Buying Tips

Great preparation and great presentation will not only help

you sell your home, they’ll help you sell your home for the

best possible price.

From the moment a prospective purchaser pulls up outside your home you want it to be an

exciting, positive experience. You want them picturing themselves living there and imagining the

wonderful memories they could create, rather than worrying about the work that needs to be done or

the research they need to do before they can put in an offer.

01

Work out your budget

The first thing you will want to know is what your budget is. To do this you’ll need to get a realistic picture of your finances, i.e. your income vs your spending, and weigh this up against your deposit - how much you've saved for your home and/or how much equity you have in your current property. For help with your budget, check out sorted.org.nz, familybudgeting.org.nz or familyservices.govt.nz.

02

Get pre-approved for a home loan

Before you begin your search, it’s important to find out how much money you can borrow. You can find this out from your bank or financial institution.

They can then decide if they can offer you a pre-approval. This is when a bank, financial institution or building society, agrees, in principle, to lend you a certain amount of money.

You can contact a mortgage broker or your bank about this.

Top tip

Getting a pre-approval puts you in a better negotiating position, helps speed up the mortgage documentation process and enables you to bid with confidence at auctions.

03

Find a solicitor

Before you purchase a property, we recommend that you get your own independent legal advice.

Finding the right lawyer is an important part of the buying process. Your lawyer will make sure that all the legal processes are followed and they can also check over property reports, such as Land Information Memorandums (Council LIM reports) and titles.

04

05

Inspect the property

It's always a good idea to give the house you're interested in a once over. Check out my property inspection checklist in my buyers guide for some helpful tips on what to look for during a property viewing or open home.

House hunting

And then your search begins. Everyone has their own way of searching, whether it be online, using an app or contacting a salesperson.

You can download realestate.co.nz free app to search for properties near you or search on our website - we have hundreds of properties for sale, with a number of new listings every month.

All our listings appear on eieio.co.nz, realestate.co.nz and hougarden.com.

Plus make sure that you read the REAA Buyers and Sellers Guide [PDF, 1.2 Mb]

06

07

Get your property checked out

Before you purchase a property, we recommend that you consider viewing or commissioning specialist reports, such as a Land Information Memorandum (LIM), and builders and engineers reports.

Land Information Memorandum (Council LIM reports)

When purchasing a property it is common practice to purchase a LIM report from your local council. Each council will charge for a LIM Report. The charge will vary depending on the council so contact them direct for up to date pricing. In some cases, the salesperson will have a LIM available for you.

A LIM provides information on special land features or characteristics (e.g. erosion, hazardous substances), storm water and sewerage, rates owing on the land, title, future plans about the area (e.g. zoning, building heights), builders' certificates issued, use to which the land may be put and any other information the local council considers to be important.

It can take up to 10 working days to obtain a LIM report when the council is busy, so you may need to factor this in. You may be able to request an urgent LIM. These are only available from certain councils.

Titles

Property titles contain an up-to-date picture of the legal ownership of land in New Zealand. They show a property's proprietors, the legal description and the rights and restrictions registered against the title, such as mortgage or covenant. In many cases, salespeople will have the title available for you.

Valuations

A valuation report on a property is recommended as the CV (Council valuation) is for rating purposes and may not provide a true market price for the property. These can be commissioned from independent registered valuers or from Quotable Value New Zealand.

Builders and engineers' reports

Registered builders and engineers can give a report on a property which helps you understand the structural and building condition of the house.

Geotech/engineers' reports

You may want to purchase one of these reports for certain types of properties, for example a property on a cliff top section or one where you suspect the land is unstable.

For a list of qualified builders and engineers, contact your local master builders association, the building research association, your local authority or Institute of Professional Engineers.

Methamphetimine testing and reports

Registered inspectors can run a test and give a report on the property for methamphetimine. It will help you identify the level of contamination of the house (f any).

Make an offer

Before you make an offer, we recommend that you involve your lawyer, get sufficient property checks done and, if you're making a conditional offer, decide on the conditions. All offers must be made in writing using the correct documentation. There are two types of offers:

Unconditional - a straightforward offer to buy according to the terms set out in the contract
Conditional - when your offer to buy has conditions attached, for example, arranging finance or being satisfied with a building report you arrange.

If you’re buying at auction or making a pre auction offer, you can only make an unconditional offer. Find out more about how offers work when buying by auction, tenderor negotiation.

08

If your offer is accepted

Your offer is accepted once all parties have agreed to the terms, including price and deposit, and the contract agreement has been signed by all parties.

If the agreement is conditional, any conditions need to be satisfied by the due date. It is the buyers responsibility to satisfy those conditions. Once the conditions are met, the offer becomes ‘unconditional’.

Unconditional

Once an agreement is unconditional, neither the buyer or the seller can change their mind, and the buyer must pay the rest of the purchase price on the settlement day
Deposit payments are made by the buyer to the real estate agency, which is required by law to hold the money in an audited trust account, only releasing it to the seller when legally authorised to do so
We’ll work with both solicitors and will let you know once the deposit has been transferred.

09

Before settlement

Read my step-by-step buyers guide to find out more about what you need to do after you have you have signed the Sale and Purchase Agreement.

10

Settlement day

Settlement day is the date on which you pay the balance for the property. Usually it is the same date as the date you get possession - the keys - but that is not always the case.

The keys to your new property will be held at the Barfoot & Thompson office until the sellers’ solicitor advises us in writing, that the settlement has taken place.

If there is a chain of settlements you may not get access to the property as early as you would like on the day of settlement. We can only release the keys to you once the legal settlement has occurred and the sellers solicitor notifies us.