Hope Island is one of the Gold Coast’s most exclusive suburbs. Home to an enclave of exclusive housing estates, such as Sanctuary Cove and Hope Island Resort, with several world class golf courses meandering in between.
The property website Domain are currently running a series of articles on selling a property, covering aspects from presentation and market advise, to sales tactics and the conveyancing process itself.
Brisbane came alive this weekend for the annual Teneriffe Festival. The streets were lined with a festival of food, markets and entertainment.
So you’ve spent countless weekends scouring the suburbs of Brisbane, or the Gold Coast for that perfect property and you think you’ve finally found ‘the one’ and are ready to put in an offer and sign a contract of sale. It’s right about now that you need to tap the brakes every so slightly. There’s no point rushing in and signing your name, as the entire conveyancing process will be dictated by this contract, so you want to make sure you’ve got it right before signing.
So you’ve had your property on the market for a while and have now signed a contract of sale and sold your property. First of all congratulations on the sale! While getting that offer may be exciting at first, we’re sure that a bit of stress is beginning to creep into your mind as you start to consider the long list of things you now have to take care.
At Dylan & Inns our conveyancing solicitors see a lot of clients who are purchasing an investment property on the Gold Coast, or in Brisbane. Some of these clients are savvy investors who have purchased numerous properties before and are familiar with the process, while others are first time property investors dipping their toe into the market.
In Queensland the standard contracts of sale, being either the REIQ Contract, or the ADLForms Contract, include a standard building and pest condition. What this means is that a contract for the purchase of property will be subject to the buyer undertaking a building and pest inspection of the property and being satisfied with the report they receive following the inspection.
We work with a lot of clients who are buying or selling their first property and are new to the conveyancing process and not sure of all the steps involved. One of the questions we get asked most frequently is ‘do I have to come to settlement?’ So we thought we’d put together a bit of a summary of the settlement process to help.
Owning an investment property can be a great strategy for earning some extra income, but there are also costs involved, with one of the major costs being that of insurance. Things are slightly different where your investment property is an apartment or townhouse and there is a body corporate in place. As part of your body corporate levies you are paying for the body corporate to have insurance over the property.
You only have to go for a quick drive down a suburban street to see how popular the renovation game has become, with home owners making big changes to their property, spurred on by the latest raft of renovating TV shows gracing our TV screens. In Brisbane it’s grand old Queenslanders that are receiving all the attention, while weatherboard beach shacks are in vogue on the Gold Coast.
So you’ve just purchased a property on the Gold Coast. First of all, congratulations! Now you’re probably ringing around different law firms for a conveyancing solicitor to act on your behalf and assist you with the purchase process. When you’re obtaining quotes you’ll normally be quoted a professional fee, as well as a search fee. This search fee is the cost of the searches your solicitor must undertake on the property, and in most cases the cost of these is simply what it costs your solicitor to order these.
So you’ve taken the plunge into the property market and purchased a property. First of all, congratulations! Deciding to buy a property is a big step forward. But here’s a tip, have you considered insurance? We know, you’ve only just signed the contract of sale and you won’t actually own the house for a while yet, but what you’re probably not aware of is that the property is already you’re responsibility.
