cooling off period quick question.

Hey everyone, just put an offer in on a house yesterday, it was a conditional offer subject to finance with ANZ and also with a building inspection.

After sleeping on it last night, im no longer sure about it. Its really flexing the budget, and im a bit worried about the housing prices at the moment, and pretty fearful of rising interest rates.

Im in a battle with offers and we are at the same price apparently as another couple. im thinking of pulling out, would it be the moral thing to call up the real estate agent now and let them know, or wait until tommorrow and hand in a letter?

also, how do i go about pulling out of the contract during the cooling off period? A letter? or can i just call up? i want to do the right thing by the agents, as we are looking at a cheaper version of a similar house we would like to put an offer in on instead now tto free up some cash flow.

thanks heaps for any advice.
 
...... im a bit worried about the housing prices at the moment, and pretty fearful of rising interest rates.
Grooooooan.

.........would it be the moral thing to call up the real estate agent now and let them know, or wait until tommorrow and hand in a letter?
You are using moral and real estate agent in the same sentence - very funny :p

also, how do i go about pulling out of the contract during the cooling off period? A letter?
A letter

or can i just call up?
A letter

i want to do the right thing by the agents....
You are very funny....relax. Make a phone call for sure but follow it up with a letter.
 
haha. thanks propurtunity. Makes me feel a bit less like a bad guy. Why the groan though? im just worried that our repayments are almost at our maximum as they are, and if rates go up to around 8.5% i was worried that will put us in an ugly position to have to sell our investment property, probably around the same time as other people who have over commited to big mortgages. Sound unreasonable? just curious. thanks for your speedy reply before.
 
Why the groan though? im just worried that our repayments are almost at our maximum as they are, and if rates go up to around 8.5% i was worried that will put us in an ugly position to have to sell our investment property, probably around the same time as other people who have over commited to big mortgages. Sound unreasonable?

Hi, The groan was because you expressed 'fear'. Buying property is not for the fearful :)

Also, if an IR rise will force you to sell - then really you are over-committing. You need to allow for a 2% rise at least and still be able to hold. You cannot put yourself in a position of hanging onto your seat in front of the TV news, white-knuckled, on the 1st Tuesday of every month hoping to God that the RBA do not raise IRs.
 
Hey everyone, just put an offer in on a house yesterday, it was a conditional offer subject to finance with ANZ and also with a building inspection.

After sleeping on it last night, im no longer sure about it. Its really flexing the budget, and im a bit worried about the housing prices at the moment, and pretty fearful of rising interest rates.

Im in a battle with offers and we are at the same price apparently as another couple. im thinking of pulling out, would it be the moral thing to call up the real estate agent now and let them know, or wait until tommorrow and hand in a letter?

also, how do i go about pulling out of the contract during the cooling off period? A letter? or can i just call up? i want to do the right thing by the agents, as we are looking at a cheaper version of a similar house we would like to put an offer in on instead now tto free up some cash flow.

thanks heaps for any advice.
Draft up a letter in the way you want,and make 2 ,,walk down the post office register both letters,then post one and keep the other copy in your files,wait 24 hours then ring the agent,after all 80%of the total real estate housing market in Australia does not have to buy nor do they have to sell.. this is what i have done in the past what you do is up to you..imho..willair..
 
Hi Startingnow

Mate you need to advice in writing. Your contract probably is already with the Conveyancing solicitor by now so you need to involve them in the process for terminating the contract within the cooling off period.

In Qld Sellers can charge 0.25% fee of the purchase price if the contract is terminated by the buyer within the cooling off period, not sure in other states, I would assume they are more or less the same.

As a courtesy I probably will call the agent as well, poor bugger is not going to have pleasant news to his ears :)

CrazynWild
 
yeah, thanks for the advice. i was looking at fixing a rate for a couple of years. We can still just hold on with a 2% rise, but not too much more than that. thanks willair aswell.

I was thinking of posting a letter in the morning as i have until wednesday to "cool off". I was just scared of the letter getting "lost in the post". I think i will just go in the afternoon after work and hand in the letter personally.
 
Im in a battle with offers and we are at the same price apparently as another couple. im thinking of pulling out, would it be the moral thing to call up the real estate agent now and let them know, or wait until tommorrow and hand in a letter?

I'm confused, has the offer been accepted? If not, then get the letter off ASAP to say you withdraw your offer (I would advise by phone, fax and registered mail), because my understanding is then you don't have to pay that small fee, whatever it is if you pull out during the cooling off period.

The cooling off period gets you out of a legally binding contract within 3 business days if you change your mind, for a fee, but if the offer hasn't been accepted then there isn't even a legally binding contract.

Things might be different in other states, or I might be misunderstanding or missing something. But that's how I understand it to be, and I'm not entirely sure of your position at the moment.
 
thanks crazynwild. I still havent been told my offer has been accepted. they tell me its between me and another couple who have put in the same offer. That why i was thinking of contacting the estate agent to tell him just to give it to them to save stuffing around. (assumng his not lying there is another buyer?)

Wow, thats a hefty penalty in qld! i hope victoria is not as bad :eek:

Because my offer is subject to finance, couldnt i just say the finance didnt get accepted? Is there still a penalty then?
 
startingnow

I can understsand being in this predicament at a auction as people like the competetion and become emotional. But why did you put the in the offer in the first place. Are yoiu confident ANZ is going to come back with a OK

Jezza
 
. I was just scared of the letter getting "lost in the post". I think i will just go in the afternoon after work and hand in the letter personally.
It will not get lost with the system in place,you pay the extra few dollars post it they sign for it,you can track the letter online,end of story,btw don't go in,:). you are just a number on the re list once you understand that simple fact you will start to see things different....willair..
 
I think i will just go in the afternoon after work and hand in the letter personally.

If you DO go in, make a copy and get both date stamped and signed - they keep one and you keep one. Make sure it's before 4 pm. It's amazing how things get "lost" in real estate offices.

Better to do it Willair's way.
 
thanks everyone for the replies. the end result was that we just got beaten by the other buyers bid anyway. I found out about 20 minutes ago via text msg. So i guess im in the clear and learnt something new today. Not bad for a sunday :)

Thanks again
 
Did you sign a contract and was waiting for the vendor to accept and sign it? If so, I wonder what happens if the other contract falls through, and the vendor signs yours?
 
Did you sign a contract and was waiting for the vendor to accept and sign it? If so, I wonder what happens if the other contract falls through, and the vendor signs yours?

I believe the text message sent by the agent could be considered as declining the offer. Once this has happened, they are unable to accept the offer unless it is renew. The fact they have signed contracts means nothing if the offer was withdrawn or declined before acceptance of that offer was communicated to the offeror.

Given that your offer had not been accepted, you were free to withdraw your offer at any time before its acceptance was communicated to you. Phone is a valid method to withdraw an offer and i would recommend it over post in this case contrary to what others have said. Your offer is not effectively withdrawn until communicated and as such your offer would not be revoked until the letter is recieved. In this time period they could have accepted your offer, this is not the case with a phone call.
 
. Phone is a valid method to withdraw an offer and i would recommend it over post in this case contrary to what others have said.
There is no in betweens with registered mail,they have the copy and so do you :)how do you back up a phonecall,not all re play the game as you claim they do,well not from my experience..willair..
 
:confused: I was under the impression that during the cooling off period the buyer can pull out, no questions asked...is this correct?

Not here in Victoria, it's $100 or 0.2% of the purchase price, whichever is greater. Fair enough, otherwise you'd get people making offers all over the place knowing they could pull out with no penalty (except maybe being told to bugger off from a real estate agent you had pulled out on).
 
Was the offer an actual copy of the contract with your signature on it? Or just a letter saying "I'm interested in buying this property for $blah"

I'm under the impression that there's no legal commitment with the latter?
 
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