# Buying house in South Australia



## Jaywayne (Jul 2, 2008)

can anyone share their experience in buying SA house. Any hidden issues / costs to watch out ? Beside those "do & don't" write out in the property web Thanks


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## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

Hi Jaywayne, 

Quite often here in South Australia you can use a conveyancer rather than a solicitor when you are buying a house, and the conveyancer can work for both the seller and the buyer (which I found odd coming from the UK but it works and cuts costs). 

Once an offer has been accepted you'll have a contract to sign. In our contract we had written 'subject to finance' so that if for any reason we couldn't get a mortgage we could pull out, and also 'subject to satisfactory building inspection'. The sellers weren't happy about the satisfactory building inspection bit but we wouldn't have bought the house if we had found anything major wrong and wanted to make sure we could get any deposit back. You can also have 'subject to pest inspection' written in the contract too. 

When the building inspector went around we were invited along too which was great because I could take notes and ask questions  Not sure if that's usually the way it happens though. 

If it's your first home in Australia then you can claim First Home Owners grant (see the "PLEASE READ...." post for a link to the website) as long as you intend to stay in the house for a minimum of 6 months. We got A$7000 as the grant but it might have gone up since then. 

Things like meter readings may not be taken and so you may end up paying for part of someone else's bill. We forgot to take them since we were busy arranging other things but luckily it was only a small amount. 

I can't think of anything else off hand. 

Regards,
Karen


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## Jaywayne (Jul 2, 2008)

Thanks Karen..you are of great help..do we need to contact the local authorities on any issue on land, road widening, future neighbouring development, etc? How much i need to pay for the building inspector and do they include pest inspection? Thanks again for the prompt reply


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## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

As far as I remember the conveyancer should so all the checking for you such as land etc. but it's worth checking with the conveyancer. 

It cost us A$440 for the building and pest inspection last year (bear in mind that we're not in Adelaide so costs may be higher there). We just asked for recommendations from the real estate agent and went with that rather than cost since we wanted someone who would do a good job and we didn't know anyone in the area. 

Regards,
Karen


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## Dolly (Feb 17, 2008)

Not sure if it's the same but in Victoria there's also the Principal Place of Residence bonus (around $2850) and the First Home Bonus as well ($3-5K).

Dolly


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## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

We don't get the Principal Place of Residence bonus in South Australia but I just checked and another bonus has been introduced as of 5th June 2008 called the First Home Grant Bonus which means that you can get A$11,000 in total rather than just A$7,000. See RevenueSA - First Home Bonus Grant for more details.

Regards,
Karen


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## Jaywayne (Jul 2, 2008)

that's great infor..thanks guy


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## northern mover (May 30, 2008)

kaz101 said:


> We don't get the Principal Place of Residence bonus in South Australia but I just checked and another bonus has been introduced as of 5th June 2008 called the First Home Grant Bonus which means that you can get A$11,000 in total rather than just A$7,000. See RevenueSA - First Home Bonus Grant for more details.
> 
> Regards,
> Karen


This is useful information Karen, thank you..
I am looking at renting (financially more benifial at first); but this info might be a deal-braker. I have heard that most companies wont rent out to migrants before they actually arrive, do you know if this is right? There are 6 of us, and being crammed into a b&b would be torture!!!


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## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

northern mover said:


> This is useful information Karen, thank you..
> I am looking at renting (financially more benifial at first); but this info might be a deal-braker. I have heard that most companies wont rent out to migrants before they actually arrive, do you know if this is right? There are 6 of us, and being crammed into a b&b would be torture!!!


I think that the issue is proof of income. Agents are actiing for the landlords and want to prove that the potential tenant has the money to pay and of course there is the bond too. There are certainly members of the forum who have come over to Australia and found somewhere to rent (while staying on a hotel) but I'm not sure whether you'll be able to arrange it from abroad. Personally I would phone letting agents in the area you are looking for and talk to them and see what can be arranged. Phoning means that you are serious rather than emails that can be ignored  

Don't forget in the hotels here it's usually priced on a by the room basis and not on a per person basis but I'm not sure whether even the family rooms will hold 6...

Regards,
Karen


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## covfan71 (Apr 10, 2008)

kaz101 said:


> We don't get the Principal Place of Residence bonus in South Australia but I just checked and another bonus has been introduced as of 5th June 2008 called the First Home Grant Bonus which means that you can get A$11,000 in total rather than just A$7,000. See RevenueSA - First Home Bonus Grant for more details.
> 
> Regards,
> Karen


Hi Karen,

do all new imigrants to Australia who purchse a house qualify for the First Home grant?


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## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

covfan71 said:


> Hi Karen,
> 
> do all new imigrants to Australia who purchse a house qualify for the First Home grant?


Anyone qualifies who has not bought a home in Australia before and is going to stay there at least 6 months. At least that was the rules when we bought last year. If you check out the link that should have any updated details. They were also very approachable since I contacted them to check that we could still have the grant even though we owned property in Victoria (for investment only). 

Regards,
Karen


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## Dolly (Feb 17, 2008)

kaz101 said:


> Anyone qualifies who has not bought a home in Australia before and is going to stay there at least 6 months. At least that was the rules when we bought last year. If you check out the link that should have any updated details. They were also very approachable since I contacted them to check that we could still have the grant even though we owned property in Victoria (for investment only).
> 
> Regards,
> Karen


Do you have to have PR to qualify?

Dolly


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## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

Dolly said:


> Do you have to have PR to qualify?
> 
> Dolly


Not sure. I can't remember all the details off hand - hence the previous link in this thread and the link in the "PLEASE READ...." post 

Regards,
Karen


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## Dolly (Feb 17, 2008)

kaz101 said:


> Not sure. I can't remember all the details off hand - hence the previous link in this thread and the link in the "PLEASE READ...." post
> 
> Regards,
> Karen


One applicant has to be either an australian citizen or have PR (just looked it up!)

Dolly


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