BullcreekBob

G'day

Even if you are Aussie citizens, banks will not lend you more than 80% while you are resident outside of Australia. This is because the Mortgage Insurers that operate in Aust will not accept policies for non Ozzie residents. Some banks will limit your max mortgage to 70% and some banks to 0%.

If you have been offered a 90% mortgage, I suggest you question the training and knowlege of your broker or bank representitive AND you have a method in place to very quickly provide the additional required 10% equity and fees when the mistake in discovered. Don't forget that you will need to pay the full stamp duty ($20,700 on $500K) in addition to the 20% equity and you will not be eligible for the First Home Owners Grant.

If you want to find out more, just send me a PM. I am in Perth and I can easily provide any further info you need.

soon to be a sheila

Hi all

Just reading through all comments on thread and can someone please confirm that when buying a house in oz/perth, at the moment you offer 94% of the asking price approx or try going in at 10% lower than the asking price.
Also i take it that the housing market is really slow at the minute

Bobcat

You can offer whatever you want......... no set rules........ really depends on how much you want said house. A lot of properties currently on the market have been listed for a long time........... so the vendors may be tempted by what we call a silly offer............ if not at least a silly offer can get the ball rolling for a series of counter-offers!

If possible you should try and not insult the vendor so it's best to put in a realistic and reasonable offer; that way they are apt to come back with a reasonable counter-offer?

Some vendors instruct their agent not to accept offers below a certain price. I choose to ring all offers below the asking price through to the vendor and I follow their instructions from then on.

Definitely a buyer's market still............ but there is movement at the moment. The market has started to pick up somewhat............ it's still sluggish compared to normal....... seasonally it tends to pick up around the 3rd week in Spring anyway.

This pending Federal Election could prove to be a bugbear though............ but; depending on who wins....... it could have a good affect on the market?

john_w

Hi Bobcat,
Tell us more. What would be classed as a silly offer. What effect do you think the election will have either way. Do you have to pay stamp duty on $499,000 houses and if you have never owned in oz but have in uk do you getfirst home owners grant.

Bobcat

Re the election.............. hard to say? Little Johnny could be on his way sooner rather than later; if we believe what was in the news today? With Ruddy it's venturing into the great unknown......... mind you he does speak fluent Mandarin if that bears any significance?

Whatever happens......... irrespective as to who gets over the line........just hope and pray we don't have a repeat of the 70's when interest rates went up to a whopping 17%. I was buying two properties in Brisbane at the time and it was more than a struggle to make ends meet........... and I was on good money up the mines at the time!

Applicable to WA : Sale price of up to $500,000 attracts no stamp-duty whatsoever for first home buyers ............. and here in WA it's immaterial whether or not you have owned property in UK or anywhere else outside of Australia. Apparently that's not the case in Qld...........?

Re what is considered a 'silly' offer? Depends a lot on the individual vendor..... and also how long the property has been on the market...... and the vendor's circumstances? A few months ago I advised my purchaser to offer $500K on something the vendor wanted $770K for......... as was to be expected we got told where to stick our $500K? ........ when no other offers were forthcoming within next 2 months ........ we made an increased offer of $580K take it or leave it..........and the vendor snatched our hand off.

I had a block in Iluka advertised at From $549K last month....... bloke came over from Qatar and offered $450k CASH.......... nice try .......... but to me that was a silly offer........ my vendor thought so too.

Obviously; if a property is new on the market....a real low offer probably won't get you anywhere........... but if same property has been hanging around for a while........... you never know your luck?

Hope this puts you more in the picture?