Buy

THE PROCESS OF PURCHASING A PROPERTY

The process of buying property here is quite straight forward and simple. Provided of course you follow a few simple steps. Once you have found the property you wish to buy, (assuming of course that you have been working with a Licensed Real Estate Agency), the order of events would be as follows; An agreement or offer is made up on the standard Law Society Agreement for Sale and Purchase. (This is the standard contract form used in New Zealand, and is approved by the Law Society and also the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand). The form would contain your full name and address and contact information together with your solicitor’s details if you have them. (not required immediately), but it is preferable to have a solicitor acting on your behalf as soon as possible. We are able to provide a list of local solicitors firms for you to choose from. This form or contract (to be filled out by the Real Estate sales person, or your solicitor) will contain your “offer”. That is, the amount you are prepared to pay for the property. This “offer”, may be your starting point, or your full and final price. In New Zealand it is common for purchaser and seller to enter into “negotiation” over price and terms and conditions until a satisfactory conclusion is reached The salesperson presents the offer to the seller on your behalf, and continues negotiations between all parties. Your initial offer will also contain certain terms and conditions. For example, you may wish to have this contract or offer conditional upon or subject to you arranging suitable finance, or having a building inspection completed to your satisfaction etc. There is no limit to the “conditions” that you may wish to include in your offer. Any such conditions would have an expiry or satisfaction date. This date would be the latest date that you would need to meet any conditions that you have included in your offer in order for the contract to either be completed, or cancelled. Also included in the contract would be such things as the date you wish to take possession of the property, the deposit payable, and any other instructions you choose to place into the contract. It is normal practice for a purchaser to pay an initial deposit. This is usually around 10% of the purchase price. This deposit is paid on the same day as the contract is signed by all parties. It must be noted that it is not a legal requirement to pay any deposit. However, it is a sign of Good Faith and also shows that you are not just trying to waist everyone’s time. Any deposit money paid by you would be totally refunded in the event that the contract is not completed provided however that you as purchaser were not in default of the terms and conditions of the contract or offer. When you have a contract in place that is conditional upon certain terms imposed by yourself, it is unlikely that the property can be sold to any other party. Until such time you cancel the contract due to not being able to fulfill your obligations under any terms and conditions you have imposed. For example, not being able to get the amount of finance you required, or not being satisfied with a building inspection of the property etc. The exception to this rule is whereby the seller inserts a clause into the contract that states that if they receive another offer more suitable to them, then they can give you as the purchaser a specified and pre arranged number of days to either confirm your contract to purchase, or cancel the contract and therefore allow the second purchasers contract to take effect. Once your contract has been declared “unconditional” that is, all terms and conditions satisfied, you are then deemed to be committed to purchasing the property and no other party can come in and purchase the property from under you. You would then pay for the property on the stated settlement date on the contract which is usually approximately three or four weeks after the date the contract is declared unconditional. It is important to note that when dealing through a Licensed Real Estate Agency, the whole process from the time you start looking at properties, to the day you pay or settle on the home of your choice, the real estate salesperson will be there helping you every step of the way. There is no fee payable by you as the purchaser to the real estate agent. It is the Vendor (seller), who pays the agent for their services. In the modern day of the internet, it is so easy to find properties and narrow the selection down before you even talk to an agent. Once you have your “short list”, that is the time to organize inspections of those properties. Be aware though, that not all available properties are placed on the internet. Therefore you should make contact with one of our sales people giving your criteria so that they can source appropriate properties for you. There are many properties that we know are going to become available that may suit your needs. The most important thing to remember when working with a real estate sales person, is to be honest and up front with your requirements. Allow the salesperson to ask you questions in order to find out what you are really going to end up buying. More often than not, purchaser’s end up buying something completely different to what they initially stated they were looking for. So in order to save you time, and not be shown properties that are not in your criteria, give the sales person as much information as possible. The process will be made a lot easier and more enjoyable for all parties concerned.