Last year, I published an article about the “Great Australian Dream” and how difficult it can be to achieve. Now a year later, I’m writing about how we bought our first home in Australia (end of 2022). This is the part 2 so if you haven’t read the first installment yet, I would suggest that you do so.
Again, just a friendly reminder that the information that I will be sharing below is only based on what we have experienced. Your journey may differ slightly depending on your own personal circumstances.
Timeline
Making an offer and bidding at auctions
Once you have found a house that you like, the next step would be to make an offer and/or bid at auctions. If your home buying journey would be anything like ours, you’d probably have to make offers and bids over and over again until you finally get a property. Luckily, we didn’t really have to deal with the nitty-gritty of writing and submitting a formal offer nor did we have to attend the auctions in person since we had a buyer’s agent.
Our buyer’s agent took care of things like making an offer as well as attending and bidding at auctions on our behalf (while we’re on call), based on our instructions. The buyer’s agent also advised us of things like the value of a specific property and how much it would likely go for. Basically, he guided us through the whole process of buying a house.
We were able to secure our house through an auction. As with the other houses that we’ve tried to get before, our buyer’s agent has had a look at the house, sent us a video of it, briefed us a bit about the property (condition and location) prior to the auction. Also ahead of the auction, we have discussed our limit (maximum bid) with the agent.
Even though we weren’t physically present at the auction and can only participate over the phone through the agent, we still felt excited and anxious. Auctions don’t actually take too long, based on what we have experienced. Someone usually makes the winning bid in a matter of minutes after the initial bid yet it would feel like the longest couple of minutes of your life!
Auctions, I would say, are quite unpredictable. On one hand, it can be a great opportunity to get a property for a really good price yet on the other hand, bids can skyrocket in a matter of seconds. Some of the auctioned houses that we’ve tried to get were sold for 100k+ over the advertised price guide. And this has been the case for a lot of the real estate properties being sold in Australia recently, auctioned or not, because there is just so many people competing over the same properties.
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Auction won!
We couldn’t actually believe that we have won the auction when we did because we were so used to being outbid. I was actually already feeling kind of hopeless at that point. So as you can imagine, it felt surreal when we won. I was very happy and excited that we finally have our own home here in Australia. The happiness was quickly taken over by fear when the thought of having this huge new responsibility had dawned on me but I tried my best to shake it off and allow for some space in my head to celebrate.
Anyway, after winning the auction, some arrangements had to be made before the day of the settlement (1 month after auction). These are as follows:
- Pay a deposit – We had to make a deposit (around 5% of the purchase price) right after the auction has concluded.
- Legal Work (Signing Contracts, Conveyancing) – The buyer’s agent had signed some documents on our behalf after the auction and has put us in touch with a conveyancer. The conveyancer handled the legal processes involved with the purchase for us. If you’re looking for a conveyancer, your mortgage broker might also be able to recommend you someone they know. Otherwise, a quick Google search should do the trick.
- Get a formal approval – Our mortgage broker worked on getting the formal approval for us.
Waiting for settlement
At this stage, our buyer’s agent, mortgage broker and conveyancer were all working together while doing their specific roles to get us through to the settlement successfully. The buyer’s agent coordinated with everyone and advised us of what to do next such as getting a home insurance. We were told that a home insurance is something that the bank would want to see. The mortgage broker got us our formal approval (only took 1 1/2 weeks) and has assisted us through the signing of loan documents (i.e. explaining what we were signing etc.). The conveyancer continued processing the necessary legal paper work.
After everything was completed on our part, all we had to do really was to wait. On the day of the settlement, we were informed by the conveyancer, mortgage broker, and the buyer’s agent that we’re settled. We received the documents for the property from our conveyancer which she sent to us by mail.
The conveyancer that we used is Kathy from Distinctive Conveyancing Solutions. More information about her at the end of this article.
What I think of the whole journey
Buying a house, specially your first one, is a stressful and emotional journey. It’s a long and tricky process so it’s important that you find people you can trust to help you through it and make things a little bit easier for you. Being able to finally call a house your own is such a rewarding experience because it’s something that you have worked so hard to get.
Services we used
Having the guidance of professionals in the field has really helped us specially because it’s our very first real estate property purchase in Australia and we were buying interstate at that. We had no idea what we needed to do nor where to start. We couldn’t have done it without them.
Mortgage Broker/ Finance Broker
We used Alex Koutoulogenis of Significant Financial Solutions. (Update: Alex now has his own brokerage called The Finance Project.) He is a licensed credit representative. We found Alex through a Facebook group for Filipinos in Adelaide. Alex’ services didn’t cost us anything. A mortgage agent’s services are usually free as they get their commission from the bank.
A mortgage broker will help you in the financing part of your purchase. They would be able to present you with different loan solutions to choose from to find the one that would best suit your needs. Alex sent us some home loan product comparisons from different banks which included details such as interest rate, repayments, lender fees, loan features e.g. offset account etc. Your mortgage broker should also be able to handle the loan application process for you.
My husband and I highly recommend Alex and his team as we’ve had a great experience with them. We had so many questions, specially at the start and he’s patiently answered them all. I would say that he’s willing to go the extra mile when assisting his clients. We’ll definitely use Alex’ services again if we ever buy another property.
Get in touch with Alex here:
Facebook Page
Website
Office: Suite 1/193 North East Road, Hampstead Gardens SA
Buyer’s Agent
We used Pan Katranis of SA Wealth Group. Pan was introduced to us by our mortgage broker. Pan offered us a flat fee. Some buyer’s agent may charge a percentage of the property price. We paid him an engagement fee before he began the search. We paid the rest of his fee after the property was settled. Buyer’s agents’ fees would differ per agent and may also be based on the level of service that you would require.
A buyer’s agent is a licensed real estate agent who specialises in searching for and negotiating a property purchase on behalf of their client. They would also be able to attend things like inspections and auctions for you. Basically, they are real estate professionals who represent you, the buyer.
I definitely recommend engaging with a buyer’s agent such as Pan specifically if you’re buying in an area that you’re not familiar with, buying interstate, and/or buying an investment property. They would really help you in finding and actually securing the real estate property that you want. If you’re buying an investment property, the cost of having a buyer’s agent, I believe, is generally tax-deductible. Please ask your accountant for a professional advice regarding this.
Get in touch with Pan here:
Facebook page
Website
Office: Ground Floor, 145 South Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia
Conveyancer
We used Kathy Tziavrangos of Distinctive Conveyancing Solutions. Kathy is a registered conveyancer who was introduced to us by our buyer’s agent. Obviously, professional fees differ per person but would range from a little less than a thousand to a couple of thousands.
A conveyancer would be the person helping you with all the legal processes and documents involved in your real estate purchase.
We’ve had great experience with Kathy. We found that she handles things quickly and efficiently. She also responded to us fairly quickly, just within a matter of hours.
Get in touch with Kathy here:
Facebook Page
Website
Office: 145 South Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia
Conclusion
Again, I just want to highlight that all of the information that I have shared in this article are general in nature and are only based on what we have personally experienced. I recommend contacting relevant licensed professionals for advice in any and all matters discussed above. I hope this post has helped you get a step closer to achieving your Great Australian Dream. Good luck!
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Disclaimer All content and information in this post is for purposes of sharing my experiences only, does not constitute professional advice and does not establish any kind of professional-client relationship.
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