed a Conditional Contract or an Unconditional Contract. If you need finance, you must have a 7-14 days subject to finance clause inserted into the Contract. If you are then unable to obtain finance this clause enables you to have your deposit refunded to you . Be sure all aspects of the Contract of Sale are explained before signing.

 

It is important that you have a Lawyer independent from the seller's lawyer to act for you. He will arrange settlement of the property, and adjust all outstanding payments that may need to be carried out before settlement. He will also do various searches on the property you purchase, to make sure your interests are looked after. When purchasing a property on the Gold Coast it’s better to use a local lawyer.

 

Your agent needs to be a reputable agent of long standing in the community, one that has a good knowledge of the area, is registered as a Licensed Real Estate Agent, operates his own Trust Account, and trades under his own name. This can be checked through the Office of Fair Trading, a government department here in Queensland that is responsible for the real estate industry.

 

It is important that all the items you have been told are being sold with the property are listed by way of an inventory, attached to the Contract of Sale . This must be signed by you and the Seller, and should be checked out by your Agent before settlement takes place.

 

It is important that you make sure that when buying off the plan that all information is explained and you are fully aware of what you are buying, including when the building is estimated to be completed. You need to be certain the price you are paying now is not over inflated, as you will be committed to pay this price on settlement. Remember the market does change and it is hard to estimate truly what the value of the property is going to be in 2-3 years.

 

With the foreign investment review board in Australia, anyone in the world can purchase brand new properties. Not everyone in the world is permitted to purchase established properties. This applies for all overseas countries except for New Zealand, whose buyers have the same rights as an Australian. This does effect the price of your property if you purchase a brand new property, then have to sell within a very short time. It means you come out the market which you bought in (anyone in the World) to a smaller market of only Australians and New Zealanders and your price could drop considerably. Australians and New Zealanders should be concentrating on buying established properties to avoid the problems created by this legislation. Not many Australians are aware of this situation. You must check it out.

 

Buyers must check outgoings and costs. If buying a Unit the cost per week of Body Corporate fees needs to be checked together with council rates and any other outgoings related to the property. Sometimes body corporate fees are advised to buyers, but on further investigation found they were incorrect. This could alter your estimations on costs.

 

When buyers are buying a unit for investment, they must check out what the returns are on the property. If the property is let out on a holiday or permanent basis, knowing the weekly returns you can expect to receive is critical. In addition to impacting your profit, returns are used by finance companies to make sure buyers can repay and service any loan. Finance Companies judge your ability to repay the loan more on the basis of what you can obtain on a permanent basis than on a holiday basis. Your real estate agent can inform you what figure you should receive on a permanent basis.