footie chick

As you know we are on our validation trip at the moment and have been spending time looking at areas, well today we have found the dream home. However the Real estate lady has said that we will need to get government approval regarding property investment. I believed that having the Permenant Residancy visa meant we could buy straightaway ! Without no more government red tape

Please someone put me out of my misery...

footie xx

debsy

Hiya Trace
Hope that you are having a ball. I was also under the impression that you were able to buy straightaway on a PR.

Hope that someone comes up with the answer for you.

Where are you going to buy?

footie chick

Hi sweetie

Well we have seen properties in both Noosa and Mountain Creek but still have lots of searching to do. We are going down to the Gold Coast at the weekend and also have to fit in Brisbane as well so it is busy busy but still have time to sample plenty of fine wine.

footie x

walla

Hi footie

You can buy on PR. Do you have employment out there and was she not alluding to the $7k grant government give for first time buyers? I've known people on the forum who have bought with no employment history as long as they put a big deposit down.

Other than that, either I'm as confused as you are or the estate agency lady is blowing out her ass!!

Or I could be totally wrong but don't think so

Walla

walaj

you don't need approval - see 4th FAQ

footie chick

No i think she was just trying to get rid of us as soon as we told her we had property to sell in Uk she wasn`t interested, which was a surprise as every other agent we have spoken to has been fab.

Thanks Walla

footie xx

rudo1ph

As a PR you do not need government approval to buy, AND you are entitled to the $7000 government grant. Your real estate agent is talking complete nonsense.

Good luck selling your house in the UK.

Rudi.

owieb

Remember that once an offer is accepted it is legally binding. Make sure you have conditions in it stating that you have a house to sell in the UK etc and how long you expect this to take. You may well find that the seller will turn you down if you put in something like 3 months, but you never know. From our experience most sales in Australia take about 4-6 weeks from offer to completion.

The contracts tend to have very strict timescales such as deposit in n days, finance approved (if you are having finance etc) in n days, completion in n days. If you default on any of these then the sale could be called off or worse still if you have completed most of the conditions you could be forced to buy the house. Once the contract goes unconditional there really is no get out clause.

Make sure you put in realistic timescales of when you expect everything to happen because once the contract is signed by you and presented to the owner if they accept then there's no turning back and you committed to buying the property.

If you are looking at getting finance ie a mortgage, don't have a condition that is too generic ie. subject to finance. specify the mortgage lender that you are planning on seeing otherwise your seller could force you to try ANY company that provides mortgages. This could mean that you end up having to take a mortgage that has really high interest rates. By specifying the mortgage lender you are restricting yourself to one company so if they turn you down you can't be forced to look elsewhere.

Don't let the excitement of the whole thing take over, try and keep a level head and make 100% sure that it is the property that you want.

EDIT: Worth mentioning this is from experience of buying in WA, I see you are buying in QLD, which I think is pretty much the same, but if it isn't then hopefully someone will add to this thread with the differences.