Step 8 - Post-Signing and Settlement
As soon as you have signed the contract of sale you need to do the following - immediately, not a few days after…
Step 1: Send the signed contract to your mortgage broker, along with a rental appraisal (the sales agent should have provided this already) and ask them to proceed with getting your loan approved.
Step 2: If you are using an accountant for the purchase, i.e. you are buying through a trust or company, send the signed contract to them.
Step 3: After confirming with your conveyancer, pay the relevant deposit in accordance with the instructions provided by the sales agent.
REMEMBER: you must call the sales agent via the phone, not over email, to ensure that the instructions they have provided you are from them and the bank details are correct - recite them over the phone. This will make sure you are not being targeted by a scam… trust me it happens, so pick up the phone and check. Also, please remember you need to pay the deposit within the timing outlined in the contract or you are at risk of crashing the contract - check with your conveyancer.
Step 4: Contact a building and pest inspector from the area (you should already have the details of a few of these prior to signing - see Step 2) and ask them if they can arrange a time with the sales agent to perform an inspection on the property as soon as possible and in any event before the expiry of your building and pest condition.
REMEMBER: you typically have to pay the inspector a deposit before they can do the inspection. Don't forget to pay this as soon as possible, especially if you have a tight building and pest inspection condition.
Step 5: Talk to your conveyancer to confirm if you are in a state which requires you to get building insurance from the date of signing, when the contract is unconditional or from settlement. Get building insurance from whenever your conveyancer advises - otherwise any damage that happens to the property will be coming solely out of your pocket.
REMEMBER: Building insurance is often required for your loan approval, so you will need to organise this prior to settlement in any event. This is only for building insurance (not contents insurance). Landlord insurance can wait for once you have a tenant in the property. In terms of the sum insured for the building insurance, you can use calculators such as the one available on Terri Scheer. It will very much depend on the property you are buying. In terms of the excess, this will depend on your preference. I usually go around the max excess but people often use around $1,000 as the sweet spot - go with whatever works for you from a cash flow perspective.
You should really be communicating to the Seller via your conveyancer once the contract is signed - you should be leaning on them and your mortgage broker to get you to settlement so make sure you stay in frequent contact with them and if there is anything you don't understand then ask them the question - don't suffer in silence…