Daniel Nuske-Haines: Your house offer is accepted! What’s next?
Nitschke’s Property Consultant, Daniel Nuske-Haines, is back for another episode talking about the next steps for buyers after their offer has been accepted. Buying a house is a rollercoaster of emotions but a good agent will help keep you calm and balanced.
What’s happens after that exciting “you’ve got the house” call is crucial, given the 48-hour cooling off period. In this episode, Daniel walks listeners through the important steps that follow, which is information gold for first-home buyers.
He discusses the role of a conveyancer, the complexities of the Form 1, a strategy for settlement day, and using the cooling-off period to get all questions answered. Daniel stresses taking this one step at a time, with your agent right alongside you.
Transcription:
Michael Nitschke:
Welcome to Nitschke podcast, Daniel Nuske-Haines. How are you mate?
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Good mate. Thanks for having me back.
Michael Nitschke:
It’s a lot of demand. Just the audience keeps reaching out. Where is Dan?
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
There’s two people. I’ll get him back.
Michael Nitschke:
That’s how we’ve got to get him. Mate, what’s been happening?
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
We’ve been just flat out, we rode through the winter. Yeah, rode through the winter, which was quiet for a minute and then it’s just come back with a vengeance coming to July.
Michael Nitschke:
About 15 minutes there wasn’t it?
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
About 15 minutes where I had a breather and then start back into it.
Michael Nitschke:
Had a jam packed weekend last weekend. Opens left and right. Lots of activity still. So even though obviously there’s a bit of media out there, there’s still plenty going on.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Even the media, it seems to slow down some people, but the real people who still want to buy a house, they’re still out there looking and looking hard.
Michael Nitschke:
Definitely, definitely. So we thought we’d jump on and do a new segment Q&A with Dan. We’ll think of a better name actually. We’ll throw it out to the audience. If you can think of a great name, a Dan’s little segment, but no… Throw maybe… I think if we kind of look at today, when you buy a house, let’s say you put an offer in, your offer’s been accepted, what happens next?
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
What happens next?
Michael Nitschke:
Just move in?
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, just pretty much run in there and grab some keys and go.
Michael Nitschke:
Okay.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
No. I guess from that point you have, it depends if you’re a first home buyer like I did, you have a moment of absolute panic that now you have a mortgage, and what the hell happens now? Having been in that situation yet, you don’t really know what to expect next. So I guess the key thing is obviously you just need to have, hopefully open communication with your agent. It’s probably a good place to start and get some questions answered. Then that being probably the main thing is just, and also having a good conveyancer as well behind you is engaged as well, just to help you run through what a contract even looks like, what it is, make sure everything aligns to what you thought it was going to be. That’s probably a pretty good place to start because I know a lot of people can get unravelled with that kind of paperwork.
Michael Nitschke:
Because I think you go from scrolling apps, realestate.com, hopefully our website, even more going a few opens, maybe missing out on a few properties because you’re offering and not successful, and then you get that phone call from that friendly agent Dan saying, “Hey, guess what? You bought a house.” And then it gets real really quick.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
It does.
Michael Nitschke:
So what happens from that moment? So obviously the offer has been in writing and that sort of thing, but obviously there’s a contract that in itself, particularly for your first time, huge.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
It’s a full on read. Not an exciting read.
Michael Nitschke:
About 15 pages.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
… But it’s an important one. About 15 pages of fun. But you need to just know what those numbers and things mean. The dates are going to be in there. And once you have your understanding of that, obviously you then sign the contracts and you’ll get presented with a Form 1.
Michael Nitschke:
What’s that?
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, what that?
Michael Nitschke:
You love a Form 1.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
I love Form 1s. Yeah. That’s it. In a summary. It is everything everyone knows about the property, everything you would need to know and everything you should, everything known in the past and going forward. That’s just a one big history book of the property.
Michael Nitschke:
I mean, in some cases if the property’s strata titled or there’re, I mean, it can be nearly 200 pages of information. I remember back in my day, but when I started pre DocuSign digital, it was literally like this printed bible book. Now, obviously a lot of the time, and certainly in our business, we get a conveyancer to prepare the Form 1. Yeah. So as you say, it’s got all the information they need to know.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Absolutely. And once they get that one, then it’s just that kicks off the cooling off period. A signed contract and a Form 1 served calling off has begun, which is a 48-hour window or two, four business day period that basically you have to walk away from the contract if you decide to for whatever reason. But those sort of things, especially in this market, the way it has been with people offering on multiple properties and things like that, that’s just something we have to be weary of. Even as agents, or even as a buyer, or a vendor needs to be just aware of that if you offering on multiple properties and have calling off periods happening here and there. I know some agents would’ve experienced people pulling out of contracts because something else has been accepted.
Michael Nitschke:
Well, there’s been a lot of anxiety, a lot of anxious buyers. But I guess if you’re a buyer that… Okay, you’ve, you’ve been hit with the contract and then Form 1 shortly there afterwards. I mean I know something that we see a lot of buyers doing. Something we encourage is for their conveyancer to have a look at it.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, absolutely.
Michael Nitschke:
That’s really where your conveyancer, as you said before, if you engage them really early, they can actually kind of hold your hand through the process and explain it.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
That’s correct. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Usually we get the four months and contracts get looked over by a conveyancer or the purchaser will get them to have a look on their behalf and just give them the thumbs up tick of approval just for them to know they’ve got someone in their corner. And this is all good, it’s legit, it’s not written on a bar napkin and not something like that.
Michael Nitschke:
So there’s nothing missing.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, nothing missing, nothing key that’s going to slow down the going forward process.
Michael Nitschke:
And it would surprise some people that aren’t familiar that it is only two business days in South Australia. I think, I might get this wrong, but in New South Wales I think it’s five business days and Victoria, it’s slightly different again. Western Australia doesn’t have a cooling off period, so Australia as a whole, every state has different laws, so particularly we’re getting a lot of interstate interest in our markets. It’s worth them just reading up on what it is in South Australia.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
And people just asking just if they are from interstate that what’s the calling off situation? Or if they assume they have five days but they’ve only got two, sometimes they’re a bit baffled by that and it happens a lot quicker than they might be used to. But that’s just something you just coach them through.
Michael Nitschke:
Absolutely. And then the milestone after the cooling off period, obviously that’s when the deposits due payable into the trust account and at that point it’s essentially a done deal. If you’re a seller watching this podcast, then that’s when you know that okay, the buyer is committed. For a buyer, that’s when you are committing, you might have conditions on the contract you’re building in pest or finance and those sorts of things, but that’s when you’re kind of locked in.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
That’s it. Yeah. At that point you committed and committed to the vendor to buy the property, and that’s up to you then to try and follow through on your end of the contract. A contractably obligated. Don’t know if I said that right, but we’ll give that a go.
Michael Nitschke:
The gist was there. That’s the main thing.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Daniel’s words.
Michael Nitschke:
No, but exactly. Then you’re contractually obligated to keep going, but obviously the cooling off period again for a buyer is not something to feel like they can’t ask questions. We encourage any purchaser that this is the time. I mean obviously prior to offering of course, but also in that period, explain to vendors too. This is where we’re going to probably get a lot of questions from our purchaser because they’re just trying to dot I’s and cross T’s.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, that’s it. Especially first home buyers, it’s such a massive experience and it’s so much emotion, and concern, and excitement and all these things. You’re just bouncing all over the place. So I guess our job is probably is just to level them out a little bit, help them step by step, what’s actually next, what’s coming up, but what’s important right now? And obviously answer all their questions and queries as they come in. Because I remember in my situation, I just had no idea what I was doing. I was renting a house, it went up for sale. I basically accidentally bought it. It happened so fast. The next thing you know I had a mortgage and just, yeah, that process was very, very traumatic in a good way, but traumatic in a good way because the results are obviously amazing at the end. But for someone who just didn’t know what they were doing, it really just jumped in head first into a concrete pit because it was all just so fast. But hopefully as long as you got a good relationship with your agent and agents open to answering those questions, it should be a pretty simple step by step process. Obviously being in the industry now that-
Michael Nitschke:
I was going to say, explain to the audience that was a long time ago.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
… I’ve done enough…. That was a very long time ago. That was, yeah, my early twenties.
Michael Nitschke:
We don’t have too many buyers falling into properties now.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
No. That doesn’t have so much nowadays, but yeah, eight, nine odd years ago. Yeah, it happens.
Michael Nitschke:
But it got you started on your journey.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, it got me started.
Michael Nitschke:
And it helps you then to relate to anyone, particularly if they’re new to buying property or new to buying in our state and in our area, you can guide them through those steps, which is important.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Absolutely. Yeah. I love those calls when you get the first home buyers and they say, yeah, I’ve got their first time, and say, “Oh, cool, what happens next?” Cool. No worries. First time, step one.
Michael Nitschke:
I’ve got you.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, we’ve got you. Let’s do the first two steps. Don’t worry about the next bit.
Michael Nitschke:
Yeah, and I think that’s such a good point. I think where people come unstuck when they’re buying a property is, or really, this is probably a metaphor for life really, where they try and do 10 steps all at once and it’s like, look, let’s just get through the milestone. So at the moment you’ve had your offer accepted, let’s get the contract worked through together. Let’s get your Form 1 signed, or at least read through it, sign it when you’re ready, then pay your deposit. Then we’ll talk through the next steps at that point. Once you’ve paid that deposit, that expression you said before you feel like you’re almost falling into ownership, it’s because from there it’s like a roller coaster that gets faster because you might be subject to finance, you’re waiting for loan approval. Eventually loans approved. You sign your loan documents and then suddenly you’re arranging key handover.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
That’s it. Yeah.
Michael Nitschke:
It’s pretty quick.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah. Happens fast. By the time you do all those, hit all those steps. Sometimes it’s almost a milestone every week, and then you get this, depending on your settlement time, you might have this sort of quiet period between settlement and your last condition of your contract, for example, and that’s organisation time. Which some people obviously excel at. But I know some people, I was lucky I was already in the house that I bought, but they-
Michael Nitschke:
That helps.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, that does help.
Michael Nitschke:
Check it off my list.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
There’s no moving days. Yeah, it was an easy moving day, but obviously some people, they just need to be aware that on a settlement day as well is quite important. Settlement while is booked in with conveyancers is not always guaranteed. There is always, there’s just that 1% chance that might not happen. So a big tip is book a removalist the day after.
Michael Nitschke:
Yeah don’t bank on it.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Allow a day. No, don’t bank on it being that day because settlement may not go through till 3, 4, 5 in the afternoon. You don’t want to be sitting there with a removalist sitting there in a truck all day.
Michael Nitschke:
I think that’s where we see a lot of the stress. I think Murphy’s Law is undefeated, we say it a lot. And random acts of real estate. If it can happen, not being negative. We are very, very optimistic people at Nitschke, but we still know that there’s things outside of our control. When you’re buying a property, sometimes you don’t realise this, but as a purchaser you’ve got your bank, you understand that, but the seller quite often has a mortgage they’ve got a discharge, if there’s an issue there and that’s delayed by a day. So you’re right. I think it’s great advice. Make sure if you’re the seller, if you can move out before settlement, that gives you some time to get the house ready.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, absolutely.
Michael Nitschke:
And then as a buyer, don’t bank on getting the keys that day if you can, amazing. You might get fish and chips on the carpet-
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
On the floor.
Michael Nitschke:
… In the lounge room. How good. Try not to do it all at once. You’ve got hopefully many more years ahead of you in the house.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, yeah. One day’s not going to make a difference.
Michael Nitschke:
Definitely.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Yeah, take it easy and yeah, move in when the time’s right instead of under that big pressure.
Michael Nitschke:
Great advice, great advice. Dan, appreciate you coming in for this pod, just to cover off on what happens when your offer’s accepted. Yeah, we’ll like catch on another Q&A episode very soon.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
Looking forward to it.
Michael Nitschke:
Thanks mate.
Daniel Nuske-Haines:
See ya.