Dreaming of owning a slice of Melbourne from afar?
Whether you’re an investor or looking for a future home, looking for an apartment in the city or a house in the suburbs, navigating the Melbourne property market from overseas can be a thrilling yet complex journey.
Let’s explore the essential steps to make your dream a reality.
Finance Approval
The best people to speak to about how much you can safely spend are mortgage brokers. They have access to many banks and hundreds of different loan products.
They are experts at understanding the process involved in submitting paperwork for finance approval and can make all the difference by avoiding the use of LMIs (Lenders Mortgage Insurance). The best part of using a mortgage broker is their fees are paid by the bank you draw your loan from, hence you don’t pay them anything upfront.
A Deposit
When a real estate agent presents offers to the sellers, a crucial part of the offer is a substantial deposit, typically around 10% of the purchase price.
This deposit is generally paid directly to the real estate agent within 7 days of signing the property contract. However, in many cases, the timeline can be negotiated, often extending up to 14 days. This amount is not financed, rather cash saving.
Legal Representatives.
Conveyances or Property Lawyers take over once the contract of sale has been signed. It is wise to get the property contact of sale read over by them before signing.
So, what do they do? They focus on fulfilling any conditions listed in the contract, they help settle the property (which means making sure the property is signed over to the buyer) and every implicated party knows it is yours (local council, water authority’s, power authorities etc). Visit the Law Institute of Victoria to find a solicitor in your area.
Legal representatives will also assist in helping you pay the Government taxes involved in buying real estate.
Paying taxes and stamp duty.
Stamp duty is a tax associated with every property purchase, is paid at the time of settlement. The state revenue office has provided a Land transfer (stamp duty) calculator to give you an accurate estimate.
Temporary Residence.
Government Grants
Over the last 20 years the first home buyers population has shrunk due to the high price of property in Melbourne, so the State and Federal Governments can offer assistance.
The Victorian Government’s First Home Owners Grant offers a one-off payment of $10,000 to people who bought their very first home.
There may also be some concessions that you are eligible for as a first home buyer. As with every government assistance offer, there is a small mountain of paperwork involved but well worth it.
The only requirement for availing first home owners grants is typically the need to reside in the property for a consecutive 12-month period immediately following the purchase.
Which Should You Buy: Apartment or House?
Deciding between a house and an apartment can be a tough choice for homebuyers. The right option for you will depend on your financial situation, lifestyle preferences, and future plans.
Lifestyle Considerations
Owning a house provides the freedom to renovate and customize your space as you see fit. Apartment living can be more convenient in terms of general maintenance and often places you closer to work, public transport, and the vibrant cafes, restaurants, and bars typically found in inner-city areas. Additionally, many apartment buildings offer desirable amenities like gyms, pools, shared gardens, playgrounds, and rooftop terraces.
Are you planning to start a family, or do you have children who will soon be moving out? Also, think about ongoing costs. Houses generally come with higher maintenance expenses, as homeowners are responsible for everything on the property, including the garden.
Apartment owners are usually responsible for repairs and maintenance within their unit but may also pay owners’ corporation or strata fees for the upkeep of common areas, building insurance, and future works. These fees vary depending on the facilities offered in the building.
Financial Implications
Apartments are typically more affordable than houses, which means you could save money and take on a smaller mortgage by choosing an apartment. However, apartments may offer less potential for capital growth, especially in areas with a high concentration of similar properties.
You might have to fly down to melbourne for this step or hire someone that works in the market place like a buyers agent.
Buyers agents are former real estate agents specializing exclusively in property acquisition. They engage with agents regularly and are adept at overseeing the entire process, including house selection, determining market value, negotiating with agents, and finalizing the deal.
Typically, they provide videos of their inspections, market valuations, and coordinate processes such as building and pest inspections.
This phase becomes challenging because each property is unique in terms of value, build quality, and structural integrity. The price of a property can fluctuate based on factors such as land size, proximity to transportation or shopping centers, and the condition of fixtures and fittings.
Upon identifying the ideal property, the buyers agent will act on your behalf in auction or private negotiation. Given the competitiveness of the Melbourne property market, it’s crucial to employ a strategic approach when negotiating with real estate agents and other buyers.
This underscores the significance of selecting a buyers agent with the highest success rate.
Regardless of where you live, whether that is China, Singapore, New Zealand or even London, buying a property can be a difficult process, and this is where our Senior Buyer Advocates, can assist you and make sure that your purchase will be handled in stress free environment.
Wise Real Estate Advice is based solely in Melbourne based buyers agent where we have experts who have been in the field of real estate for over 20 years and full understand Melbourne’s Property Market. Because we are just in Melbourne, this will ensure all our clients will receive quality properties due to the high expertise of the local property market.
At Wise Real Estate Advice we ensure all boxes are ticked and that sincere care is taken when providing a buyer with the wise advice and action required throughout the buying process. To speak to one of our friendly buyer’s agents click here to fill out an enquiry form.
Many first homebuyers fail to budget for the full costs associated with buying a house. A buyer’s advocate will take into consideration the hidden cost’s when negotiating a final price for a property.
Example: a finance cause allows a buyer to terminate the contract if finance is declined, hence all deposit moneys will be paid back to the buyer with no penalty charges.
A common mistake property buyer’s make is letting real estate agents influence what you insert into a contract of sale. The correct wording of a contract clauses can allow a buyer to terminate a contract of sale without losing any money hence reducing the risk involved in purchasing. Incorrect clauses can force a buyer in to purchasing a dodgy house, major repair bills or not losing a 10% deposit. Below are a few example clauses real estate agents should not insert into a contract as they represent the sellers interest not the buyer:
Short finance periods can allow vendors an opportunity to end a contract of sale due to the buyer not being able to obtain finance approval in time. The benefit to the vendor terminating a contract is accepting a higher offer from another buyer, a common occurrence in a hot real estate market. It’s much better to have a longer period to secure financing at least 21 days.
Not having finance lined up exposes first homebuyers to the emotional distress of losing their dream home. ‘The devil is in the detail,’ and when bank’s offer conditional approval it’s up to the buyer to meet the conditions of the approval. A good buyer’s agent will make sure these conditions are fulfilled to reduce risk to the buyer. Example: buying a property at auctions with a conditional approval can expose the buyer to huge financial loss if finance is declined.
Wise Real Estate Advice will provide you with all the assistance that you need, where we been able to purchase a quality property within 2 to 4 weeks of clients makes contact with us, whether that is an investor or an owner occupier. By contacting one of our buyer’s agent, not only will they secure a quality property, but they will efficiently secure a property so that time is not wasted. The reason why we do not waste any time with our clients is because we understand the market properly, meaning that we won’t attend any auctions that our advocates don’t think they can’t win.
Another reason why we are successful in securing properties, is because we have access to properties that are not publicly available. We also have access to off-market properties through close relationships with real estate agents, meaning we have a larger pool of properties that we can potentially secure.
Wise Real Estate Advice are experts in matching your needs with the best property. The way we do this is that we take the time to fully understand our clients, where we sit down with them over coffee or if they are overseas we face time, and discuss important information in order to meet their needs. We often buy properties for buyer that are wishing to move back to Australia, where they may need to secure a property within a matter of a few weeks. While we try to secure a property for our overseas clients, we are constantly ticking off boxes that our clients want, whether that is buying a property close to schools, or whether it is purchasing a property near public transport, or both. Regardless if you are planning to move in quickly or to hold onto a property for investment purposes, Wise Real Estate Advice will ensure that your needs are met.
If you decide to purchase an investment property, Wise Real Estate Advice is perfect for you as we store important items for the management of your property, including lease agreements and inspection reports. We also work as an intermediary as we are a central connector to many other service providers, relevant to your property, such as financial planners, solicitors, building inspectors, accountants and mortgage brokers. Lastly if you are a foreign investor, Wise Real Estate Advice will ensure you purchase a property within Australia’s legislations.
Wise Real Estate Advice, take a fixed fee for their services and not a percentage, regardless of your circumstances, whether you have a high budget or a low budget, meaning we have no incentive of trying to push your budget.
