Rljacobs

Hiya, has anyone bought a house in QLD and benefitted from this grant? Is it still in effect and if it's not too nosy, how much did you get? Any info appreciated as usual!!

Rachel

bcworld

http://www.osr.qld.gov.au/client-gro...er/index.shtml

Rljacobs

Thank you for that ever-so-helpful link, however, i did think to check this site out beforehand. Ideally, I was looking for people's personal experiences of this grant, obviously I didn't make myself clear.

chris955

We used it when we bought our place, it helped with the deposit. Im not sure what else i can say? :-)

bcworld

I'm not sure what 'experiences' you're after. The eligibility rules are clear cut, the amount paid is clear cut...what else is there?

Rljacobs

I take it you benefitted from the grant then? Was the application process straight forward?

chris955

It was pretty straight forward for us. There isnt really much to say about it to be honest.

bcworld

Yes. And yes.

Rljacobs

Well I'm glad it went well for you and your monosyllables.

Rljacobs

Having never bought a house before and with no hope of getting on the property ladder in the UK, it seems amazing that this offer is available, I thought people would have been more enthusiastic about it! Am I right in thinking 'grant' implies not having to pay it back?

jothefw

That is correct. The FHOG is given on the basis it is your first home, and principal residence (as in not a buy to let etc). It certainly does help with the deposit.

Worth checking, when doing your figures, we didn't realised that "buying costs" such as stamp duty, lenders mortgage insurance and other costs, do not get added to the mortgage so these need to be covered upfront too. Our mortgage broker works on needing 6% on top of your deposit, therefore if 10% deposit, you'll need 16% upfront. The FHOG can be included in this amount of course.

Loch Lomond

Depending on your visa, you may need to get FIRB approval to buy a property.

sassie

Yep its a pretty straightforward process. I believe if you have a mortgage then its done through that. We bought our house outright, so just had to fill out the forms and wait for the 7K cheque to arrive. This was 6 years ago though, so process and amount may have changed.

Presumably either you or your partner are an Australian citzen to qualify.

Buzzy--Bee

You don't need to be a citizen. PR will do or even Temporary resident TR444.

BB

sassie

Yep meant to say PR