QLD Buying Process

[dammit]

Being a mexican formerly from south of the border..things were done a little differently back there when it comes to the buying process for Queensland.

I thought I would share what I know and ask a few questions to spark some discussion on the topic:

It seems in QLD that on settlement day there is only one thing to do -> Settle. In NSW etc if you are late/delayed you can still end up buying the house, yes there may be penalties but usually the vendor submits a notice which you get 14 days to settle. in QLD it seems if you miss settlement day for whatever reason - 1 you forfeit your deposit completely and 2 you lose the house and basically the contract gets ripped up (if the vendor chooses to do this), and you have to start again with something else.

It's impossible to get gazumped in QLD, well at least I think it is, because to make an offer you basically sign the whole contract of the house and then fill out your proposed price etc it goes to the vendor they either sign to accept then contracts are exchanged or they cross it out write a different figure and send it back to you.

Settlement period in QLD is normally 30 days - why so short? Is it because there is such an efficient/effective conveyancing system here?? How on earth am I going to get my bank to be able to settle in 30 days when they can't even do a pre-approval in 7 days? I wonder when I get pre-approval, if the bank will guarantee they can meet the 30 day settlement, do banks guarantee anything?

In NSW, settlement is more likely 6 weeks. I dont know how many sellers in QLD accept 6 week or settlement terms beyond 30 days ?

QLD almost all contracts are subject to pest building and finance, because you just tick a couple of boxes and put your dates in and then its in the contract.

One thing im still working out is if you put an offer in via a signed contract, but only want it valid for 24 hours, you can write a clause in the contract but its not going to be binding because its not a valid contract until the other person signs it, so it seems if this happens the only way to deal with it is to collect your contract or fax a notice to the agent saying you no longer authorise them to accept/enter into the contract.

That should get things started Pls correct me if i'm wrong on anything.

 

[Andrew_A]

Try for 45 or 60 day settlement, or 35 even, better than 30, a lot of sellers will accept more than 30.

Banks guaranteeing meeting settlement? That made me smile

You can withdraw an offer at anytime, or just have a date and time for the offer expiry as you mention, never had a problem with that. Generally as the contract is quite favourable to the buyer in QLD sellers are just conditioned to expect buyers to withdraw at different stages and to accept unfavourable clauses and conditions.

 

[tesse001]

At present it would be wise to arrange for 21 finance and 45 day settlement. Just about all lenders don't have an issue meeting the settlement deadlines in this instance.
Finance clauses seem to be the "opt out" period for most buyers and it takes very little to have finance declined and for contract to be null and void.
Good luck

 

[wylie]

Being a mexican formerly from south of the border..
We Queenslanders will try not to hold that against you .

It seems in QLD that on settlement day there is only one thing to do -> Settle. In NSW etc if you are late/delayed you can still end up buying the house, yes there may be penalties but usually the vendor submits a notice which you get 14 days to settle. in QLD it seems if you miss settlement day for whatever reason - 1 you forfeit your deposit completely and 2 you lose the house and basically the contract gets ripped up (if the vendor chooses to do this), and you have to start again with something else.

My son's settlement was held up by the banks twice (over the Christmas/New Year period). On both occasions our solicitor called vendor's solicitor and the settlement was postponed. No penalties were asked for from the vendor, even though he could have asked for penalty interest. If the vendor wants to settle, he will work with the purchaser, in my experience.

It's impossible to get gazumped in QLD..... and this is why I LOVE our system. Once the signatures are on the contract, it is a contract.

Settlement period in QLD is normally 30 days - why so short? Is it because there is such an efficient/effective conveyancing system here??

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!! We have settled in 30 days many times over the years, but I wouldn't like to do it now. The banks just cannot seem to get their acts together.

In NSW, settlement is more likely 6 weeks. I dont know how many sellers in QLD accept 6 week or settlement terms beyond 30 days ?

If the price is right, settlement at 45 days or 60 days is not uncommon.

See..... we're really not THAT different up here

 

[tcocaro]

Sales process in QLD is VERY buyer beware unlike NSW (or atleast to a much lesser extent).

There is no requirement to have any annexures in a QLD contract. Further more there is no such thing as a QLD contract as there are numerous versions, from differing suppliers, old predated versions etc etc.

Building & Pest, Finance boxes are ticked very often because agents simply print\photocopy so many of these contracts that there is a lot less focus placed on drafting them correctly.

The most frustrating thing about QLD contracts (I find) is agents incorrect interpretation of the clauses particularly those that constitute what an "offer" is. There is a mistaken understanding that an offer has to be in writing (this is correct) however unoyingly, sharky and I feel shifty agents will try to push every offer to be in the form of a contract under the guise that ONLY this constitues a "written" offer. This is highly irritating when I know they are just trying to make themselves look good in clients eyes OR they know they can shift a vendor in signing an inferior offer if its in the form of a contract. The "all you have to do is sign and its sold" is a powerful motivator.

The exchange process by fax\email in QLD is idiotic and under close scrutiny given the convuluted process and parts that need to be faxed\emailed in order I would suspect many people could bail on a contract due to this if they wanted to.

You can always get guzumped under any system. In QLD agent simply hold off telling the vendor or tell the vendor to drag their feet and wait for something better. A signed contract is nothing but an offer until its signed by both parties.

Missing settlement is a lot more dangerous in QLD than it is in NSW granted. I would suspect however that a vendor trying to cancel a contract due to missing a settlement date (by say a day) AND keeping the deposit may face difficulty in holding such a position in court\challenge.

The QLD way of doing things greatly benefit professional buyers\investors\developers etc as we can move quickly on contracts e.g. one drafted\signed\executed in literally 5 mins. This is near impossible in NSW.

However this convenience has a flipside in increasing the risk for all others. You can easily stuff things up.

Cutting a long story short you can easily stuff up a QLD contract, much hard to do that in NSW.

Being a mexican formerly from south of the border..things were done a little differently back there when it comes to the buying process for Queensland.

I thought I would share what I know and ask a few questions to spark some discussion on the topic:

It seems in QLD that on settlement day there is only one thing to do -> Settle. In NSW etc if you are late/delayed you can still end up buying the house, yes there may be penalties but usually the vendor submits a notice which you get 14 days to settle. in QLD it seems if you miss settlement day for whatever reason - 1 you forfeit your deposit completely and 2 you lose the house and basically the contract gets ripped up (if the vendor chooses to do this), and you have to start again with something else.

It's impossible to get gazumped in QLD, well at least I think it is, because to make an offer you basically sign the whole contract of the house and then fill out your proposed price etc it goes to the vendor they either sign to accept then contracts are exchanged or they cross it out write a different figure and send it back to you.

Settlement period in QLD is normally 30 days - why so short? Is it because there is such an efficient/effective conveyancing system here?? How on earth am I going to get my bank to be able to settle in 30 days when they can't even do a pre-approval in 7 days? I wonder when I get pre-approval, if the bank will guarantee they can meet the 30 day settlement, do banks guarantee anything?

In NSW, settlement is more likely 6 weeks. I dont know how many sellers in QLD accept 6 week or settlement terms beyond 30 days ?

QLD almost all contracts are subject to pest building and finance, because you just tick a couple of boxes and put your dates in and then its in the contract.

One thing im still working out is if you put an offer in via a signed contract, but only want it valid for 24 hours, you can write a clause in the contract but its not going to be binding because its not a valid contract until the other person signs it, so it seems if this happens the only way to deal with it is to collect your contract or fax a notice to the agent saying you no longer authorise them to accept/enter into the contract.

That should get things started Pls correct me if i'm wrong on anything.

 

[wylie]

The "all you have to do is sign and its sold" is a powerful motivator.

This is what I DO like as a buyer, when I really want the place. Once the contract is signed by both parties it is a contract. My understanding of the NSW system is that a letter of offer is just that, and until the ACTUAL contract is signed, you can be gazumped, or the vendor could simply change his/her mind?

You can always get guzumped under any system. In QLD agent simply hold off telling the vendor or tell the vendor to drag their feet and wait for something better. A signed contract is nothing but an offer until its signed by both parties.

This is precisely why I like offering on a contract. Once the vendor signs, it is a contract. I have never bought outside of Queensland, so not sure how I would feel about signing a letter of offer (or whatever the process is called) and then find the agent of vendor has decided to accept a different purchaser, for whatever reason.

I would acknowledge that until the actual contract is signed by both parties, it is not a contract, and my understanding (and advice from solicitors) is that "verbal" contracts are not worth the paper they are (not) written on.

We once wanted to buy a house. It was a deceased estate so the contract would be signed by a solicitor acting for the three children of the deceased owner. A price had been offered on the Saturday and agreed by the solicitor. No contract was signed, but the purchaser was also a solicitor (trouble ahead ).

A verbal offer is nothing but the solicitor purchaser told the principal of the agency that if he was gazumped, he would sue her. We put a contract in at $15K more than the verbal offer ($330K verbal offer, we offered $345K on paper). Our contract (we are very, very sure) never even went further than the principal. She wasn't going to risk being sued, even though we believe she had no risk at all. We did check with our own solicitor and were told a verbal offer was "nothing".

I am very, very sure that those three adult children never knew they could have accepted $15K more. I never liked this principal, and after this incident had NO regard for her at all. We were devastated, but of course, got over it with time.

Cutting a long story short you can easily stuff up a QLD contract, much hard to do that in NSW.

To me the downside is that a quick decision to go straight to contract means there is no room to back out, especially on a clean contract, which I like, and which we have used when the house is a good one, and we want to have the best chance of being the winning contract, though nowdays with cooling off clauses that is less of a problem.

 

[dammit]

great feedback everyone.

at the offer stage, if you find flaws before you put the offer in that you want fixed, do you just lower your price more to fix them yourself, or keep the price what it should be and put in the contract you want x y z fixed?

e.g. on a relatively new house, the oven hinge must be broken so the oven door does not shut tight, big scratch in a wall, stains on the driveway?

im thinking you would just offer a bit less and say reason for this is the market value is xyz and there are a few problems xyz that need rectifying with the house. ?? or is everything really take it 'as is' these days where you just have to deal with it yourself?