Once you have found the home of your dreams that you can afford you need to make an offer to the real estate agent. Here are a number of tips to assist when making an offer on real estate.
There are two ways to buying a home – Auction or Private Treaty (privately negotiated with the owner through the introducing agent).
Unlike some other states of Australia, when you make an offer in Queensland are primarily done in writing and when agreed between the parties this forms a valid contract of sale.
Contracts are not exchanged in Queensland as they are in some other states of Australia.
With an auction the conditions of the purchase are contained within the contract and are as set by the seller. In the majority of cases this will be a full 10% deposit required no finance or building inspections or other conditions and settlement to be within 30 days. For more information on purchasing at Auction see our Buying at Auction page.
With private treaty, you can make an offer to purchase in two ways, either unconditional or conditional. An unconditional offer means you are committed to buying the house as listed at the price agreed without any other conditions such as finance, building and pest inspections.
A conditional offer means that you will buy the property only if certain conditions are met. These must be listed on the offer documents detailing. For example, your offer may be conditional on arranging finance. If finance cannot be arranged within a certain period of time, the offer is void.
For your own protection, you should nominate a specific lender as your source of finance. Leaving out a nominated lender or having open-ended finance conditions when you make an Offer to Purchase may force you to take up finance at substantially higher rates, perhaps shorter terms, and from a lender you might not normally deal with. Always seek advice from your solicitor.
Another condition that might be worthwhile when you make an offer for older houses is a Improvement or Building Inspection report on the property whereby if a serious structural defect is found and the condition is not satisfied then the contract can be cancelled.
Your Offer is Accepted
Once your offer has been accepted to pay the deposit as specified in the offer document. You may have already paid a partial deposit or a ‘token deposit’ (prior to acceptance of the offer) as a show of good faith and your intention to buy. Of course, the balance of the deposit would be paid at a later date after acceptance.
The vendor will then sign the offer document. At this point, a ‘contract’ exists which legally binds you and the vendor.
Queensland does have a cooling off period of 5 business days for non-auction sales which enables you, the purchaser to terminate the Contract of Sale that you have entered into. If you are unsure about your rights, seek advice from your solicitor before entering into Contract Of Sale.
You should take a cover note Insurance on the property as soon as your offer is accepted.
More Information on Making an Offer
For more detailed information on real estate laws and handy tips on buying a home, as well as how to lodge a complaint and seek compensation for money lost on a bad deal, see the Buying a home fact sheet before you buy or download Real Estate Realities.
