Buying a House in NSW: A Step by Step Guide

Organise your finances

Before you look at a single property, work out what you can genuinely afford.

• Review your income, expenses, existing debts and credit position to understand your borrowing capacity.
• Get pre-approval from a lender so you know your ceiling before you start making offers.
• Most lenders want a 20% deposit, though smaller deposits are possible with lenders mortgage insurance.
• Budget for the extras: stamp duty, conveyancing fees, inspections and moving costs.

Do your market research

Define what you’re actually looking for, then learn what it costs.

• Set your requirements: property type, bedrooms, bathrooms, must-have features.
• Shortlist suburbs based on amenities, schools, transport and your longer term plans.
• Check recent sales and median prices so you can recognise a fair price when you see one.
• Ask your broker or lender for suburb reports, many have access and are happy to share them.

Search for properties

• Build relationships with local agents. They’ll tell you about listings before they go live.
• Set up alerts on the listing portals so new matches come to you.
• Inspect properly. Take our house inspection checklist with you and work through it room by room.

Make an offer

How this works depends on whether it’s a private treaty sale or an auction.

• Private treaty: you negotiate with the agent, specifying price, settlement period and any special conditions. The seller can accept, reject or counter.
• Auction: register as a bidder, set a hard limit, and know that there’s no cooling-off period at auction. Get the contract reviewed before you raise your hand.
• Have us review the contract of sale before you commit either way.

Engage a conveyancer

Your conveyancing team is effectively the project manager for the whole transaction.

• We review the contract and every certificate attached to it, including the Section 10.7 planning certificate.
• We order title searches, council and strata records, and flag anything that affects your plans.
• Experience matters more than the title on the door. See conveyancer vs solicitor if you’re weighing that up.

Arrange building and pest inspections

• Building and pest inspections reveal structural defects, safety hazards and infestations before they become your problem.
• Use licensed, insured inspectors. Ask us or your agent for recommendations.
• Read the reports properly, then talk to us about whether anything found is worth renegotiating over.

Negotiate the contract terms

• Price is only one term. Settlement period, inclusions, exclusions and repairs are all negotiable.
• Special conditions can cover finance approval, inspection outcomes or specific warranties.
• Until contracts are exchanged, either party can still walk away.

Exchange contracts and pay your deposit

• Exchange is the moment the sale becomes legally binding on both sides.
• You’ll have a 5 business day cooling-off period unless you waive it with a 66W certificate.
• The deposit is usually 10%, held in the agent’s trust account. If your cash is tied up, a deposit bond may be an option.

Prepare for settlement

• Finalise your loan approval and make sure your lender has everything they need.
• Complete your identity verification and any anti-money laundering checks early, they hold up more settlements than anything else.
• We’ll send you a settlement statement showing the funds required. Pass it straight to your lender.
• Do your final inspection at least 3 hours before settlement, checking every inclusion still works. See preparing for settlement.

Settlement day

• Both conveyancing teams and both lenders meet in the PEXA online settlement room at the agreed time.
• If a party isn’t ready, the time rolls over in 30 minute increments until everyone is.
• Settlement itself usually takes about 30 minutes. We’ll call you the moment it’s done.
• Then ring the agent to collect your keys.