# Buying a house



## Halo (May 8, 2008)

Now I know the Government is giving $7000 extra at the mo for first time buyers but I was wondering what it really costs to move home.

i.e. When I see a price of say $500000 - What do I have to add to that number for all the fees.

We all know that the Ozzies are fee crazy.


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## interplanetjanet (Jan 7, 2009)

The biggest fee you'll have to deal with is the stamp duty, and there's a stamp duty calculator on the State Revenue Office website here. For a $500k house, the first time home buyer grants won't cover it. If it's a new home, then they'll almost cover it. Stamp duty = $21,970 for a $500k house that's a principle place of residence, and the first time home buyer grants total $21k for a newly built home. Other fees only add up to $1000 or so (at least for my house they did!).

Actually, I take that back. You'll also have to pay rates, which are basically your local property taxes. Ours came out to around $750 for a partial term.


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## British Kiwi (Jul 5, 2008)

We're in the process of buying and a first time buyers grant is currently 17k in Victoria. More if it is a new build. We're paying 410k and the total costs including stamp duty etc is about $432 (obviously incl. purchase price) That also includes moving phone and foxtel. Though I think the stamp duty will be lower than the bank has budgeted. We saw our lending manager at Commonwealth and they have an application (most banks will have too) which calculates all the costs. Here is the stamp duty calculator that the Vic gov have:

http://www.sro.vic.gov.au/sro/SROWebSite.nsf/transfer

If you want more information about the whole process, let me know.


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## amaslam (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi Halo:

Here are the additional costs:
1. Stamp duty, but if a first time homebuyer and price is under 500k then you get an exemption of stamp duty. Use the calculator at the appropriate state revenue office, I'm in NSW so that's the office of State Revenue (OSR).
2. Conveyancer fee: $1650, pretty standardised, you can find some conveyancers that do it for less. They take care of all the legal stuff, all the title search, registration in appropriate govt' depts and handling the final transaction so the house legally transfers from the seller to you.
3. Mortgage insurance, if your down payment is < 20% you'll pay some insurance fee. This should be detailed when you are arranging your finance with a loan provider. This is usually out of pocket.
4. Bond fee $300: If you don't have the deposit (i.e. 10%) then a bond agency will provide that for a fee. Once you settle they get the bond money back.

I don't recall any other biggies.



Halo said:


> Now I know the Government is giving $7000 extra at the mo for first time buyers but I was wondering what it really costs to move home.
> 
> i.e. When I see a price of say $500000 - What do I have to add to that number for all the fees.
> 
> We all know that the Ozzies are fee crazy.


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## interplanetjanet (Jan 7, 2009)

> 1. Stamp duty, but if a first time homebuyer and price is under 500k then you get an exemption of stamp duty.


Not in Victoria. The exemption is only available if the house is less than 150k. There is a principle place of residence bonus, which is taken into account in the calculator I linked to above.



> 2. Conveyancer fee: $1650, pretty standardised, you can find some conveyancers that do it for less. They take care of all the legal stuff, all the title search, registration in appropriate govt' depts and handling the final transaction so the house legally transfers from the seller to you.


My conveyancer cost $550, and when I was looking into them I didn't get any quotes higher than $770.

I forgot to also mention that there are extra costs for pest and building inspections. I used Buywise, and they charged me $540 for both.


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## British Kiwi (Jul 5, 2008)

> My conveyancer cost $550, and when I was looking into them I didn't get any quotes higher than $770.


yeah mine were $580



> I forgot to also mention that there are extra costs for pest and building inspections. I used Buywise, and they charged me $540 for both.


I used 2 different companies for mine and came to $795 for the pair. I was extremely pleased with the service.

I thought I would give you a break down of my costs on a $410k house (remember this is for metro Victoria):
stamp duty - $19,670 (though I think this might be $16k)
reg of land transfer - $1,125
reg of mortgage - $95.10
Building inspection - $410
Pest Inspection - $385
Conveyancing - $580
Relocating Foxtel - $100
Relocating phone & broadband - $114 
Adjustments for rates - $400 (should be less, but then no rates till Sept/Oct)

Total $22879.10 and the government are giving us $17,000 so on top of the house price, we just needed about 6k.

As we have a 20% deposit, we do not have any bankers insurance to pay. This is for the bank and doesn't protect you.

We were also advised to get building insurance from the moment we signed the contract note which we have done. And then if you want, you can get income/mortgage protection as well.

The only other costs I can think of is for removals, but we are just going to hire a van for the day as we're only moving round the corner. 

The government grant is only for houses up to a certain value, but I can't remember what the cap is.


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## Halo (May 8, 2008)

Cheers all..... 

British Kiwi, if you are bored sometime drop me an email with what you ended up paying as a percentage of the purchase price.

Also, what rates did you get on the mortgage (fixed / variable)


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## Halo (May 8, 2008)

LOL, you posted that just as I posted mine...............

Thanks a Million.... Only snag is - If I buy something, I'll have to stay here for the next 5 years


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## interplanetjanet (Jan 7, 2009)

Will you have a 20% deposit? If not, pay close attention to the way they calculate mortgage insurance. We checked with three different companies for our mortgage, and two of them calculated the mortgage insurance BEFORE subtracting off the first time home buyer grants. This increases it quite a bit, and I personally think it's dishonest since by doing it that way they are in effect taking a cut of your grants. CBA was the only one that calculated the mortgage insurance AFTER subtracting the grants, so we went with them.


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## British Kiwi (Jul 5, 2008)

Well that would be a shame. Certainly no point moving back to the UK anytime soon! At least if I move back to the Isle of Man I have a job to go to, but seeing as fiance refuses to go back, I think I'll be here for a while!
We got our mortgage with Commonwealth, partly cos 2 financial advisers told us they had the best rates for us, plus our local branch are fab. They're systems aren't always great, but the branch staff are wonderful. We are on a wealth package which is costing $350 a year, but will make savings on interest and other features too. Our rate is about 6.05% I think. It's variable. They will also take into account what money we have in our savings account when calculating interest too not that we'll have much savings when we're finished! 

Where abouts are you buying?


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## British Kiwi (Jul 5, 2008)

interplanetjanet said:


> Will you have a 20% deposit? If not, pay close attention to the way they calculate mortgage insurance. We checked with three different companies for our mortgage, and two of them calculated the mortgage insurance BEFORE subtracting off the first time home buyer grants. This increases it quite a bit, and I personally think it's dishonest since by doing it that way they are in effect taking a cut of your grants. CBA was the only one that calculated the mortgage insurance AFTER subtracting the grants, so we went with them.


I definately have a 20% deposit, we are using the grant to pay most of the costs. I sold my flat back home so that has basically helped us a lot!


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## interplanetjanet (Jan 7, 2009)

Commonwealth also removed all the fees from our other accounts with them when we got our mortgage through them. I'm VERY happy we decided to go with them.


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## British Kiwi (Jul 5, 2008)

interplanetjanet said:


> Commonwealth also removed all the fees from our other accounts with them when we got our mortgage through them. I'm VERY happy we decided to go with them.


That is a great feature, I was shocked i got charged to withdraw money from the branch, now it wont cost me a bit. CBA are really good, they just need to get rid of charging to use other ATMs and they'll be brilliant. I got major blisters wandering around the city trying to find a blinking CBA ATM just so I could get a drink before an interview, grrr!


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## amaslam (Sep 25, 2008)

Why? My First Home Owners grant only stipulated the first 12 months in the primary residence. I wonder if VIC has some other rules. I received a letter at the end of the 12 months where I basically had to provide copies of some current bills showing I had resided for the required period. That's pretty much it for my FHOG obligations.

Oh, to the others about the conveyancing, I think my conveyancer put all the other fees like land title transfer and such in her fee rather than separate it out between conveyancing and fee1, fee2, fee3, etc. 



Halo said:


> LOL, you posted that just as I posted mine...............
> 
> Thanks a Million.... Only snag is - If I buy something, I'll have to stay here for the next 5 years


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## British Kiwi (Jul 5, 2008)

amaslam said:


> Why? My First Home Owners grant only stipulated the first 12 months in the primary residence. I wonder if VIC has some other rules. I received a letter at the end of the 12 months where I basically had to provide copies of some current bills showing I had resided for the required period. That's pretty much it for my FHOG obligations.


Only requirement we have in Victoria is that the house must be primary residence and that we must live there for a minimum of 6 months continually within the first 12 months since settlement. Not that we have any intention of moving in the first year.


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## interplanetjanet (Jan 7, 2009)

> Oh, to the others about the conveyancing, I think my conveyancer put all the other fees like land title transfer and such in her fee rather than separate it out between conveyancing and fee1, fee2, fee3, etc.


So did mine. That $550 covered everything having to do with conveyancing. The only other fees I had were bank fees. Actually, nevermind. Maybe that's what was included in our bank fees. The branch where we sorted out our mortgage was near my husband's work, so he did all the bank stuff. I'd have to ask him.


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## Bluecookie (Aug 28, 2008)

British Kiwi said:


> Only requirement we have in Victoria is that the house must be primary residence and that we must live there for a minimum of 6 months continually within the first 12 months since settlement. Not that we have any intention of moving in the first year.


If you are on a 457 sponsership visa are you still eligible for the new home allowance or do you have to be on a PR?


Hels


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## amaslam (Sep 25, 2008)

Hi Blue:

You or your spouse (joint applicant) have to be a PR. 

QLD Info page:
Queensland Government Grants: First Home Owner Grant (FHOG)

Don't worry too much, the grant is not disappearing next year (it's been around for 9 years already). I think you'll probably become a PR at some point so you can go for it then. 



Bluecookie said:


> If you are on a 457 sponsership visa are you still eligible for the new home allowance or do you have to be on a PR?
> 
> 
> Hels


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## Halo (May 8, 2008)

I too have the 20%+.............. I am with Westpac so lets see what they can do - I can always move.

PS I still don't have a Credit Card from these rip-off merchants.... Please let me know if you find a card thats FREE and has benefits.


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## Halo (May 8, 2008)

PS Can anyone recommend a decent mortgage broker in Melbourne?


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## amaslam (Sep 25, 2008)

No free cards, but I went with an Earth+ card from Westpac, I earn QANTAS FF + Travel Insurance. I don't really care about the rate as I pay it off each month.

As for mortgage brokers I went with Aussie Home Loans, they hooked me up with ING Bank at the time of my loan.



Halo said:


> I too have the 20%+.............. I am with Westpac so lets see what they can do - I can always move.
> 
> PS I still don't have a Credit Card from these rip-off merchants.... Please let me know if you find a card thats FREE and has benefits.


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## British Kiwi (Jul 5, 2008)

My other half has a credit card with CBA which had a fee, but now we are on the wealth package with this loan, it's now a free card! Woo hoo!

One of the mortgage brokers we spoke to and almost used was Ikon, but then when we spoke direct to our branch, they were so helpful we went with CBA. We saw two advisers first and both had recommended CBA based on our situation.


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## Halo (May 8, 2008)

amaslam said:


> No free cards, but I went with an Earth+ card from Westpac, I earn QANTAS FF + Travel Insurance. I don't really care about the rate as I pay it off each month.
> 
> As for mortgage brokers I went with Aussie Home Loans, they hooked me up with ING Bank at the time of my loan.


No yearly cost??


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## amaslam (Sep 25, 2008)

CC = Yearly Cost = $80
ING Bank = No account keeping or anything like that. Just a home loan.



Halo said:


> No yearly cost??


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